This fall, a few teachers took on new leadership roles in AVID.
AVID stands for Advancement Via Individual Determination and is a program implemented in our school starting in 2021.
Biology teacher Laurie Jo Andry took on the Junior High AVID teacher role, teaching the program to eighth graders.
“We have worked on many things this fall. Most recently, we have created some infographics that share test-taking tips for the various kinds of test questions. We hope to share these tips on PHS News in the upcoming months, especially before finals week,” said Andry.
Andry stated that the AVID skills will support each student in all their classes.
“We have worked on the AVID tutorial process, which is a way for students to get help with concepts in other classes and subjects that they don’t have a great grasp of yet. Another thing that we have worked on is using academic language. We have done a Socratic seminar about teens and social media, which helped in our academic language use. We have also worked on organization skills and communication and collaboration skills. We have written a timed short essay and worked on our note-taking skills,” said Andry.
Avid students have enjoyed many field trips off campus, and this year will be no exception.
“We are also planning a trip to Perry Central Schools for later in the semester. We have been invited there to share our experiences with AVID with their eighth-grade students. I know the eighth-grade AVID teacher there, and he came up with the idea of our kids coming to visit. We are all really excited to go and share our successes and some failures that we’ve learned from too,” said Andry.
Social studies teacher Brian Wilson is the new AVID teacher for the freshmen.
“We have been working on setting goals and plans for the future,” said Wilson. “AVID teaches skills that will help students be ready for whatever colleges or careers they pursue in the future.”
Seventh-grade social studies teacher James Dunn took on the role of teaching seventh-grade AVID.
“So far, we’ve been working on the five phases of focused note-taking, understanding AVID tutorials, and developing skills such as defining goals,” said Dunn. “The benefit of being involved in AVID is that I can help students with college and career readiness as well as establish good habits in school.”
As the year continues, AVID students and their new teachers will continue to implement strategies to improve their academic skills in all their classes.
