#502 – From Honest Reflection to Lasting Change, with Naomi Fuentes, Odessa High School Teacher of the Year

If you are listening to the podcast with your instructional team or would like to explore this topic more deeply, here are guiding questions to prompt your reflection:

• How can honest self-reflection improve classroom practice?
• What makes student feedback valuable, even when it is hard to hear?
• How can teachers model vulnerability while maintaining professional boundaries?
• Why is it important to scaffold student discussion skills?
• How can quick surveys help teachers understand classroom culture?
• What does it mean to make instructional choices with intention?
• How can teachers help quiet or hesitant students take academic risks?

• AVID (official website)
• Become an AVID Certified Educator (AVID)
• AVID Certified Educator Application (AVID)

#502 From Honest Reflection to Lasting Change, with Naomi Fuentes, Odessa High School Teacher of the Year

AVID Open Access
35 min

Transcript

The following transcript was automatically generated from the podcast audio by generative artificial intelligence.  Because of the automated nature of the process, this transcript may include unintended transcription and mechanical errors.

Naomi Fuentes 0:00 You have to look at yourself with the eyes that you’re not perfect. You can always improve. Your kids deserve better. So be better. Get better. If you can fix a problem, fix it. If you can change something, change it, because your students deserve that.

Winston Benjamin 0:17 The topic for today’s podcast is “From Honest Reflection to Lasting Change” with Naomi Fuentes, the Odessa High School Teacher of the Year. Unpacking Education is brought to you by AVID. AVID believes in seeing the potential of every student. To learn more about AVID, visit their website at avid.org.

Rena Clark 0:38 Welcome to Unpacking Education, the podcast where we explore current issues and best practices in education. I’m Rena Clark.

Paul Beckermann 0:50 I’m Paul Beckermann.

Winston Benjamin 0:51 And I’m Winston Benjamin. We are educators,

Paul Beckermann 0:55 and we’re here to share insights and actionable strategies.

Student 0:59 Education is our passport to the future.

Winston Benjamin 1:03 Our quote for today is the Ector County ISD mission statement. It reads: “Believing our students are the future, the mission of the Ector County ISD is to inspire and challenge every student to be prepared for success and to be adaptable in an ever-changing society.” I like that, but I also have to love the fact that they capitalize certain things to really emphasize what they mean. That is beautiful. So Paul, what are your thoughts on this?

Paul Beckermann 1:40 I’m going to zoom in on one of those capitalized words, and that word is “our.” It’s a simple word, but it means a whole lot to me. It’s our students. I love that implied wraparound relationship of serving the students together. It’s this joint mission to help these students be everything that they can be, because they are our future, and they’re their future. That collective is always so much more powerful than working in isolation. I love that wraparound “our.”

Winston Benjamin 2:14 I truly agree with that. I’m also struck by “ever-changing society,” because I know that I’m teaching kids in a world very different from the one I grew up in. I didn’t even grow up in the full internet era, so me trying to prepare my students based on how I think about social interactions, friendships, understanding education, doing their work — the very idea of doing their work is very different now. How do we, as teachers living in a modern experience, really think outside the box to allow students to be prepared for where they’re going? I love that part of the mission statement because it’s focused on allowing them to thrive in their future.

I’m so glad we got a chance to talk about that quote, because we have a wonderful representative from that school district here. We are excited to welcome Naomi Fuentes to the podcast. Thank you so much for coming. As alluded to in our episode title, Naomi is the Odessa High School Teacher of the Year.

Paul Beckermann 3:34 That’s another round of applause right there.

Winston Benjamin 3:36 Talk about it.

Naomi Fuentes 3:37 Oh, thank you.

Winston Benjamin 3:39 She’s also an alumna of the AVID Certified Educator cohort. Naomi, welcome. Thank you so much for being here today.

Naomi Fuentes 3:47 Well, thank you for having me.

Winston Benjamin 3:48 We appreciate you. Here’s the part where we give our listeners an opportunity to really get to know who you are. We know you’re the Teacher of the Year, but could you tell us about your role in Ector County ISD, what drew you to AVID, and your educational journey into this experience?

Naomi Fuentes 4:12 I would love to share that with you. I started out as an English teacher. I’ve been the AVID site coordinator for quite a few years now. It’s my 20th year teaching. The previous coordinator sent me to an AVID Summer Institute, and I was just blown away. That is the best training I have ever been to, hands down. I remember getting on the plane home and I started taking notes on what I wanted to get started with in my English classes. As soon as there was an opportunity to teach AVID, I said, “Pick me, pick me!” And she did. I’ve just been in love with AVID ever since. It’s been my heart for a very long time.

Paul Beckermann 5:05 Excellent. I want to focus a little bit on the Teacher of the Year recognition, because that is an incredible honor. Congratulations once again. What did that recognition mean to you personally when you were notified?

Naomi Fuentes 5:18 When I saw the email, it took me by surprise. It means a lot, but I have a little bit of imposter syndrome, so it’s always like, “Are you sure? Are you sure you meant to pick me?” Even with the AVID Certified Educator program, it’s like, “Are you sure I was accepted? Are you sure I completed the work correctly?” I’ve always had that — I don’t fully trust that I’m doing all I can do.

But it meant so much that someone nominated me in the first place. I consider myself a servant leader, so if I’m helping people, I feel like I have purpose. What it means to me is: wow, the teachers are taking notice, and they appreciate that I’m helping them. That means a lot to me because I love helping. I want to help and be there for my students, and if I can help someone get where they want or need to be, then that helps me too.

Paul Beckermann 6:29 That makes total sense. You’re amplifying your impact by helping others so that they can go on and help more people. It’s like a chain reaction.

Winston Benjamin 6:42 I want to add something, Naomi, that really hit me. You sound so much like so many students who need someone to believe in them because of their imposter syndrome and self-doubt — “Wait, I can’t be that smart, I can’t be this.” Having someone validate you is powerful. As adults, just as much as young people, we need validation from others to recognize our own greatness. I appreciate you being so honest about that.

Paul Beckermann 7:24 And clearly your colleagues do see you — they elected you to that position. That’s fantastic. I’m curious: was there someone who shaped you as an educator, someone who poured into you and helped you become who you are?

Naomi Fuentes 7:43 I can’t say there’s one specific teacher — there were several. The interesting thing is, I teach English, but I struggled with reading. I’m a slow reader, still to this day. But I had teachers who were patient and understood that just because I learn differently or a little slower than some people, that’s just a different way of learning. They took time to sit with me and explain that. I wanted to be that kind of teacher, because I also had the other kind — the ones who essentially said, “You’re just not fast enough, you’re not getting what we want you to get out of this literature.”

The teachers who were patient and took the time — I wanted to be that for my students. Struggling students need that. It’s easy to say, “I’ll get to you in a second, just got to keep going, got to get through the curriculum.” As a student who struggled, that bothered me. That’s part of why I jumped into English. I think every day about those special teachers who were patient with me.

Paul Beckermann 9:09 Thank you for sharing that.

Winston Benjamin 9:11 I appreciate your vulnerability, because you’re demonstrating this powerful act we see in schools — learners are willing to try and take chances in a space where they feel they won’t be judged. You modeled that just now. You also speak about being vulnerable with your students. A lot of us say we want to be vulnerable teachers, we want to model vulnerability — but it’s something else to make it an essential practice. What was the change that helped you make vulnerability intentional in your classroom?

Naomi Fuentes 9:55 I realized at some point that I had always been doing it, but now I was doing it with intention. The misconception is that vulnerability means being too emotional or sharing too much. What it really is — you’re just being real. You’re modeling that it’s okay to make mistakes, that it’s okay to pivot when a lesson doesn’t turn out right, that it’s okay to admit, “This isn’t what I planned.” When you’re vulnerable, it’s about being real. I also think it’s part of building grit in students. We’re going to fail, we’re going to make mistakes, but you have to get up and keep going. I don’t want them to think teachers have all the answers. I want them to question. I want them to be vulnerable themselves so they can start taking academic risks.

It was actually the AVID Certified Educator program that pushed me into self-reflection. I realized I do admit when I’m wrong — and I am wrong a lot — and I apologize to my students. I tell them, “I’m so sorry, this was wrong, let me fix it.” And if I don’t know something, I want them to know it’s okay not to know. Go find the answer.

In the ACE program, we went over a resource that said: if you want to know how your students feel about your classroom, just ask them. I did. And I was not ready for their responses.

Winston Benjamin 11:41 Hmm.

Naomi Fuentes 11:42 I thought I was an okay teacher, doing all right. And then the feedback came, and I was like, ouch. That hurt. I was not prepared for real, honest talk. They were saying things like, “Maybe you should do this instead…” There were a few things that really stood out. Teachers need to ask their students. They need to be vulnerable and take that risk, because it is going to hurt sometimes — but they need to ask. If you want to know what’s happening in your classroom, just ask. And I was not prepared for that level of honesty. But I needed to hear it.

Paul Beckermann 12:28 That makes me wonder: are there some boundaries teachers need to maintain around vulnerability in order to keep it healthy and professional?

Naomi Fuentes 12:40 Absolutely. When I say keep it real, you also have to remember that you are the adult and the professional. Vulnerability is not oversharing. Students are not your friends — they are students you need to teach. The boundary is: don’t overshare. Be real, be honest, but keep it professional. They don’t need to know the details of your personal life. They can know that something’s going on, because they’re going to see you, and it’s okay to be real. But you’re not their friend; you’re their teacher.

This is why people shy away from vulnerability — they equate it with oversharing and losing emotional control. Teachers might think, “If I show too much, I’m going to lose control of my classroom.” So yes, boundaries are essential. The bottom line is: you’re the professional, you’re the adult, but students have to see that you’re not perfect, that things don’t always go as planned, and that you keep going anyway. That’s an important lesson for kids.

Winston Benjamin 14:17 You used the word “control,” and that makes me think about the difference between authority and authoritarianism. A good coach is an authority — you trust them, you follow their guidance, not because they’ve dominated you but because they’ve earned your trust. When it becomes about control, that’s often where things get problematic and kids push back. During your ACE journey, you described the Foundations of Instruction as a kind of wake-up call — it pushed you to examine how intentional you were being in the classroom. Why did that stick out for you? What about it made you want to look more closely at your own teaching?

Naomi Fuentes 15:27 What I noticed — and I touched on this already — is that I was teaching to check boxes. Writing a learning objective? Just writing it because admin told us to, just checking a box. Essential question on the board? Check. With the Foundations of Instruction, you do a self-assessment using the secondary implementation tool, which has domains and indicators. Looking at those indicators, I realized: having an appropriate learning environment isn’t just about setting up group seating. It’s about how the classroom communicates and understands itself.

The self-reflection piece in the ACE program is huge, and I try to keep doing it. You have to look at yourself with the understanding that you’re not perfect and you can always improve. Your kids deserve better, so be better, get better. I’ve been teaching for 20 years, and every once in a while I get comfortable — then I catch myself. Kids are different. They change. Every group is different. So how can I be better for my students? That self-reflection was the major takeaway: look at yourself honestly and ask, how can I do better for my kids, because they deserve it.

Paul Beckermann 17:09 So after that reflection, what was one meaningful change you made in your instruction or classroom culture that gave the biggest payoff? Was there something you stopped doing, or started doing, that students really responded to?

Naomi Fuentes 17:27 I started doing a lot more surveys — just to get a feel for how things are going. Not too frequently, because too much is too much, but every so often, just to take the temperature of the room.

Beyond that, moving from pair shares and stand-share-sit into progressively larger groups led us to much better Socratic seminars. I teach seniors, and in our senior workshops, we do Socratic seminars with multiple groups. What I learned was that students need scaffolding — just like adults. The mini Socratics were far more effective than jumping straight into a large Socratic seminar, because I was actually paying attention to how conversations were developing within each group.

Before, I would just say, “Okay, we’re doing Socratic seminar, here’s the text, let’s mark it, let’s go.” Sometimes it would be great, and sometimes it would be terrible. What I learned was: if you take it little by little, chunk by chunk — the pair share, then the stand-share-sit where they get used to talking in front of small groups, then the Socratic seminar in small groups simultaneously — by the time you get to the larger seminar, it’s like, “This is what it should sound like. This is what it should be.” The conversations are better, more students are participating, the shy ones are speaking up, they’re not afraid. Making that intentional shift — doing the small things on purpose instead of just dropping in a pair share wherever it seemed convenient — that’s what improved the academic discourse in my classroom. I feel that my students were able to voice their thoughts more easily, without the fear of sounding unintelligent. Which, right now, I feel like I might sound unintelligent.

Paul Beckermann 19:48 Not at all.

Winston Benjamin 19:51 I’ve been sitting here taking notes.

Paul Beckermann 19:53 Exactly. That scaffolding is so powerful — intentionally giving students space to practice before they’re on the big stage. That’s very good, intentional scaffolding.

Winston Benjamin 20:11 Right. We often think about scaffolding in terms of content — how do students access the material — but there’s also scaffolding of practice, which is sometimes the soft skills students need to be successful: discourse, communication, building and expressing ideas. I love that. That leads me to my next question. A lot of teachers have brilliant, high-level thinking but sometimes talk past their students with jargon. You gave a very specific, concrete practice connected to student success. Looking at that student success again — what are two practices or routines that you most credit with supporting your students?

Naomi Fuentes 21:07 One would be surveys — taking a temperature check of the room. How are things going? And even if you can’t do anything about a particular piece of feedback, if you tell your students why, it helps them understand: “Okay, she didn’t ignore my feedback. There’s a real reason it can’t be done.” Because students are going to wonder, “We did a survey — now what?” So number one: just take that temperature check. It can be two or three questions. I learned the hard way — the very first time, I did it on paper with a million questions. Not a great approach. Keep it simple, keep it short, ask what you need to know, and then work with what you get. Ask your students, get their feedback, and then do something with it.

The second thing — I’ll stick with scaffolding. Use the collaborative structures that AVID provides to build discourse: think-pair-share moving into stand-share-sit, getting students to practice frequently, then moving into mini Socratics, and then the full Socratic seminar. And don’t back off just because it didn’t work the first time. Keep going.

Those two things make a visible difference. I know everyone is focused on data, but the intangible stuff matters too — when you see students taking more risks, when the quiet kids start speaking up and aren’t afraid anymore, when you see genuine respect between students — that’s real. You know your students, and you can see it happening. I’ve been in classrooms where students talk over each other or won’t engage at all. This is why I love AVID — it gives us the tools to get students actually having these conversations.

Winston Benjamin 23:24 We have to recognize that it matters that we see our students — we know them. You notice the child who never spoke and is now raising their voice. That matters.

Paul Beckermann 23:35 Sometimes I think we lean too heavily on numbers. We know when we see genuine growth in our kids, and that human element is so powerful.

Winston Benjamin 23:47 Thank you for sharing those two strategies. One reality for educators — especially new teachers — is the fear of doing things wrong. That fear is magnified when you don’t have years of experience to draw on. For new teachers who are just starting with AVID and just starting in the profession, for those who are trying to be more reflective and courageous — because it does take courage to look at yourself honestly — what’s one small step they can take this week? And what should they pay attention to as they try it?

Naomi Fuentes 24:44 I’m going to say: ask their students. Ask three questions — whatever the teacher is curious about. How do students feel when they walk into the classroom? Ask them. But be ready for honest answers. If you ask kids something, they will tell you the truth. So be prepared for that. Three questions, keep it short, stop wondering, and just ask. That is hands down the most powerful thing I ever did — just ask my students.

When COVID hit and everything went digital, I was already building that habit through Google Forms: “How are you today? What are your thoughts on this?” Coming back to the classroom, that remained number one. Ask your students their opinions, and don’t be afraid. It’s going to sting a little, but don’t be afraid. And then, if you can fix a problem, fix it. If you can change something, change it, because your students deserve that.

Winston Benjamin 26:26 That is great advice. We’re going to move into our next segment. You’ve been dropping gems for people to pick up and use in their daily practice — belief in students, belief in self, vulnerability. These are powerful tools. But it’s time for the question: What’s in your toolkit?

Transition Music with Rena’s Children 26:46 Check it out, check it out, check it out. What’s in the toolkit? Check it out.

Winston Benjamin 26:58 What are you hoping people can take as a tool and use in the coming weeks? Paul, what’s your tool?

Paul Beckermann 27:06 I’m going to build on something Naomi emphasized — the surveying, asking students for feedback. What I’ve found to be really powerful is taking those survey results and putting them into AI — without names, of course — and having AI summarize them. It saves so much time and gets right to the heart of what students were trying to say. It’s an efficiency tool, so you can ask broader questions and still get an aggregated answer quickly, without spending hours at home reading through 75 individual responses. I’d encourage people to try that, keeping confidential information like student names out of it.

Winston Benjamin 28:01 My toolkit addition is more of a mentality. Naomi has really pushed on grit — do something, try it, it’s okay. Having vulnerability as an educator, being willing to keep pushing through when things are hard, directly supports our students in doing the same. Things are hard. Life is hard. The grit an educator demonstrates by modeling the act of trying — and when it doesn’t work, figuring out how to move forward — is so valuable for young people. That’s an important tool for life. So I want to add grit to the toolkit.

Naomi, you’ve added so many valuable tools today. What would you like to add to our toolkit?

Naomi Fuentes 29:06 I love stand-share-sit. Quick write, then stand-share-sit. Super simple. Get the kids used to thinking, writing down their thoughts, and then speaking out loud. This will carry over into so many different areas.

Paul Beckermann 29:25 Can you describe what that is — what is stand-share-sit?

Naomi Fuentes 29:30 Stand. Share. Sit. And you have to say it slowly, or you’ll accidentally say something else.

Paul Beckermann 29:34 I was a little worried about that.

Naomi Fuentes 29:35 Stand. Share. Sit. Students do a quick write — they write down their thoughts in response to whatever prompt you give them. Then everyone stands up. When they share — whether in a small group or whole class — they get to sit down. Once you see the entire class sitting, you know everyone has shared. As the teacher, you just walk around and listen, and as soon as everyone is seated, whether in groups or whole class, you know every student has contributed. Stand. Share. Sit.

Paul Beckermann 30:11 And there’s a management strategy built right into it.

Winston Benjamin 30:17 Cool.

Paul Beckermann 30:18 All right. Thanks for all the tips and additions to the toolkit. Now it’s time to jump into our One Thing.

Transition Music 30:23 It’s time for that one thing, one thing.

Paul Beckermann 30:31 All right, One Thing time — our final takeaways for the day. Winston, what are you still pondering as we wrap up?

Winston Benjamin 30:44 It’s a call to action, and Naomi had her own wake-up call. What she said applies not just to classrooms but to what we do for teachers — how we support our teachers is how they’ll support their students. But Naomi said it simply: your kids deserve better, so be better. You know your kids. You know what they need. Ask them, and you’ll get a clearer picture. And once you know, do something about it. See it, act on it, do something. That’s helping me right now.

Paul Beckermann 31:30 Wrapped into that same idea is self-reflection. To become better, you need honest self-reflection. What I took away is that it requires vulnerability — you are making yourself vulnerable even to yourself, because you’re willing to look at something that may not be quite where it needs to be yet. That takes humility, and we have to be okay with that. Self-reflect, and understand that doing so will make you a little vulnerable in the moment. Naomi, you get the final share today. What would you like to leave our listeners with as we close?

Naomi Fuentes 32:22 I love what you both said about data not having to mean numbers. It can be what I see — observation, what I notice in my students, how I watch them grow. I know them. So that’s what I’m taking away: it’s okay that I know my students and can see how they’re growing, even if I can’t put a number to it.

Winston Benjamin 32:50 And as we bring together what Naomi has been sharing throughout — she knows her students, she can see their writing improving, she sees their growth — this work is both an art and a science. Sometimes the brushstrokes are just beautiful, and you may not fully understand how the painting came together, but it’s there. Sometimes you need to crunch the numbers. Both are beautiful, and both work.

As Naomi has shown us today: being vulnerable, doing the self-reflection work, and modeling that for students allows them to take risks and engage with the challenges of learning. Without that, there’s no grit. Without grit, there are no keys to success. That’s part of preparing them for an ever-changing society — helping them develop the resilience to adapt to what the world asks of them. Naomi, thank you so much for being part of our show. We appreciate your time.

Naomi Fuentes 33:59 Thank you all.

Rena Clark 34:01 Thanks for listening to Unpacking Education.

Winston Benjamin 34:04 We invite you to visit us at avidopenaccess.org, where you can discover resources to support student agency and academic tenacity and create a classroom for future-ready learners.

Rena Clark 34:18 And remember — go forth and be awesome.

Winston Benjamin 34:22 Thank you for all you do.

Paul Beckermann 34:24 You make a difference.