Unlike some scholarship programs, Dell does not solely focus on grade point average when selecting scholars. They target highly motivated students with financial need who have shown grit, potential, and ambition despite personal challenges and obstacles. Read More...

I am proud to say our school district has gone in a holistic direction by investing in our students and staff by hiring a mindfulness specialist. Having this resource has transformed how I approach the classroom, my students, and my life. I had heard of mindfulness and done a yoga class here and there, but I really had no idea what the term actually meant and how powerful it could be. So, I was curious and thought I would see how we, as an AVID class, could tap into this new resource. Read More

Congratulations to Brian Cox and Julie Rowell, two exceptional AVID educators who just won the Milken Educator Award, often referred to as the “Oscar of Education.” When considering award recipients, the Milken Family Foundation “targets early-to-mid career education professionals for their already impressive achievements and, more significantly, for the promise of what they will accomplish in the future.” Milken Awards are given out at surprise assemblies, so the entire school can cheer on the winners. Read more...

For a lot of folks—myself included—the meaning of the word/acronym “STEM” (Science, Technology, Engineering, Math) can be a little confusing; as in, “OK, I know what those words are, but what do they represent when all ‘lumped’ together that way? Read more...

For most of us, there is no budget to reimburse the binders, dividers, planners, or snacks we buy other than the one connected to our own checkbooks. However, thanks to DonorsChoose.org, we aren’t on our own to get our students the things they need to be successful in our classrooms and as they prepare to enter the world of college or career. Read more....

When I was in college, the prevalent paradigm of learning involved students sitting and listening while professors professed. Lectures were the norm. If the class wasn’t too large, there might be a “class discussion” format, which meant that a handful of bold students answered questions or made comments while the majority of students watched the back-and-forth of the conversational tennis match. If students wanted personal interaction, professors kept office hours during which students could pop in and ask questions or engage in academic conversation. Read more...

So I’m retired! That means no lesson plans and no 5:00 a.m. to 9:00 p.m. field trips. That sounds great, doesn’t it? However, retirement also means no students. For some, that comes as a relief, but for me, it’s a sad loss. Every year, I would consider retiring, but there was always the younger sibling of a former student coming up. I would stay for them. Being an AVID teacher, I became a second mom, or at least a distant relative, for my students. I worried about more than their grades. I hugged them when their hearts were broken by the love of their life. I felt their pain. Read more...

Our brains protect us from information overload by deleting information that we either don’t use or isn’t connected to something we already know. It’s a phenomenon that neuroscientists refer to as “forgetting.” Perhaps, at some point today, you read an interesting statistic or dialed a phone number for the first time and are absolutely certain that tomorrow you won’t be able to recall that information—congratulations, your brain is functioning exactly as it should. In 1885, Hermann Ebbinghaus hypothesized a phenomenon he named “the forgetting curve”, which shows how information is lost over time if we don’t revisit or establish connections to it. Read more...

Guiding the charge to transform their institutions, the spotlight was on three leaders for their accomplishments during the AHE Leadership Symposium at the AVID Summer Institute in Denver on July 16. The reasons why these educational torchbearers lead the way show in their character and innate talent. Read more...

Perception: a way of regarding, understanding, or interpreting something; a mental impression.

Everything we do as educators communicates something to our students. They regularly form perceptions through everyday classroom and school experiences on whether or not educators support their college and career readiness. The hallways they walk down speak to them. Classroom instruction and design send messages to students about teacher expectations and beliefs. But do educators have enough opportunities to learn from students about their perceptions and use the information to drive improvements? Read more...