School Name: Aldergrove Community Secondary
School District: SD#35 Langley
Inquiry Team Members: NLuteijn@sd35.bc.ca
ARoss@sd35.bc.ca
TBrenie@sd35.bc.ca
Inquiry Team Contact Email: nluteijn@sd35.bc.ca
Type of Inquiry: NOIIE
Focus Addressed: To work on the scope and sequence for successful transitions of students in AVID from grades 9 to 12, continue to align AVID Centre curriculum standards with BC curricular competencies and Aboriginal world views, and build on that synergy of literacy strategies with AVID strategies to a school wide literacy plan to prepare students for a successful transition to college, careers and life.
Inquiry Story: Attempting to familiarize ourselves with the phases of the Spiral of Inquiry and the scanning phase, some current AVID and non-AVID students were asked the four key questions. A greater sample of student responses in September would provide us with a better idea of what is going on with our learners. Teaching all students how to learn and setting them up for a successful transition for life after high school, is the drive behind developing a school wide literacy plan leading towards achieving an AVID site of distinction. The refined scope and sequence of AVID 9 to 12, is another starting point for determining the strategies taught to all students. In September, all grade 9’s will focus on organization and time-management strategies with the use of an agenda book. The collaboration of the English and Social Studies departments in June resulted in, the agreed use of universal literacy strategies with the teaching and use of focused notes, text annotation, paragraph structure, and common essay outlines — for grade 9; identifying source reliability, textbook deconstruction, Socratic discussion, and Costa’s Levels of Inquiry — for grade 10; and writing to a deliberate audience, identify bias, incorporate quotes and presentation skills — for grade 11. The leadership and collaboration of these two departments will hopefully have a ripple effect in other departments.
Scaffolding collaboration skills was also identified as a need. District staff provided some assistance referring us to Erkens, Schimmer & Vagles’s book Growing Tomorrow’s Citizens in Today’s Classrooms: Assessing Seven Critical Competencies Teaching Strategeis for Soft Skills and 21st- Century – Skills Assessment Methods (2018), and specifically to a sample collaboration rubric.