Prior to the pandemic, more and more schools and districts across the United States were shifting to 1:1, meaning they had one device for every single student. As a result of the pandemic, an even greater number of schools and districts have gone 1:1, so we ask the question: Now what? In this week's podcast, we begin to shift the conversation from how we get technology into the classroom to how we might create an inclusive, technology-rich environment that fosters student agency and student ownership. Visit AVID Open Access to learn more.

As we face increasing disruption to our routines of living and learning, the conversation about access to learning has become more prominent across the US. In today’s episode, we explore how educators can provide inclusive and innovative solutions to help students navigate their personal pathways to learning. We begin by addressing the following question: How can we provide students with multiple means of engagement? We discuss a common lesson design issue where teachers are instructed to create lessons for the average student. But does the average student really exist? Join us as we answer this question and explore Universal Design for Learning (UDL). Visit AVID Open Access to learn more.

The idea of building relationships has been a frequent topic of conversation in K–12 education over the last few years, especially when thinking about working with communities of color and other marginalized identities. Today, we reflect on the thoughts of Zaretta Hammond—educator and subject-matter expert on culturally responsive teaching—regarding the benefits of getting to know your students. She mentions the practice of using “cultural knowledge as a scaffold to connect what the student knows to new concepts and content…” We explore what she means by that and how this might look in the classroom. Visit AVID Open Access to learn more.

Privilege and the role that it plays in our relationships and communication styles implicitly and explicitly impacts how we manage difficult conversations. One of the things we often forget to recognize is that we all have stories—the narratives that we tell ourselves to understand our world. Instead of shying away from or ignoring conversations about challenging topics, we need to understand that how we think about race, class, and gender impact how we manage our place within the world. Today, we are going to model how to have a difficult conversation between three people from different parts of the world, with different identities, experiences, and points of view. Visit AVID Open Access to learn more.

In this episode, the team shares their strategies, goals, and lessons learned about prioritizing self-care as a teacher. Filled with warmth, humor, and vulnerability, the team wonders how we might learn to give ourselves the same grace we extend to others…and how to do it without feeling guilty. Easier said than done. We know. Join us as we discuss the nature of self-care and the paradox of feeling like self-care means selfish, when in fact, the opposite is true. Visit AVID Open Access to learn more.

In this week's episode, we meet with our special guest—a high school History teacher and History Department Chair at New Visions Advanced Math and Science II in the Bronx—Ruben Martinez. Ruben shares his focus on empathy and learning who's in his class to help engage students in learning as they build new routines in the face-to-face classroom. Together, Ruben and the team share the surprises and insights they have encountered as the new school year begins, and they remind us that we all went through it this year. We all need a hug. That hug might look different for everyone. It might be a high-five. It might be about the Knicks… But we must remember to take a moment to learn to interact again. Visit AVID Open Access to learn more.

Transitions happen. As we start back to school this year, we need to help our students understand and prepare for change. Join us as we welcome our special guest, Amini Onowho—a PreK–2 teacher in an Inclusion/Sheltered English Immersion classroom in Boston, Massachusetts—to discuss how we might begin the school year by slowing down to take the time to build a classroom culture where our young students enjoy the learning process. Amini shares with the team how to recognize the external and internal factors that may impede a child's social, emotional, and academic development as well as her strategies for navigating the transition back to school this year with her young learners. Visit AVID Open Access to learn more.

This year, you may know less about what happened in the previous school year. As you start to build relationships with students, it's important to ask questions about what they did learn—framing it as a desire to be a more effective teacher. Join us this week as we meet Tina Y. Gourd, a professor in the College of Education at the University of Washington. Tina helps us reframe assessment by looking at it through the lens of teacher agency in rearticulating education and nurturing social change to positively impact students' educational experience. Visit AVID Open Access to learn more.

At the start of an academic year, we know that our students will return to us after the summer break with some gaps in their learning. The approach that we recommend to engage students in the learning process is to think about how we might accelerate learning, which emphasizes a proactive and positive mindset. Join us this week as we discuss how to develop a student-centered approach to accelerate learning and develop opportunities to foster student agency with our special guest: 8th grade language arts, social studies, and AVID Elective teacher, Danielle Reyes. Visit AVID Open Access to learn more.

This week, Danielle Reyes—8th grade language arts, social studies, and AVID Elective teacher—joins the team once again to share ideas on how to connect with students to build classroom community in order to accelerate learning this school year. In this episode, we spend time digging deep into relationship-building strategies, sharing practical and easy-to-implement best practices you can use with your students this school year. Visit AVID Open Access to learn more.