AVID Training in Atlanta, GA

AVID training, well some of it was great. I was able to get some answers to questions I had raised over the last year.

Question #1 I had my students take notes called a double entry reading log- basically a modification of Cornell Notes. What on earth do I do with the question section when my student has no question?

Answer #1 Have students formulate a question that might appear on a test that relates to their notes. Make sure you instruct your students on higher order thinking skills. Consider using the Costa three levels of thinking or Bloom’s Taxonomy. Try making a poster of the key words that address each level and post it for students to refer to. The thinking here is students will begin to look at notes and begin to imagine what type of questions could be on a test and study appropriately.

Question #2 How can I conduct class discussions so my students are actively participating and those who are silent are still interacting?

Answer #2 This will take some time- Socratic Seminar is one method you can use. The key here is not what method you use, but conducting short discussions and work your way up to longer discussions. Some key tips I will use- have students evaluate the statements each other make. Give them evaluation sheets to fill out. Tell your students what you do and don’t like about a discussion. Also have each student create 2 discussion questions and copy them over onto a class list for you the teacher. This way even your shy students could have their questions posed. Redirect students as needed. (We’ll talk about this more later.)

Question #3 How do I get my students really comfortable with timed writing?

Answer #3 First, take a sample cold timed essay writing prompt from the first week as a baseline. Revisit the essay later to compare and see growth. Second, teach them to create three bullet points before formulating a thesis and writing an essay. Third, have students practice outlining many essays and choose to write only one once in a while through all the drafting stages.