I am an ELL teacher, and I am also the AVID coordinator at my school in Phoenix.

I am technology-challenged, but I am always eager to figure out things and not shy about asking for help. I have not taught third grade in a very long time, 13 years maybe? I teach 4th, 5th, and 6th-grade ELL students at my school in Phoenix, Arizona. I have the 4th and 5th graders for the entire ELA block and the 6th graders for 50 minutes of their ELA block. Our adopted curriculum already has AVID strategies throughout all the stages of reading. Now that I know the new content a bit better, in this second year of curriculum implementation, I hope to do a better job with the strategies. I still have so much to learn, and I am thrilled to begin this learning cycle with you. I know that we will learn a great deal together, and we will refine our practice.

I love to travel and go to theater shows (which you probably already know). I am entering my 11th year at Fridley Middle School this fall and my 17th year of teaching. See you all once this course kicks off!

I am a kindergarten teacher from ABCUSD in sunny Southern California. I’m passionate about creating a fun, nurturing, and engaging classroom where young learners feel safe, supported, and excited to grow. I’m always looking for new ways to support my students, and I’m excited to continue learning and growing as an AVID educator!

I am Tracy Strandberg, and I teach 3rd grade in Mt. Angel, Oregon. I am also the AVID Site Coordinator for our school. I am excited to take this new AVID journey with you! I look forward to applying my experience and learning to help my 3rd-grade students grow in new ways. I also hope to inspire my colleagues to further their AVID skills with students as well.

I love watching sports, playing drums, building computers, and pretending to be a serious movie critic. This school year, I will be teaching 6th grade mathematics for the first time in 11 years, and will continue teaching algebra I for the 12th consecutive year. I feel I learned a great deal last year as my school district pivoted over to Illustrative Mathematics, and I am determined to improve my skills as a facilitator in order to give my students as much time to discuss, debate, and argue about the math we will cover. I look forward to working with you all :)

My name is Darrell John Ahue and I'm from Hawaii. I think this would be my 11th year teaching... I think... Anyway, before that, I was a Paraprofessional working 1:1 with students with disabilities of all ages. That's what made me want to become a teacher.

After a while, they offered me the Curriculum Coordinator position and I accepted it, supporting my teachers from outside the classroom. I'm slated to help teach our GT program and eventually support as an AVID Site Coordinator.

My school has trained me in AVID when I first got hired and I've been using it ever since. Due to a transient population, we have teachers from all around the world coming to Makalapa, some who have never heard of AVID. It is my goal from this class to be better equipped to support my teachers as they learn about our school and our systems, especially AVID.

I look forward to working with each of you as we navigate this program.

Mahalo nui loa!

I'm currently teaching in Chatham County, where I get to wear multiple hats - I teach the AVID elective for our 6th-8th graders, College and Career Exploration through our CTE program, and I also support our 5th graders with AVID Elementary. There's nothing quite like watching those lightbulb moments when students start connecting their dreams to real pathways!

I'm originally from Rockingham - yes, home of the famous dragway and NASCAR country - so I bring a little bit of that "start your engines" energy to everything I do! Whether we're diving into Cornell notes, exploring career clusters, or helping students organize their futures, I love seeing our kids discover that college and career readiness isn't just possible - it's exciting.

I'm looking forward to learning from all of you, sharing ideas, and continuing to grow together as we prepare our students to be successful in whatever path they choose. Let's make this a great year of collaboration and student success!

One commonality that I noticed so far in our home group is that we don't teach in a "traditional" homeroom class setting. We service students that come from a variety of backgrounds, such as ELL or GT. I'm excited to learn from my home group teammates and look forward to seeing how we will grow as educators this year.

My name is Yolonda K. White, also known as Dr. Yolonda White. I've been an educator for 22 years in various roles. My highest level of education is Educational Specialist (Doctorate) Degree in Educational Leadership. I was born in Torrington, Connecticut and attended school in Florida. I'm excited about my AVID Certified Educator (ACE) journey, grateful for being selected.

I have 3 adult children, my dad is a United States Air Force Veteran and a retired teacher, my mom is a Barbizon Model School graduate.

I've attended one virtual AVID conference before, but I feel somewhat familiar with AVID philosophy / approach to instruction through systems and strategies, so I'm hopeful that I can adapt this experience to my unique context. As a teacher in an immersion setting, I use a lot of scaffolds (and often!) to support student learning and to help them demonstrate their understanding more effectively. I'm interested in trying out some AVID strategies with my partner teacher so that our students can apply the same strategies in BOTH languages.

I'm noticing that we are all language teachers, or support language learners, which should make for some rich conversations!

Sorry I don't yet have a portfolio site to share with you -- I've reached out for help figuring out how to copy the template.

Looking forward to meeting / working with you.

I'm Lawren Hill- I work in Hagerstown, MD, teaching 9-10 ELA. This is my second year as an AVID teacher and this coming year, I'll be teaching the AVID 10 Elective! I just completed my MAT in December of 2024- my second Master's (first is in Vocal Performance).

I used AVID strategies last year in my edTPA and passed with smashing success- AVID strategies work! I'm looking forward to learning a lot during this session and working with you all!

https://sites.google.com/wcps.k12.md.us/lawrenhill/home

Maria

I’m grateful to extend that work beyond my school as a Staff Developer for AVID Center, supporting teachers and schools across the country.

I met my husband while we were both working in education—he’s since moved into the corporate world—and together we have a sweet and spirited 2.5-year-old daughter. I also totally copied this from the other Padlet post LOL - Looking forward to getting to know you all!

I'm Beth Duncan. I've been teaching 20 years at Vista Ridge High School in Cedar Park, TX - right outside Austin (Keep Austin Weird!).

I currently teach the AVID elective for 9th graders (I'll follow them up to 10th next year). I also teach AP World History and AP European History.

I've been married to my senior prom date for 27 years and have 2 sons - Connor (21) and Zach (16). We adopt former racing greyhounds and currently have 2 - Thor and Diana. I love sci-fi, comedies, British murder mystery books and shows, cooking and I shoot a compound bow for stress relief, lol. I watch college football and baseball and have come to love hockey - the minor league team for the Dallas Stars is 10 mins from school. I grew up in Baton Rouge, LA on LSU's campus - dad was a professor - and so bleed purple and gold.

This will be my 9th year at Ross, and I weirdly still view myself as a high school teacher, which is totally not the case. I teach 7th grade ELA and I also have two sections of PE. I have also taught Journalism, Speech and Debate, ELD, and ASB along my educational journey.

I have a lot of hobbies, including any obscure sport you can imagine, Dungeons and Dragons, and road-tripping.

Here is the link to my website.

this will be my 10th year at FMS and only my second year where I am not teaching any Lang. and Lit.

I absolutely love sunshine and warmth. I don't care how hot it is, you can find me soaking up the sun somewhere. I'm so excited to learn more about AVID with everyone and excited to help grow it in our building together. I used to play soccer, but I haven't done that in so many years. I am left handed but do a lot of things a right handed person would do. I really love the community of AVID and how our students take pride in their learning by being in the program.

In my 27 years as an educator, I have learned that a classroom is just like a family. We work...struggle...get frustrated... cry... laugh... learn... grow... celebrate... and miss each other.

I am thrilled to be part of this opportunity to learn from you as we collaborate this year. What an incredible opportunity to join with other passionate AVID educators across our country. Link to my Capstone AVID Portfolio

I currently teach 6th grade science and will begin my 5th year teaching 7th grade AVID Elective class. I loop with my students 7th-8th grade which is wonderful to witness their growth over two years. I will begin my 4th year as an AVID Co-Coordinator. Our MS is approximately 750 students with roughly 80% ESOL students with Spanish as the primary language. Our school re-validated as an AVID Demo school this past year marking the 16th year as a Demo school. The process created a cohesive collaborative staff like I have never seen in a school. We believe if teachers will... students can!

AVID brings HOPE to our students. The HOPE of college... the HOPE of doing something they enjoy... the HOPE of a dream becoming a reality.

I am ready to begin this journey with you!

My name is Dr. Shelby Bessette and I beyond excited to start the AVID Certified Educator program!

I currently teach the AVID Elective class for 7th, 8th and 9th grade at Patton Junior High School on Fort Leavenworth in Kansas. This will be my 4th year teaching the AVID elective and my 2nd year at Patton. I'm grateful I was able to help implement AVID at Fort Leavenworth, after having experience in my pervious district.

While I work in Kansas, I actually live on the Missouri side in Kansas City. My Fiancé and I are getting married this November. We enjoy going on trips as well as reading! We have two cats we love very much.

I have always enjoyed learning about AVID, especially since I worked at a National Demo middle school during my first year of teaching. I truly believe AVID works for ALL students and that is why I am so grateful for the program.

Something I enjoy is getting to know my students interests and where they want their future to go! Not all students will go the traditional college route, and that is why I appreciate AVID's ability to make students College AND Career ready for a global society!

My name is Gabriela Lopez, and I am currently in my fifth year as an educator at Fontana High School in Fontana, California. As a former AVID student and AVID tutor, I was proud to take on the role of AVID elective teacher for the first time last year. In addition to teaching AVID, I also teach chemistry and have a deep passion for science education. Although my time in the classroom has been relatively short, I have experienced tremendous growth and remain eager to continue learning and developing as an educator. Outside of teaching, I enjoy spending my evenings horseback riding, walking my dogs, cooking, and exploring exciting new travel destinations.

I'm also a musician, and like I see Lawren posted on here, I started my college journey as a vocal performance major, but changed my major after my 3rd Semester to English Literature, finishing with a minor in music and a Bachelors in English Literature. I then went on to get my post-baccalaureate certification, and my M. Ed. from The University of Minnesota, which is where I also did my undergrad.

I look forward to working with you all!

Here is my ACE website: https://sites.google.com/d/1FMG4xSZ8XMqyrzJ85inK-hoFTf7yaQJU/p/1kTGTbgPL6Uh9LlzOKNvM8Z4xaqotuY1o/edit

Capstone Portfolio Website

After reading many of the padlet posts, it looks like I have come full circle...from teaching/ attending college in California and Arizona to Illinois, Texas and finally, Minnesota.

For two years, I worked at an international school in Sao Paulo, Brazil where I was part of the IB program--lots of stress but wonderful colleagues and many opportunities to travel!

Next on my summer plans is connecting with friends in Alaska. Never been to Kodiak Island so looking forward to eating a lot of salmon and long conversations over coffee!

I love watching and coaching sports, playing video games, and watching new and upcoming shows (and before you ask yes I am a Love Island girl). I look forward to working with you all and learning more about you:)

We share our home with an energetic 18-month-old labradoodle who definitely keeps us on our toes. I also love to travel—my most recent trip was to San Miguel de Allende in Mexico, a UNESCO World Heritage site known for its stunning 16th-century Spanish colonial baroque architecture.

My favorite sport to watch is baseball, and I’m a big Los Angeles Dodgers fan. I also watch soccer with my husband, though I admit I can only handle so many matches before suggesting we switch to something else!

My website can be located here !

My name is Monica Garcia. I am an AVID Elective Teacher and AVID Coordinator at Christiana High School located in Newark, DE. I am originally from Trenton, NJ. Dover, Delaware has been my home now for almost 22 years now. I am also a Special Education Teacher and past Cross Country Coach. Besides teaching the AVID Elective, I have also taught English, and two reading programs System 44 and Read 180. I have over twenty years of teaching experience and I am a lifelong learner. I am married and the proud mother of one and gifted two (my niece and nephew). We have a Boston Terrier and newly adopted Huskey mix. My family is my everything including my Sorors of Zeta Phi Beta Sorority Incorporated. I am so excited about my AVID journey!

This will be my 6th year as a 7th grade math teacher in Mesa, AZ.

Outside of the classroom I love travel, and all things Disney! I go to Disneyland and Disneyworld at least once a year, especially because my best friend from middle school loved to Orlando and works at one of the Disney parks. I have also fallen in love with running and completing 5k and 10k races.

I can't wait to work with you all throughout this year and learn from each other.

Here is my Website

I'm excited to get to work with you all!

Here is my website.

Capstone Portfolio Website

My name is Christina Reyer, and I just got moved into this group. I currently teach first grade in Roswell, NM and have been teaching for 18 years. I am part of our schools core AVID team and enjoy working on strategies that work great for our kids.

https://sites.google.com/view/tracyvax/home

New Bern is at the intersection of two rivers—the Neuse and the Trent and the water is a big part of the community.

*Fun Fact* New Bern was founded in 1710 by Swiss and Palatine German immigrants, who named it after Bern, Switzerland. That’s why our town mascot is a bear! We have bears all over town!

I look forward to working and learning with you.