Naomi Fuentes, Odessa High School Teacher of the Year, shares how her 20-year journey in education has been shaped by patience, vulnerability, servant leadership, and a deep commitment to helping students grow. Naomi reflects on how honest self-assessment and student feedback transformed her classroom practice. She discusses the power of asking students what they need, setting healthy boundaries around vulnerability, and scaffolding academic discourse so that every learner—especially those who are quiet or struggling—can take risks, speak up, and participate with confidence. She shares a hopeful and positive message that when educators are willing to reflect, adjust, and improve, students benefit because they deserve our best.

Throughout the episode, Naomi stresses that kids deserve educators who are willing to look honestly at their practice and make meaningful adjustments. That kind of reflection is not always easy, and Naomi makes that clear when she describes asking students for feedback and realizing that she was “not prepared for real, honest talk.” But that uncomfortable honesty became a turning point. By listening to students, taking their responses seriously, and adjusting her instruction, she began to build a classroom culture rooted in trust, clarity, and shared growth. A central takeaway from this episode is that vulnerability means being real, professional, and willing to model growth. Naomi connects this mindset to practical classroom strategies like short surveys, quickwrites, and intentionally scaffolded discussions. These small but purposeful shifts helped more students in her classroom participate, take academic risks, and find their voices. As Naomi says, “Your kids deserve better, so be better, get better.” Visit AVID Open Access to learn more.

In today’s episode, we'll explore the findings reported in an MIT study released in June 2025, Your Brain on ChatGPT: Accumulation of Cognitive Debt when Using an AI Assistant for Essay Writing Task. Visit AVID Open Access to learn more.

In today’s episode, we'll explore seven additional ways that AI can be effectively integrated into the fifth step of AVID's focused note-taking process, as students apply learning to the real world. Visit AVID Open Access to learn more.

In today’s episode, we'll explore eight ways that AI can be effectively integrated when students are applying learning to new thinking during the fifth step of AVID's focused note-taking process. Visit AVID Open Access to learn more.

In this episode, Katie White draws on her more than 30 years of experience in education and frames assessment as a dynamic, ongoing process that drives learning forward. Our conversation with Katie is a powerful one about common misconceptions surrounding assessment, the importance of student agency, and why the way that we respond to assessment evidence matters more than the assessment itself.

Katie also shares practical insights on using qualitative data, embedding self-assessment, and creating classroom environments where mistakes are embraced as essential to growth. If you’re looking to rethink how assessment supports both teaching and learning, this episode offers a compelling and actionable perspective. Visit AVID Open Access to learn more.

In today’s episode, we'll explore eight ways that AI can be effectively integrated into the fourth step of AVID's focused note-taking process, when students summarize and reflect on their learning. Visit AVID Open Access to learn more.

In today’s episode, we'll explore ways that AI can be effectively integrated into the third step of AVID's focused note-taking process, which involves connecting thinking. Visit AVID Open Access to learn more.