Last week our AVID and AVID Excel students committed to individual determination in signing their AVID contracts. They heard a former Napa High AVID senior and Harvest alumni talk about AVID as a family. In Parker Totty’s speech, he highlights the culture of a family: challenge and support. Also, Totty notes that he grew as a human being because relationship building was valued. A family challenges its members to be better--to set the bar higher--and supports its members to make it over the high bar. As we focus on building team in our classroom and schoolwide for the first 21 days, challenge and support are keys to our success and can’t be limited to the walls of an AVID classroom. We have to know our students--their past, present, and future--in order to connect and challenge them and more importantly to know how to support them to rise to those challenges. Continue to take time to build a foundation for a healthy classroom culture. John Hattie, a well published educational researcher, reminds us why this work is important.
