AVID Note Taking is Digital Too!

A lot of people get the impression from AVID that it's all about papers and binders.  Well, I'm here to tell you: IT DOESN'T HAVE TO BE!

My fourth grade dual language students right now are working through a self-paced learning module that I created on Blackboard for math about multiplicative comparison.  At the beginning of the module, they build background knowledge by watching a series of videos.  Some of the videos cover grade level content.  I also include videos from past grade levels for students who may not be quite on level and some videos that contain advanced content for my students who are ready for that content.

In the past, I asked students to take notes on the videos in notebooks without much direction.  This year, I upped my game and created an AVID note taking sheet to help focus students as they watch the videos with both an essential question and look-fors in the videos.  I made the note taking sheet in Google Docs and exported it as a PDF which I distributed to my students on Google Classroom.  They in turn sent this note taking sheet to Notability and put it in their digital math thoughtful log.

As students watch the videos, they complete the note taking sheet in Notability.  Afterwards, they work on several hands-on activities to practice their learning.

Here is where the power of the note taking sheet comes in

Students then meet with their math partner to discuss their notes.  They use the information from both of their notes, and then create a product.  The product is either a 2 minute iMovie explaining the concepts of the unit or a mini anchor chart.

Going back and reviewing the notes is a powerful reminder of what they've learned.  It's also an opportunity to add more depending on what their math partner has written down.  This is our first unit doing this, so we're still working on that part.

Isn't this just Substitution?
Perhaps.  If your students simply watch the videos and then write their notes, then it's just substitution.  My students are starting to augment their notes, though.  I have some students who have the video and notes open on split screen to be writing and watching the videos at the same time.  They are also screenshotting certain parts to remember and use examples and are then annotating the pictures that they are inserting into their note taking sheet.

So 
If you thought that AVID is paper and binder only.  You just got one easy, quick way to make it digital.