QuickWrite: Believing in Yourself

Our second QuickWrite (a short timed writing to help get ideas on paper quickly) of the year centered around a quote from Henry Ford. "Whether you think you can or think you can't, you're right". Students were asked to respond as to what Ford meant. While not everyone came to the same conclusion, most responses dealt with the importance of believing in one's own abilities to succeed. Conversely, when you doubt your abilities, you are often predicting your failure.

For our AVID students, many are just now understanding the hard work involved on the path to college. The outcome of their life has not been determined at this point. With the support provided through AVID, without a doubt these students can achieve their college goals.

Team building: Tower of Power

Being able to work in a group is a skill that will be beneficial throughout someone's life. Through collaborative activities, AVID students are able to learn how to more effectively work with students from a variety of groups.

The challenge this week was called Tower of Power. Students were sorted into groups different from their regular table groups. Each group was given the same set of materials:

• paper bag
• 3 index cards
• 2 pieces of paper
• 2 large paper clips
• 3 small paper clips
• a straw
• 1 rubber band
• a small plastic drink lid
• a ruler
• a paintbrush

Groups were given 20 minutes to build the tallest tower possible with only the provided materials. Towers had to be free standing and remain standing during the measuring process. The group in each class that designed and built the tallest tower won one of our fabu

lous AVID prizes. The tallest structure out of both classes was 34" with second place coming in at just under 33". After the activity, each student was given an opportunity to evaluate the group process and identify areas of frustration. Evaluations will be discussed in groups.

Research: Texas Colleges

Part of the focus of AVID is College Awareness. In order to expose the AVID students to the many colleges here in Texas, the 8th grade students each created a PowerPoint presentation of a particular school. A "lottery" style selection process was used to ensure a variety of schools were chosen. Students were given five days to research their school and put together their presentation. As a part of this process each student will write a letter to their chosen school requesting information. Over the coming weeks, each student will present their slide show to the class.

"Begin with the end in mind."

To start off our new year, the 8th grade AVID students were asked to share their thoughts on this quote: "Begin with the end in mind." Some of the thoughts are shared below:

• Begin with the future in mind; think about how you want the end to be.
• When you start your education, you should always have college in mind.
• Begin with a plan that goes from start to finish.
• Think about your future now because that is going to be where you spend the rest of your life.
• Think about who you want to be and where you want to stand and do what you need to do in order to achieve those things.
• To begin with the end is to already have your plan for the future so you can work towards it.
• Start with the ending and then go from there; always think of the future.

To me "beginning with the end in mind," means to know what you end goal is and begin doing the things now that will help you reach that goal. It is never too early to begin preparing yourself for college. These 8th graders are just beginning an incredible path that will lead them straight to their dreams. In the words of our principal, Mr. Daniel, "Press On!"

End of Summer

Today marks the official last day of summer before heading back to school for the 2010-2011 school year. I hope that everyone has had some chances to relax and have some fun this summer. While my plan for my summer included a lot of this, it turns out that summer was much different than I expected. The third week of summer I got to participate in one of the national AVID Summer Institutes with several other teachers from our school. Just like always this was a great week for getting excited about what we do in AVID.

On the final Friday of the conference my summer took a dramatic change. My father called to tell me that my mother was being rushed to the hospital in Houston where we would eventually find out she had a brain tumor and would have to undergo brain surgery. I ended up having to spend almost a month down in Houston away from my wife and kids. While it was good to be able to be with my mom, it was tough being gone from my Dallas home so long.

The highlight of summer came at the beginning of August when my wife and I were able to spend a week in Ecuador in South America working in an orphanage on the edge of the Amazon rain forest. Both the beauty and poverty of Ecuador was amazing and it really made both of us think about how good we have it here in the U.S.

Now, being back only two weeks, school is beginning once again. I am looking forward to meeting new students in both AVID and Art and to hearing of the successes of former students who are off to high school.

Mr. Temple's Facebook Page

As more and more students begin using the social networking site Facebook, I figured it was a good place to directly communicate with my AVID students. MISD policy states that when teachers use a site such as Facebook, all communication must be done using a separate "professional page" so I have set up one for me to use. If you ever have any questions or need help with anything, please let me know and I will always do what I can to help out. I hope everyone has a great year ahead for them!

Summer Reading

Just a reminder to everyone taking preAP English next year at either West Mesquite or Mesquite: READ! Hopefully by this point you have at least gotten well into either Cold Mountain (WMHS) or The Odyssey (MHS). Remember that you have another self-selected book as well. Be sure to follow the instructions in your assignments carefully.

First impressions are REALLY IMPORTANT in freshman honor classes so don't be the student that begins the first day with your teacher thinking you aren't the preAP type!