AVID is the acronym for Advancement Via Individual Determination. It is a college preparatory course whose mission is "to close the achievement gap by preparing all students for college readiness and success in a global society."
At Murchison, we are proud to be a National AVID Certified Site! We offer 7th and 8th grade AVID classes taught by Megan Tesano, Cristina Torres and Nina Wilson.
What do you do in AVID?
We learn college readiness skills and strategies that will help us maintain success both now and throughout college using the AVID Curriculum (Writing, Inquiry, Collaboration and Reading --referred to as WICR). Higher Order Thinking is embedded in each activity. We use Socratic Seminars, Philosophical Chairs, Four Corner Debates, Jigsaws and many other strategies to challenge and defend our thinking/learning.
We are required to bring questions (higher level) that we have from any of our core classes. We use these questions to have in-class (free) tutorials with AVID trained college tutors who assist us in the process of finding solutions to our questions. We work together because that's how learning happens best. We don't give away answers, but rather pose more questions to help our peers solidify their own learning.
We have our exam -- the AVID Binder. Our binders must have Cornell Notes that we take in our core classes each week. It is organized according to our core teachers' desires. We have ONE binder in which we keep up with our work for ALL of our classes. It really helps us to stay organized and on top of our work -- especially homework. On Friday's we also have guest speakers, learning trips, college visits and team building activities.
AVID is more than a class. It is a family of achievers. We work together to help each other reach our aspirations. For more information about AVID, send us an email or visit the national website: www.avid.org
