Belli, Mike

AVID= Advancement Via Individual Determination                                                     

 Dear AVID guardians and students,

As you may know, AVID’s mission is to provide students with a solid foundation in study skills to prepare them for a successful high school and college experience. Students learn to be self-disciplined, take and study notes, keep an organized binder and engage in productive study groups with peers (tutorials). In addition, they learn about career and college by listening to speakers and attending field trips.

We cannot accomplish this mission unless students do their part. AVID students are expected to maintain an academic GPA of at least 3.0 and good citizenship. They must follow all school rules and policies, have excellent attendance and participate in extracurricular activities. AVID students should plan to spend an average of two hours a night on homework and study. The AVID teacher and counselor will monitor student progress in all classes and help facilitate awareness and communication between the family and school staff if grades fall below a ‘C’. 

 Below are some specific details about AVID homework and binders. 

Every day after students have completed their homework assignment for a particular subject, they should plan to spend an additional 10-15 minutes studying and completing their Cornell notes taken in that subject. This involves the following:

1. Reading the notes and adding details
2. Underlining, circling and/or highlighting important terms or ideas
3. Numbering, lettering or bulleting if they have not done so already
4. Writing study questions in the margins or on attached post it notes
5. Summarizing the main idea of the notes
6. Making sure the heading is complete with name, class, topic, and DATE written in PEN
7. Folding the paper at the margin and quizzing themselves on the contents of the notes by reading the questions and trying to answer them.

    In addition, since Tuesdays and Thursdays are tutorial days (beginning in October) each Monday and Wednesday, students will need to take about ten minutes at home to prepare their tutorial request form (TRF) with a question about an area they need help in or believe will be an important study topic for the group. Ideally, they will write their tutorial request form while they are completing their homework for a class or studying their notes. Each of these activities—notes and tutorial request forms-- is meant to help students do better in their academic classes while simultaneously building effective independent study habits for the future.

 At the beginning of the year, 7^th grade students will be required to take at least 4 samples of Cornell notes every two weeks (about 2 per week), moving up to 8 notes every two weeks for second semester.

 *In a class where it is not possible to take notes on a given day, the student may complete a “learning log” at home and turn it in instead of notes. We will go over this in class.

    Students will be expected to keep a large binder -2” or wider-with papers from all their classes kept in the rings separated by labeled dividers. Students may not keep school papers in pockets or accordion-style files. Spirals required for classes can be kept separately or in the binder as space permits, but should be clearly labeled. Binders and supplies will be checked weekly on Fridays starting in September. Students are required to keep a “pencil pouch” in their binder with a minimum of these school supplies:

Parents can support students and participate in AVID by:

Mike Belli                      AVID teacher                618-4400x3702                          mbelli@sanleandro.k12.ca.us