Part II
Whether you are an AVID elective teacher or not, using AVID teaching strategies in the classroom can have many benefits. Incorporating digital elements in combination with AVID is a recipe for success and can easily be implemented using one’s curriculum!
I have been teaching the AVID elective at the middle school level for over five years now and have come to learn that the AVID curriculum contains a plethora of good teaching practices. Traditionally speaking, some of the more popular strategies found in lessons that focus on the Critical Reading Process, such as using Cornell Notes, Marking the Text and Writing in the Margins were developed with the intention of using paper and pencil. Now, with digital technology being so abundantly available in schools, it’s time to start integrating the two.
In my last blog, Going Digital w/AVID Part I, I went over some various ways to annotate online text using Google Docs and Kami’s online PDF editing software. This particular blog will focus on digitizing an AVID One-Pager.
AVID One-Pager
w/Google Drawing
A One-Pager seems self-explanatory. For the most part, it is. Students will use one page of paper to reflect on a given piece of literary work or text. A One-Pager is a great way to have students complete in lieu of a boring formal assessment or a long, drawn-out writing task. A One-Pager should include the following:
- Title
- Author
- Images
- Include a meaningful quote
- Related Vocabulary
- Personal statement (i.e. I believe…, or I feel…)
- Costa’s leveled questions
- Border, which reflects the main idea or theme
Looking at the rubric below may be helpful:
Like with almost anything in education, things can be adapted. You know your own students best so feel free to add and/or change anything within the One-Pager that you see fit. I know that some teachers request that their students use specific colors which represent a deeper meaning behind the text…obviously, students should know about color symbolism in order for this to relate. Or, you might swap out Costa’s questions for Bloom’s.
The following video showcases a teacher using the paper version but also presents one way of communicating guidelines and instructions to students. This teacher finishes the lesson by having his students present their work using a Gallery Walk (which can also be achieved using laptops set up on a table).
When thinking of digitizing this assignment I turned to none other than Google Drawing. It seemed like the best fit as it’s not only free software in which all SUSD students have access to, but it also has the necessary elements needed to accomplish the task at hand. Students can use word art, add text boxes, insert images and GIFs and use the paint bucket to make a border color POP!
Here is the template that I use with my students. Make a copy and add it to your Google Drive for future purposes. AVID One-Pager Link
Once students are able to make a copy of their own (an easy way to accomplish this is to use Google Classroom to distribute copies to each student) then the magic happens. Students will see that they can do more online than using a piece of paper. No more messy markers or crumbling crayons. Those students who are afraid of being judged by their artwork can now feel comforted that they can insert any image they want using an internet search. I’ve seen many students use GIFs to enhance their borders or even Bitmoji images to create a personalized statement. Using a digital version of the One-Pager offers more opportunity and creativity for students to achieve opposed to limiting them to a paper version.
Here are some students samples:
Students were given the option to complete a section review for Social Studies or create a digital One-Pager.
This One-Pager was completed by a 7th-grade ELD student following the completion of our class reading an informational article about the effects of lying.
A Wrinkle in Time was a book that my after-school tutoring group read. Students had the option of creating a One-Pager instead of writing a chapter review or summary.
The options are endless with AVID One-Pagers in regards to how they can be used. I hope that my examples and background using them with my own students have convinced you to try them out yourself.