February and March are busy months for the AVID program. We are recruiting at the middle schools for the 2020-2021 school year. We have a really wonderful group of students coming in and have enjoyed getting to meet our incoming ninth graders! Our seniors have been busy with the college application process! So far, over 33 seniors have been accepted to over 65 colleges!

Teachers, certification is quickly approaching. Please help us share all of the amazing work that you are doing with your students by adding activities that you have done in your class. Click on the links below to add your awesome AVID strategies.

Writing

Inquiry

Collaboration

Organization

Reading

The following students went above and beyond to keep up with their grades in all classes and are exemplar AVID Students.

9th Grade: Juan Serna

9th Grade ECHS: Damien Hallert

10th Grade: Julian Reyna

11th Grade: Samantha Villegas

12th Grade: Gabriela Maya

We had an amazing trip to Southwestern University! Not only did our students get to explore the SU campus, but also learned how to choose the right college for them. Students also had a special treat when Akins Alumni Abi Peterson did a Q&A session with them. A special thanks to Becky Redland Sturzl and our AVID tutor Mrs. Gonzales for helping chaperone. See the video below of some highlights from our trip and also some pictures below!

Congratulations to John Rodriguez for being selected as the AVID teacher of the month! Mr. Rodriguez teaches Pre-AP World Geography in the ECHS Academy and uses WICOR daily. His students just participated in a Nation-State collaborative project, a Model UN simulation which used writing, inquiry, collaboration and reading.

AVID Weekly Articles are a great way to add reading into your content. The articles are multidisciplinary and many have lessons tiered to the ability of your students, including ELL's. You can find them in our AVID Blend Page and also here. You can use them for Critical Reading, Close Reading, Focused Notes and also for Philosophical Chairs. See the example below of using an article for Focused Notes.

Here is a one-pager of some leveled questions that you can use along with the articles to help increase learning and critical thinking.

Please feel free to reach out to us at any time regarding our students! Click on the link to see all of the AVID student per grade level.

Aimee Finney (AVID 1 and Debate)

Aleisha Forde (ECHS AVID 1)

Christina Garcia-Mata (AVID 3 and 4; Green Tech Academy Coordinator)

Teresa Grumbles (AVID 1 and 2; Site Coordinator)

Paty Martinez (AVID 1 and AVID 3; SEL; Basketball)

In addition to our AVID elective teachers, these leaders also serve on our site team. If you are interested in joining the site team, our next meeting is April 1 at 7:45 am.

Susan Thames: Assistant Principal (New Tech)

Margarita Moreno: Counselor (Green Tech)

Sarah Nickel: Counselor (AHA)

Melinda Van Horn: Counselor (ABLLE)

Annette Gutierrez: College and Career Counselor

Lora Alaniz: CTE teacher (AHA)

Elisha Aldana: Math teacher (ECHS)

Christina Berry: Math teacher and STEM Academy Coordinator (STEM)

Melissa Contreras: Social Studies teacher and ABLLE Academy Coordinator (ABLLE)

Katie Delmore: Social Studies teacher (Green Tech)

Christina Jenschke: Science teacher (ABLLE)

Rebecca Redland-Sturzl: English teacher (Green Tech)

Loraine Tijerina: CTE and SEL teacher (SS)

Chris Aguilar: Math teacher (STEM)