In 1989,
AVID Center held its first Summer Institute (SI) with 258 educators. We’ve grown a little bit since then—more than 28,000 educators joined us at our 10 Institutes during the 2014 SI season! Our AVID Center staff is always left awestruck by the amazing teachers, counselors, administrators, and district staff who join us each summer. You inspire us, and we’re honored to be a part of your efforts to help all students succeed.
We asked five SI participants to share some of the key lessons that they learned during their professional learning at SI this year, and we want to hear from you, too!
- “As a school team, we were able to come back, brainstorm, and create a goal for incorporating AVID—specifically WICOR—in our classrooms that is consistent across grade levels and building-wide! Summer Institute gave me a great opportunity to actually team with my coworkers and reminded me why I became a teacher!”
– Carrie Schindler, 5th Grade Language Arts Teacher, Franklin Primary School
- “The lasting effect that I learned from my strand during Summer Institute was the difference between equity and equality. Equality is everyone getting the same tools despite the disadvantages or advantages that every student faces. Equity is leveling the playing field for all students, to encourage students to look at their strengths instead of their disadvantages. Not just in the classroom, we can apply the same methods to everyday life, to focus on the strengths to create a healthy society for everyone we come in contact with on a daily basis.”
– Orlando Hill, 9th/10th Grade Algebra and Geometry Teacher, Shepton High School
- “The Pilot/Co-Pilot Socratic Seminar provides a unique spin on the traditional Socratic Seminar by adding two ‘wingmen’ to each participant. It helps to include students who may be shy or just reluctant to share their ideas in front of the class. Since many teachers at my school utilize Socratic Seminars, I'll be sharing the Pilot/Co-Pilot method in professional development this year!”
– Gordon Copee, AVID Coordinator and Elective Teacher, Chesapeake High School
- “AVID is definitely for college and career readiness. The recent introduction of AVID for Higher Education’s Career & Technical Education (CTE) strand, of which I've had the privilege of being involved, was a tremendous experience at Summer Institute. I believe their CTE students will benefit from the AVID tools they'll use to develop the technical and soft skills they'll need as they enter the workforce.”
– Dr. Rachel Torres, Associate Dean, Odessa College
- “Instead of Opportunity is NOWHERE, Opportunity is NOW HERE.”
– Michelle Rivard, M.A., AVID Liaison and Faculty, Minnesota School of Business (Click here to read a blog from the Minnesota School of Business about AVID for Higher Education.)
Tell us what you learned at Summer Institute in the Comments section below!
For more on AVID, visit http://avid.org/what-is-avid.ashx.