AVID: the conference

Hi all y'all,

Back again,  missed out telling you about yesterday as it was mostly airports and flying again, up at 4:50 to catch the 8:00 am flight, which with time changes got us into Dallas around half past 1.  Caught the shuttle out to our hotel, The Aloft... a boutique hotel only 1 year old.  It's decorated in Industrial style, as if it is a half renovated warehouse... the walls are part unfinished concrete and partly timbered, partly mirrored -- very modern and to anyone who has travelled has the feel of a very upmarket youth hostel, with a pool table and games area in the foyer, and the breakfast bar has a microwave and coffee maker and you prepare your own brekky there. Oh! and it has a bar but no restaurant.

The rooms though are huge and have very high ceilings, large flat screen telly and two queen size beds. Tres chic!

Once we'd settled in, we walked up to the Hyatt at Reunion where half of the AVID conference is being held... 3 blocks and down the steps to the Concourse and we are right there within a few steps of Registration.  We went up to Heather's room then set off to find the people we were having dinner with - not knowing what they look like.  How do you find one person in a crowd of two thousand? Step out of the lift and  bump into a man stepping in - and reading his name tag realise it's the person you were looking for.  Serendipitous!

We had dinner at the Adolphus Hotel - an ultra posh, classic old hotel, which has been beautifully renovated, with lots of gorgeous wood panelling, lush plants and heavily framed paintings. Down in the basement there is a western themed restaurant where we threw the peanut shells on the floor and ordered Texan meals like sticky ribs and pork steaks cut porterhouse style, and pasta starters large enough to feed two.

A GOOD NIGHT'S SLEEP - and the whole world takes on a much rosier hue -- even the pouring rain (who said Texas was a desert state?) is a joke not a nuisance.

Today we started the conference at 8:00 am when we registered and worked out which special subjects we were going to attend. Kerri did Capturing Kids Hearts - about motivating students; Chloe and Millie did Avid Weekly and Critical Reading - Avid Weekly is a website with newspaper articles and a lesson plan template, critical reading is what it sounds like; I did a program called AAMI which is a branch of AVID that focuses specifically on African American males - and could be adapted for use with Indigenous Australian males. The session was a panel formed of leaders from about 7 different school districts which have trialled the program... by all accounts it is extremely successful, with students who are not included queueing up to be part of it... Heather did the session on transitioning from high school to college which links with the newest AVID project which is to continue the program on into the first year of university or college.

Next, we did the Newcomer's session which gave us all the information we'd need for the rest of the conference. Lunch was an hour and a half long which gave plenty of time for networking or going back to the hotel for a nap.  I made a heap of great contacts from a Texan University professor, to a gentleman from Arkansas with a gorgeous southern drawl who is emailing me information on reaching out to ESL (ELL- English Language Learners - in the US) students and indigenous students, as that is also his area of interest.

Our first session after lunch was the Keynote speech by one of the first AVID students, who is now a teacher and AVID area director in Houston Texas, followed by our Site Leader workshops.  The one we are assigned to is from the LA area and they are just setting up their AVID program, so we are learning AVID from the ground up... basically listening in on their discussions.  We started with the eleventh and final AVID essential and have 3 articles to read for homework ready to be discussed in tomorrow's workshop. Each day we will discuss 3 more AVID essentials exploring what they are, how to implement them and what they look like in practise.

It's going to be a full on week, busy, we will be squeezing in a little sight seeing and lots of networking.  Everyone is so kind and welcoming though that it doesn't feel like work.

So, enough from me, I need to get the washing out of the dryer and settle down with my pen and highlighter -- I've got homework to do,

Bye for now,
Tracey