AVID Conference Days 2 and 3

Hi y'all,

The past two days have been full on with our Strand session in the morning and then we sit in on Site Team Meetings in the afternoon.  I am doing the ELL - English Language Learners, strand (ESL in Australia), which has been really good thus far.

Lets see what I've learned so far:

The essay dance   -   a mnemonic for the eight sentence paragraph.
  BT  - CD - CM1  -  CM2 repeat CS.

10-2   -   lecture for 10, process for 2 minutes... the 'average' student can take in information for just under 10 minutes, then they need a break.  This might mean you teach a concept then you organise an activity to instill that concept for a couple of minutes before moving on; for ELL and kinaesthetic learners this means you teach a chunk of information, then you get up and do something physical to allow time for the thought to be absorbed.  The essay dance is a good example, we did a 'bit of a stretch' for our opening few minutes of the session, for 10 minutes we were taught what each movement meant in an essay. Then we got up and for 2 minutes we did the dance again, this time saying which part of the eight sentence paragraph the dance was describing. We sat down again and for 10 minutes wrote an essay paragraph using the dance and its associated concepts. Then we spent 2 minutes discussing what we learnt with the person sitting next to us.  As you can see, lessons taught this way are active and interesting because they are always fluid and changing, you don't have time to get bored.

Cornell Notes: 10 - 24 - 7
When you write C-Notes you take 10 minutes at the end to summarise them, you review them 24 hours later, and then again 7 days later... this is proven to enhance your retention of information.

INSIDE/OUTSIDE CIRCLE or PARALLEL LINES
Here's a little factoid that stuck in my brain re: knowledge retention rates:  in a lecture students will retain about 5% of what they hear; but if they teach someone something they will remember 95% of it.  SO a REALLY powerful tool, is to lecture/teach a concept for 10 minutes then have the students teach each other what they just heard.  We then got up and did an activity that demonstrated how you can do this.  It was Inside/Outside Circle or Parallel Lines.  Here's how it works:  you teach a concept, then you get the class up and find a space where they can spread out a bit, form two lines so everyone has a partner.  Line 1 has to teach one thing they learned to line 2. Then everyone takes two steps to the left, so that you have a new partner. Then line 2 teaches one thing they learned to line 1.  Then take two steps to the left. Line 1 asks their new partner for clarification of something they did not understand.  Take two steps to the left. Line 2 asks for clarification. Then return to class for the next chunk of learning.

Well, that's enough of that or this blog will be so long I'll lose you all after the first 10 minutes reading.

The afternoon sessions start with us doing some activities to consolidate our morning's learning; then we move on to the Site Planning.  A Site in this context means a school which has AVID in place.  The site we are with are just starting out their planning; they know who their volunteer teachers are and that's about it.  So they are working through the 11 AVID essentials to put a plan in place so that their site can be accredited for teaching the AVID system next (school) year.  It's been interesting to see the interplay of personalities and the negotiating within the team to arrive at agreement on how they will implement the 11 principles.

The conference runs from 8 until 5 each day, but we do have 1.5 hours for lunch, so there is a bit of time for networking or for site seeing.  Chloe and I hurried to the Sixth Floor Museum at Dealey Plaza in Dallas straight after our afternoon session yesterday.  This is the site where Lee Harvey Oswald was sitting when he shot at President John F Kennedy in 1963.  The top two floors of the building are a museum that traces the events leading up to JFKs assassination, the conspiracy theories that have grown up around the events, and especially it details the legacy that Kennedy left behind.  It was very moving.  We were told the museum closes at 6 so were pleased to find out that that's when they close the doors but visitors still have 40 minutes more to complete their viewing. 

When we returned to the conference headquarters we bumped into the rest of the Aussie contingent and all jumped in a cab to drive out into the suburbs to a strip that abounds in restaurants and night clubs.  My goodness what choice!!  We could have started with fondue, moved to Mexican, then had baclava in a third restaurant, etc.  We opted for the Mexican and I had the Pork Tamale for a starter, followed by Mole con Pollo, which is.... wait for it... chocolate chicken!!! OH MY GAHD!!  Then we wandered a couple of blocks over to Henderson St and found a bar where we had a nightcap before returning to our hotels.  It was La Hacienda on Henderson which has FIFTY different tequilas.  Yep, you heard right FIFTY!  I'd already had enough to drink but I couldn't resist a sip to taste the very special tequila Valerie and Heather had... so smooth!  Why can't we get such nice tequila at home?  It was like the difference between an 18 year old scotch and a UDL can of scotch. 

More great sessions the next day (we have all been given handbooks that have the information we are working through in them and CSU global will be organising a gathering so that interested folk can come along and hear our experiences -- we'll have our handbooks with us so anyone interested can get a recap of the main points and see the kind of assistance the AVID organisation gives to it's accredited teachers and tutors).

While networking I asked a couple of the people I spoke to this question:
The AVID program seems to me to just be really good pedagogy in practise.  What makes it different?
Here are a couple of the replies:
 
   Todd from Arkansas said (in his gorgeous drawl) 'As a member of AVID you have support, not just from the AVID co-ordinators but from every other AVID teacher.  If you are stumped with something or try something and can't seem to get it to work, you can jump onto the web and you have access to help and advice from thousands of dedicated AVID teachers.'
 
   Angie said, 'If, as an AVID teacher, you implement AVID correctly in your AVID elective class, the AVID students go out to their other classes and THEY spread the knowledge and use of the tools, which helps to empower those 'students in the middle' that the AVID program is designed to work with.'

Today at lunch time, Heather and I went across to Fair Park and The Women's Museum.  This museum is dedicated to telling the story of extraordinary women who have made a difference to America in some way; it celebrates women like Eleanor Roosevelt, Susan B Anthony, Rosa Parks, etc.  There is a special exhibition on, called Freedom's Sisters, which is about 20 heroic women who worked (and some are still working) for liberty and equality for women.  Some of the African American women featured started universities, sought positions in government and the legal system so they could fight for the rights of all women and the rights of African Americans. Some like Rosa Parks just refused to be victimised (her quiet protest led to her being known as 'the mother of the modern civil rights movement').  A very powerful exhibition which made me proud to be a woman.  It was definitely worth missing lunch for.

Well that's enough from me now,
Bye y'all,

Tracey