Stephanie Higgins

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Applied Curriculum Project

By Jamie Bailey, Ashlin Brown, Stephanie Dervan, Jason Kanzamar,
Stephanie Higgins, Caitlin Matthews, Stephanie Mobilio.

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Table of contents
1. A Summary of the ACP project with evidence from the school of the
projects completion Stephanie Mobilio & Caitlin Matthews
2. A outline of the skills and knowledge you developed as a PST from
the project Stephanie Dervan & Jason Kanzamar
3. An overview of project learning outcomes for the school community
Ashlin Brown
4. A summary of how the project supported student learning
Stephanie Higgins & Jamie Bailey

Mentor Teacher for ACP Sign of

Name: Amee Dunne
Date: 21/10/16
Email: dunne.amee.m@edumail.vic.gov.au

Digital signature:

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A summary of the ACP project with evidence from the school of
the projects completion. This maybe done as a flow chart or
annotated diagram and include examples of students work,
photos, units of work, summary of the events or tasks.
What is AVID?
AVID (Advancement Via Individual Determination) is organisation that
provides professional development for teachers to improve university
readiness for their students. This program equips students with the
academic, social and emotional skills in order to be ready and succeed in
further education. AVID is specifically designed for the middle-band
students (those neither struggling nor excelling) who aspire to go to
university, but do not know how to get there, or do not believe they can
get there. Originally created in the 1980s, AVID began as a tertiary
education program for university students to help prepare them for
careers outside of education. In the present day, AVID is used in as early
as primary school settings all the way to tertiary education in several
nations around the world.
AVID is a skill building program, supporting students by helping them
become critically-engaged learners; a crucial skill demanded from
university students. AVID prepares students for university by teaching
them useful skills, such as organisation, efective note-taking (using
Cornell notes), how to get the most out of reading, inquiry skills,
collaboration skills and how to be reflective learners. The students are
able to practice these skills during AVID tutorials, where they work as a
team to solve their point of confusion using inquiry and reflection. AVID
strives to close the achievement gap by preparing all students for postsecondary education, skills development in the hope that they can
participate fully as global citizens that are both productive and efficient
(http://www.avid.org/what-is-avid.ashx).
Our ACP aims to facilitate students in successfully achieving inquiry-based
learning.
Within our ACP, our goal is to create a share point for the students so that
rather than only having one session a week to address their point of
confusion or topic of interest they have an access to a platform such as
Padlet that will be set up for them so they can access it through out the
entire week. There will be multiple pages set up online for various areas
of study and students are to put their questions and ideas on the suitable
page. The experts of each area of study will be the administrator of
that subject and are to lead the group through out the week on any areas
of confusion.

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This will be a mandatory requirement for all AVID learners and it will be
addressed in a minimum of 1 session a week in their tutorial. Students
will be required to address at least 1 point of confusion a week and
comment on at least 1 other students area of confusion. They must
include their name on the end of their post for accountability. If they do
not meet these requirements there will be consequences such as staying
behind 10 minutes to address why they have not completed the assigned
work for AVID this week. As it is the students choice to be in AVID, there
is an expectation that they will put in the necessary work so therefore
there must be a consequence if they choose not to participate.
As there are seven PSTs involved in this ACP, each PST will be allocated a
day of the week that they must check in online and review on the work
that has been posted. Students that have contributed will have their
names marked of whilst those that have not, will be followed up by us. A
record sheet has been created by the PSTs involved to assist with marking
of which students have completed their point of confusion and have left a
comment on one of their classmates area of confusion. After each day, an
updated copy of this document will be uploaded on the Padlet page for
fellow PSTs to record against.
Since we are using a digital platform for this rather than relying solely on
in-class participation, students may be more confident and willing to voice
their points of confusion than they would in-class. Those that do not have
access to ICT at home, will be encouraged to use the resources at school.
As a result of this Applied Curriculum Project the expected outcome is to
further enhance students active participation in AVID and are held
accountable for their own education.
An outline of the skills and knowledge you developed as a PST
from the project
Skills

Working in such a large group of 7 people meant that we each had

to develop efective communication skills. This meant that we would
arrange time during advisory to get together and collaborate any
ideas, directions or issues with the implementation of the AVID
project.

Working on the communication skills we also had to develop respect

not only for each other but our ideas as well. This meant equal time
for everyone to raise any suggestions and feelings towards the

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project. This not only occurred during our face-to-face meetings at
the school but also through our Facebook group.

As we each respected each other it meant that we were able to

become more open with each of the group members. Therefore
willing to get to know one another, particularly those with diferent
interests, backgrounds and subject areas.

Each of us was open to and accepting of new ideas and diverse

viewpoints therefore creating a supportive team environment.

Individual responsibility and accountability were both major skills

that needed to be addressed in order for the AVID project to become
a success, especially in such a large group where it is easy and often
seen that dominant personalities take control. Therefore as a team
we made sure that all group members agreed on what needed to be
done and by whom. Each member then determined what he or she
needed to do and took responsibility to complete the task. This was
particularly evident in the delegation of who was going to check
each day if students had completed three AVID posts. This therefore
made sure that each of us was accountable for our part and
ultimately the team success.

Giving and receiving constructive feedback is a major factor for any

group success. Therefore during each of our meetings whenever
someone voiced their ideas or work we made sure to deliver warm
and cool feedback to the individual.

Organisation was a major skill that we each had to strive for

individually and as a group. During the time of our project we each
had to balance university coursework, our teaching load and the
AVID project. Therefore each one of us had to prioritize and find time
to have everything completed by the due dates.

KnowledgeThe knowledge gained throughout our AVID tutor experience at Point Cook
Senior Secondary College has been immense. We have learnt a great deal
about the mission and vision of AVID as a whole and how to implement
the program efectively within the school.
Through the professional development session we attended at Victoria
University on June 14th, we gained a greater understanding of how AVID
sessions should be run, and the diferent tools we can implement within
the AVID sessions to better cater to students needs. Understanding and
implementing WICOR strategies (Writing, Inquiry, Collaboration,
Organisation, Reading), has been a focus of our group as this enables
students to have a routine where they recognise what needs to be done
both inside and outside of the AVID program.

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As a group we have gained new tools in our teaching strategies that we
can implement both in AVID sessions and in our own methods of teaching,
these include:

Cornell Notes

Costas and Blooms Levels of Thinking

Seating arrangements

Marking of Tutorial Request Forms (TRFs)

Tutorial Strategies, challenges and possible solutions

WICOR

Marking of Reflections (after the tutorial)

Following rules of engagement

Each PST throughout the AVID project has become independent in leading
their own tutoring group sessions and making sure students stay on task
with their Point of Confusions. As AVID tutors our knowledge in a wide
range of subjects has been invaluable to helping guide students through
their point of confusions weekly and maintaining a positive and
professional rapport with them. Collectively we have learnt how to target
specific questions for students without revealing the answer to them
which is important to remember as this allows students to gain a higher
level of thinking and problem-solving strategies.

An overview of project learning outcomes for the school

community
Throughout the program, we have learnt that although some questions
may not be from our subject area, we shouldnt feel ashamed if we dont
know what students are talking about, as this will come over time with the
experience we get as AVID tutors. Being involved with our mentor in the
selection of the prospective 2017 AVID students was a great experience as
we could see the students who were enthusiastic about the program and
the ones who were being pushed into doing it by their parents. The
selection process is integral for the program to run efectively as having
the students who want to achieve success and better themselves for the
future are able to get the right support from both the tutors and their
peers.

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Students organisational skills are important for the tutorial to run
successfully. Our knowledge in this allowed us to not accept excuses and
conference with students about diferent practices they could implement
to make sure they are well prepared before the session. Overall, we have
gained greater knowledge and understanding of why AVID is successful
within schools, and it has allowed us to gain diferent skill sets and tools
that we can implement in our own classroom environment.
The purpose of our Applied Curriculum Project was to create a unique and
diferent avenue for AVID Program students to prompt their point of
confusions to their classmates and teachers. We were fortunate enough to
be a part of a group of seven when conducting and facilitating our ACP. We
all had unique rolls in ensuring our idea would be implemented and
successful within the AVID environment. A usual AVID classroom allows
students throughout the week to come up with 1 point of confusion, they
then came together as a group on a Thursday afternoon and presented
their point of confusion to their peers and an observing PST. A point of
confusion would be from a class throughout the week, the peers and PST
would then prompt questions to the student in order for them to note take
and create steps to ensure they can combat their point of confusion.
The idea behind our ACP was for students to be able to access and provide
feedback throughout the week on other's point of confusion. Instead of
waiting for peer reviews on a Thursday afternoon, students could access
the Padlet we had created to post their point of confusion throughout the
week and allow other students to comment and allow them to resolve
their confusion sooner rather than later. Each student was expected to
post 2 point of confusions per week and comment a supporting question
on 2 peers point of confusion. This would be heavily monitored by the
group of PSTs to ensure all students were co-operating with the program.
Ideally, students would have at least 2 point of confusions throughout a
general school week as very few students would conclude a week of
classes with no areas of confusion.
The implementation of this ACP was designed to provide students with an
easy and efficient avenue to solve their confusions, allowing them to
provide more than 1 Point of Confusion per week rather than ignoring their
additional confusions. Allowing students to access this Padlet from home
gave them a support network throughout the entire week, as rather than
consistently contacting their teacher; they can continue to access their
peers knowledge to potentially solving their confusion, reducing the
conversation with teachers. The benefit of peer evaluation and elaboration
is that they use appropriate terminology and metalanguage relatable to
their peers, whilst prompting questions that further enlighten each
student.
The significant benefit of our ACP, is that students within the same
classroom as others can implement these evaluation and reviewing skills
to aid their peers not within the AVID program. They can further

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implement their skills learnt throughout this program and teach their
peers how to view a point of confusion from another angle, prompt
questions to lead them to the answer rather than simply letting them copy
it down from their book.
A summary of how the project supported student learning. This
learning may include, personal development and social or
academic learning.
Our project aimed to support students future learning for those enrolled
in the AVID program. The point of confusion task is an AVID based activity,
in which requires trained tutors to facilitate in the activity. We were able to
use this activity as a foundation for our ACP project but we aimed to tailor
it for the 21st century learner.
As a group we implemented a digital point of confusion board. This
supported student learning as it encouraged the student to be actively
involved in his/her learning beyond the classroom. The AVID program is
aimed at low socio economic schools. The reasoning behind this is that a
considerable amount of students have limited assistance with their
homework from parents or guardians as they have little education
themselves. With our digital board students were able to get instant
assistance from their peers.
The digital board also promotes the use of ICT for learning. Computer
technology is necessary for this project to function, without it students
would not be able to receive instance peer and teacher feedback.
The project encouraged students to build on their problem solving skills.
The AVID student with the Point of Confusion is seeking the answers to
their questions. The student who assists in providing solutions to a
problem is taking on the role of the teacher as they are facilitating in the
process of learning. In doing this, the student who is facilitating the
learning must propose questions to the student in need of assistance so
that they can find the answer on their own. This reinforces the knowledge
and skills of the person providing assistance.
Our project reinforced collaborative learning as it could only work with the
participation of all students working together as a team.
This project supported the social and emotional learning of the student as
the project encouraged students to:

Become further engaged in the AVID program: as students

have 24/7 access to the digital board, they were able to post their
Point of Confusions at any point in the day to ask for their peers
assistance rather than wait for the allocated 100min AVID tutorial
each week.

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Become self-aware: Students had to be aware of their strengths

and weaknesses whilst maintaining a growth mindset.
Become socially aware: Students had to respect their peers point
of confusion and not make light of something a student did not
understand.
Build healthy relationships: Students worked together as a team
to solve their peers problems. This required efective
communication (digital literacy skills) to efectively get their advice
across.

Even though this digital board is very much student centred, it is

important for the teacher to be aware of what is posted and how often
students are posting. For this reason, we had a Check In spreadsheet
present on the page so teachers could mark which students are posting
and which students have been inactive on the digital board and this can
be easily viewed by the students. If this project were to be continued in
the school, we recommend that the teacher taking the class be diligent in
keeping track of students postings as well as holding students
accountable for their work, otherwise students may disengage from the
digital board and cease posting their Point of Confusions online.

Personal Reflection
I firmly believe that the idea of our ACP would have been quite beneficial
for the AVID class at Point Cook Senior Secondary. AVID has been
implemented in the school very well, though I believe an online platform
that the students could access to post their Point of Confusions and ask
assistance from their peers would have been immensely helpful. The
students worked well in tutorials though they were only held once a week
and looking back on my own high school years, I often had more than one
area of confusion each week that I needed assistance with. Therefore, I
think this platform could have worked brilliantly as the students already
have a great relationship with each other and their teacher and this idea
would have brought the students closer together as colleagues capable of
assisting each other without a teacher needing to be physically present.
When we implemented this program, the students were quite responsive
with it and seemed encouraged by our enthusiasm with developing a 24/7
AVID page just for them.
However, there were some issues in the implementation of this project
though I admit it was at the fault of the group. Being a group of seven, it
became quite challenging to find time for all of us to conference as more
often than not one or two pre-service teachers would be absent. Because
of this, it took longer than necessary to solidify our plan and implement it
in the class. Along with this, the assigned check-in days for each PST to
login and mark the online participation sheet was unsuccessful as majority
of the PSTs forgot due to their other commitments in the school and it fell
mainly on two PSTs to administer the project. If I had the chance to re-do
this project, I would work in a smaller group and would want it

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implemented in the AVID class within the first week of the six week block
so that students can make the most of the program and that we, as
administrators, could have seen whether it could be as successful as it
should have been.