Exploring AI Use and Innovation, with Danielle Reyes

In this episode of Unpacking Education, we sit down with Danielle Reyes—a dynamic AVID Elective educator, instructional coach, and tech-empowered leader  in the Poway Unified School District—to explore how AI is reshaping classroom practices and professional development. As a member of her district's AI Innovators Cohort, Danielle brings firsthand experience with tools and strategies that support personalized learning, student engagement, and ethical AI use.

Danielle shares helpful insights and practical ways that educators can thoughtfully integrate AI into their classrooms, which include using chatbots to build debate skills and differentiating instruction with tools like Diffit. She also emphasizes the importance of foundational digital citizenship, collaborative professional development, and going slow to go far. Visit AVID Open Access to learn more.

Transcript

Unpacking Education Podcast

Exploring AI Use and Innovation, with Danielle Reyes

Danielle Reyes [0:00]: So what is the one thing that you'd like to change to make your practice more efficient or effective, or the one thing you'd like to help that struggling student? Just dip your toe in and go slow so you can go far.

Paul Beckermann [0:15]: The topic for today's podcast is exploring AI use and innovation with Danielle Reyes. 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 [0:33]: Welcome to Unpacking Education, the podcast where we explore current issues and best practices in education. I'm Rena Clark.

Paul Beckermann [0:44]: I'm Paul Beckermann.

Winston Benjamin [0:45]: And I'm Winston Benjamin. We are educators.

Paul Beckermann [0:49]: And we're here to share insights and actionable strategies.

Transition Music with Rena's Children [0:54]: Education is our passport to the future.

Quote of the Day

Paul Beckermann [0:58]: Our quote today is from Hanover Research's 2025 Trends in K-12 Education report. In the report's conclusion, they write: "Times of change require innovative thinking."

All right, Rena, what are you thinking about with that quote today?

Rena Clark [1:16]: As much as we're talking about change, I don't feel like this quote really has changed in many years, because this has been true forever. This is kind of funny to think about, but I think over history, over time, to move forward, rarely do the same things that worked five years ago propel us in the same way. So we need to be creative. We need to be innovative, be aware of the people in front of us. And I also feel like we really tend to grow and push forward out of necessity. And we're definitely in a time of necessity.

Paul Beckermann [1:57]: Yeah, change is the constant, right? Winston, what are you thinking about?

Winston Benjamin [2:02]: I'm thinking about the individual response to change. A lot of times we don't control it. We get mad when it does, and it forces those innovations, as Rena's saying. But it's really about shifting our perspective on thinking, right? My personal frame of reference in order to be able to be successful. Because if we keep doing the same thing, it doesn't work. When even thinking about the internet boom, the dot-com boom, and when that crashed—what are the ways that we actually benefit if we don't adjust and move? So as Rena said, we've seen examples of the need to make moves with the world. But as long as we keep trying and shift, then we should be at it.

Introducing Danielle Reyes

Paul Beckermann [2:45]: All right. Well, we are excited to welcome Danielle back to the podcast today. Danielle is a teacher, instructional coach, university supervisor, educational consultant, teacher mentor, Google Certified Trainer, tech-empowered teacher at Black Mountain Middle School. Hey, welcome Danielle!

Danielle Reyes [3:06]: Hi! Thank you for having me back. Excited to be here.

Paul Beckermann [3:08]: Yeah, it's been way too long since we've had you on the show, so it's about time we have you back. You want to just take a moment and reintroduce yourself to our listeners since it's been a couple years?

Danielle Reyes [3:19]: Yeah, sure. You said many of the hats there that I wear. Yes, I am an AVID elective teacher coordinator at the middle school level at Black Mountain Middle School in San Diego, Poway Unified. We are an AVID National Demonstration School. We really pride ourselves on being the center of teaching and learning, having guests see the impact of school-wide AVID.

Beyond that, my master's is in digital teaching and learning. So I do consider myself an innovator. I love all things ed tech. I love learning from this podcast, so I'm feeling very honored to be in your presence right now. And then, yeah, other hats with AVID Center—I am a staff developer and a consultant. Most recently, I've been excited to be on the writing team for site coordinators level one and two. So that was a neat thing to be able to facilitate for our site coordinators. Just wanted to give a shout-out to that new Community of Practice.

Paul Beckermann [4:12]: Fantastic.

The AI Innovators Cohort

Rena Clark [4:13]: Awesome. And then beyond that, in your own district, you have an AI innovators cohort. So if you could just tell us a little bit about what is that? What was the goal? What type of work did that group do?

Danielle Reyes [4:28]: Totally. So last year, our district's ed tech team created a first-ever AI innovators cohort. There were about ten teachers from a variety of grade levels spanning K through 12 who had previously taken a district-led course on intro to AI in education. So that was a prerequisite to this next experience, and the ten of us were really ready to level up in our AI use.

We met four times throughout the year with our ed tech coaches to acquire new learning. Some of the main topics were about digital citizenship, privacy, ethical considerations for AI in education. And then in each session, the coaches modeled a variety of district-approved tools with an intended purpose, whether it was feedback, personalized learning, even gamified learning was fun.

Then there was time for us, the innovators, the ones that are with the students on a daily basis, to showcase how we've used AI with our students and give space to allow for that collaboration and conversation on our individual and shared experiences. What was also really important after each session was to reflect on specific data-driven student learning outcomes with the AI tools that we were using.

Balancing AI with Academic Integrity

Winston Benjamin [5:44]: I love that you are doing the actual experimentation with AI as you're working with kids, because that's the only way to really understand what's going on. Because a lot of times when people are talking about AI and students, there's always a question of academic integrity, right? So the question is: How do you balance, or how have you balanced, the challenge of empowering students with AI and helping them be honest within that opportunity? How to appropriately use that tool?

And then the follow-up question is: How have you approached digital citizenship regarding AI with students? Again, the way they've naturally used social media can be seen as problematic as well. So how are you balancing those and supporting students' engagement with it in a genuine way?

Danielle Reyes [6:37]: Yeah, it's definitely a balance. Before using AI with students, I make sure they've completed the foundational digital citizenship lessons. So personally, I've used the AI literacy lessons from Common Sense Education. If you're listening out there and you have not seen those, they are packaged, they are so realistic and relevant—15 to 20 minute segments. They help the students understand things like: How does AI work at a basic level? What is AI and bias? Even the topic of AI chatbots and friendship is a lesson.

So these foundational lessons are a great starting point to continue those conversations with each use. I also like, after they use the AI, to have them reflect. I like them to be critical consumers. How did it help them? What suggestions did they use or not use? Because they don't have to use every suggestion that's given, right? Did AI provide any incorrect, biased, or confusing information? Having them turn and talk to each other and have those conversations. Again, that whole critical consumer—but we have to teach them. We cannot assume that they are going to know how to do that or even know how AI works. So I'm really appreciative of the digital citizenship resources that are out there for students.

Winston Benjamin [8:28]: Do you mind if I ask a follow-up question real quick? Did you have to provide sentence stems to help students do that reflection, or was that something that was a little bit easier because they knew how to talk about AI? How did you support or scaffold that interaction that led to a valid or justified engagement?

Danielle Reyes [8:47]: That is such a great question. Well, I actually used AI to help me provide some scaffolds, which is one of the ways I use it on a daily basis. So yes, they needed that prompting. They needed some sentence stems, some guiding words to use that I wanted them to use. And so they had some individual times to reflect after, and then they did some pair-share and group collaboration communication on that.

Winston Benjamin [8:47]: Thank you.

Paul Beckermann [8:48]: How did they react to that? I mean, how'd the kids respond to the lessons that you pulled from Common Sense?

Danielle Reyes [8:56]: For the lessons that were there, I would say one of the most engaging one was the "Am I Your Friend?" right? So the whole idea that chatbots are not real people. And the other one, the bias lesson, having them really understand—it was the Halloween, they're going trick-or-treating, and the machine is not giving everybody the candy that it should be giving because it has bias. So it had them reflect on that. The real-world examples of application, I think, really help solidify the concept to them of how that works.

Learning WITH AI: Practical Considerations

Paul Beckermann [9:33]: Cool. Well, let's shift from learning about AI to learning with AI. So our kids are going to be growing up into this AI-infused world. I mean, this is going to be their life every day for the rest of time for them. So what are some of the things that teachers need to consider? Or what have you considered before using AI with students, and then maybe, how have you actually used it with your kids?

Danielle Reyes [9:59]: Yeah, so I'm really appreciative of my district in being really on the forefront of informing educators of the safety around using AI with students. One thing that we've been taught is: First, never use personally identifiable information when prompting a chatbot. So yes, there are IEP goal generators, but no, we should not put student information in those generators.

The other one is it's important to ensure that any tools you use are district-approved and have signed DPAs—data privacy agreements. So these are often accessible through a district website or administrative portal. If you ever have questions about that before diving into a tool, because you're so excited, you've got to make sure it's district-approved to really protect that compliance with FERPA, COPPA, CIPA laws.

And then after making these informed decisions, I would say just make sure that we ourselves are AI-literate, so that we can speak to it with students, right? Even if you go through the student-facing lessons yourself before, just like we would go through a lesson before we teach it, making sure that we've got that confidence going and the knowledge going forward.

And then just a shout-out, because AVID Open Access has put together a ton of resources to help educators feel more empowered and informed. So I've been perusing some of those resources myself. So thank you.

Paul Beckermann [11:45]: I'm glad to hear that. So what's your favorite AI activity you've done with your kids?

Danielle Reyes [11:50]: Oh gosh. Favorite activity? It's really hard to pick one. I will say, for example, Magic School—they've got Raina the chatbot, right? And so students can chat with Raina. But what's really neat is you can pick specific things for them to do with her. And so in AVID and in our AVIDized classrooms, we do debates, and so Raina can be your debate partner. So that can help students type their responses about what they would say to rebuttal. They can even voice-to-text so that they're practicing what they would say in the debate, and then they're going in with even more confidence during that Philosophical Chairs debate. So that's one example.

Paul Beckermann [12:14]: Rena, maybe it should be Rena instead of Raina!

Rena Clark [12:17]: That's when people mispronounce my name! I was thinking one of my classes—we did this whole project around creating an imaginary friend, but we used AI to create the image of their imaginary friend, which was kind of fun, just practicing some prompting. And I had a rainbow french fry guy. He ended up being mine.

Paul Beckermann [12:44]: A rainbow french fry?

Rena Clark [12:45]: Rainbow french fry guy!

Danielle Reyes [12:50]: That's funny. That's another—we've done, we were doing a descriptive writing unit. And so students used their descriptive writing to do an AI Adobe or Canva image generator, and then they voted at the end of who was most descriptive. So that was another fun one. Our art teacher has really had a lot of fun with that in their class.

Another tool—I could go on and on about all the tools—but one that I feel has such an impact on differentiation is Diffit. So D-I-F-F, like "differentiate it," because you can put literally anything into it, and it can differentiate the level. So if you put an article in, you can differentiate the Lexile level. You can even change the language, and then it provides a ton of output activities and extension activities and lessons. But that's one that a lot of our teachers have really used, and it's a nice, seamless way to give students what they need, and it is not a big lift on the teacher's end. So that's a teacher-facing tool that we're using from the backend, that students then get to see and use as the experiencer.

District-Wide Professional Development

Rena Clark [14:10]: Yeah. So you were part of this AI innovators group. You, as you've said, identify yourself as an innovative early adopter. So I'm just curious, for everyone thinking district-wide and around this work, what are some of the opportunities—the PD opportunities—offered for the broader spectrum of teachers, and how is that being integrated on a larger scale?

Danielle Reyes [14:38]: Yes. So for us, in spring of 2024, when it seemed like our educators were just starting to dip their toes in, I, as AVID coordinator and coach at our site, partnered with our ed tech district team to think: Okay, how can we create some PD that's really personalized for our site, right? We're a National Demonstration School. How can we...our learning focus is AI and teaching our educators more ways of using it to provide personalized student support and increased learning outcomes. But then how can we AVIDize that?

So we worked together to create two main PDs. It was 1.0, 2.0—AI in Education. And that was a great, again, collaborative effort to provide professional development on that. And then we AVIDized it. So people were taking focused notes. They were doing collaborative learning structures. We even ended with—I think you guys will love this—but an AI for Educators Tic-Tac-Toe choice board that was organized around the different elements of WICOR.

Paul Beckermann [15:42]: Nice!

Danielle Reyes [15:43]: It was so fun. But yeah, I mean, the more you can collaborate with the resources and the knowledge that your district has to then personalize it to your site, so that it's not just "this is the presentation we're giving to everyone," but "this is the presentation that your teachers are going to understand—this language and how it fits into the things they're already doing—to enhance and level up their instruction."

Rena Clark [16:09]: And then I'm going to ask you a follow-up, because there's lots of budget cuts, no time for anything. Do you have any suggestion or ideas for if we talk about mini-PDs, or there's no paid professional development offered at all, or there's no meetings or times? How are we doing those kind of micro-moments? Any suggestions?

Danielle Reyes [16:33]: Well, the example I gave—the people that were providing this PD, we are district employees. So leaning on your innovators... And then as far as time, I know every site and district is different with their unique models, but our site has two Wednesday mornings a month which is dedicated to administratively protected professional growth time. And then we have a few professional growth days a year that's on the calendar. And our sites really can lead that with the direction that they want that aligns with our district goals, so we have a lot of flexibility there. But this didn't cost our site any external funds because we were leveraging the experience we have in the district and celebrating the leaders and the knowledge that we have in our district.

Rena Clark [17:26]: Which is always good—easier to learn from your own.

Danielle Reyes [17:30]: Yeah.

Communicating with Families About AI

Winston Benjamin [17:32]: I'm going to shift this question just a little bit, because for me, one of the things that we're dealing with in our building is parental communication around AI, right? There's tons of misconceptions, tons of ideas about what it is, what it's good for, how it can harm kids. What are some of the ways that you have communicated to families, parents, and community about how you're supporting students with AI and the value of AI, right, as a way of helping shift the external misconceptions about what AI is good for students or not? Because parents and families want their kids to be ahead, but also worry about this academic integrity as well.

Danielle Reyes [18:18]: Yeah, I think looking at it from an opportunity standpoint and communicating it that way. Anytime we're using it—as a site teacher, anytime I'm using something—providing information to my families is about the why, what, and how, ensuring that they know that I'm using district-approved tools with data privacy agreements.

And then our district has created some resources for families. They created an AI playbook to give more information and inform parents. And then just another shout-out to Common Sense Education, because they have a lot of family newsletters that you can pull, too, if you're looking for how to communicate that.

Winston Benjamin [19:15]: What kind of things were in that AI playbook that you shared with parents? Curious.

Danielle Reyes [19:20]: There's information about what is AI, best practices for educators using AI, having to do with digital citizenship—teacher-facing, student-facing—ethical and responsible use, more information about that. Data management, privacy and security, just to show our families and our educators all of the information and the safety parameters that we're all taking into account before we are using these tools with our students.

Rena Clark [19:47]: We're kind of middle school, but I was thinking when I was working with the high schools last year, having it down in a handbook is also nice. There's a lot of lack of calibration around, especially, the term "ethical use" and what teachers thought that meant. And it was very, very confusing for students. And when I talk with students, they're very confused how they could, in fact, use AI.

So making sure that there is calibration around what that means within a department, within a school—I think that's so important now. And even as a parent, it can be very confusing, as you said, Winston, too. What does this mean? What is allowed? Because I might think, "Oh, my child's cheating because they're using AI," and really understanding what that means. It can be a lot, not just for the kids.

Paul Beckermann [20:41]: Yeah, that communication is golden.

Paul Beckermann [20:44]: That's essential. All right, Danielle, big wide-open question here. We've been thinking about lately: What's been on your mind?

Final Thoughts: Go Slow to Go Far

Danielle Reyes [20:55]: I heard a quote that was a different way that it was said to me before. So in professional development, I've often heard "go slow to go fast." And this year, somebody said for the first time that I heard it: "Go slow to go far."

And so it really resonated with me, right? Because when we think about ed tech and now AI, everybody wants to get there, and we want to know all the new things. But sometimes it's not always best to go fast. We want to go far. And so it's really important, I think, to remember certain key things before diving into anything new, right? I love the idea of relationships before rigor and learning first before technology. So all of that is important, of course, and to leverage our innovators and our early adopters.

And if you're not there yet, I think about you all and your "one thing," right? So what is the one thing that you'd like to change to make your practice more efficient or effective, or the one thing you'd like to help that struggling student? Just dip your toe in and go slow so you can go far.

Paul Beckermann [22:08]: Awesome. I love that. That's a t-shirt right there.

What's in the Toolkit?

Winston Benjamin [22:13]: All right, I love that you gave us a t-shirt. But it's time to ask a particular question: What's in the toolkit?

Transition Music with Rena's Children [22:20]: Check it out, check it out, check it out! What's in the toolkit? Check it out!

Winston Benjamin [22:30]: What are you putting in the toolkit that we could use for the next couple of weeks, thinking either AI or anything around this topic? Paul? Rena?

Paul Beckermann [22:40]: I am going to go with cohorts. I know Danielle described the AI cohort that she's been part of, and I've had an opportunity to help lead some of those. And I honestly believe that that cohort model is one of the best professional learning settings and situations that you can set up for staff. It's job-embedded, because teachers can go back into their classroom and come back and talk about what they tried. It's ongoing. Danielle, you said four times, I think you met, right?

Danielle Reyes [23:15]: Yep, yep.

Paul Beckermann [23:17]: So it's over and over again. It's collaborative. You get a chance to reflect. I think it's just a fantastic model for professional learning.

Rena Clark [23:19]: I'm going to go a little bit more "tooly" this week. I was just—one of my favorites, and I know we've had him on the podcast before, but I really like Eric Curts. He does a newsletter, and he weekly updates it, especially if you're a Google school. But it's Control Alt Achieve. And I love going on there, because every week he's updating with the newest things, and you can try it out. It's not so much about the newest, greatest, and latest, but also with a focus on always learning first. But I kind of like it because he previews things for me. There's also a place you can sign up and collaborate with other people. But there's quite a few people—you can sign up for these email groups, and then you get weekly, if you're okay with that. And then it's kind of nice because they review some things for you, because I'm very busy and don't have time to do all the searching that they do.

Winston Benjamin [24:12]: I love that. I'm going to give us a shout-out: Listen to our older episodes of Unpacking Education and Tech Talk with Teachers. You'll find some ways of integrating AI into your classrooms. I think those are some really good episodes that we could possibly support you with. Danielle, I'm going to throw it to you. You gave a lot of tools earlier, and I'm going to ask you for another tool. What kind of tool would you like to throw in our toolkit?

Danielle Reyes [24:39]: The tool of a choice board. So I just wanted to bring that back up around. You can use Magic School AI to create a choice board for your staff or students, which directly ties with UDL and student engagement. So choices are definitely powerful.

Rena Clark [24:59]: Absolutely.

The One Thing

Rena Clark [25:00]: Which brings us into our "one thing," and you're going to have to make a choice about what your one thing is that you are still thinking about or walking away with.

Transition Music [25:19]: It's time for that one thing, for that one thing, that one thing...

Rena Clark [25:21]: So who wants to start us off?

Paul Beckermann [25:25]: I can jump in. What resonated with me was when Danielle said teachers should strive to be AI-literate first. We don't have to know everything before our kids do, but get in there and try some of the AI tools, even if it's to save administrative time on your own end. That's a great place to start because it's practical for you and it gives you a little more familiarity with what those tools are like. So find something that's a win-win. You get to save some time, you get to be more efficient, and you get to learn some of the foundational AI skills that can then help you be more comfortable using it with your kids.

Winston Benjamin [26:02]: So Paul and I were kind of behind the scenes playing Rock-Paper-Scissors to try to figure out who was going to say this. That quote, that t-shirt moment, was real. So for me, it's "go slow to go far." That really impacted me in a way that's like, yeah, I really don't want to just go fast to get there. I want to be able to go and sustain longer. So that really was a positive impact.

Rena Clark [26:31]: Yeah. And then for me, we also need to be aware of bias, especially when we're using it. Double-check. Be aware of bias. I know we're sometimes in a hurry, but practice what you're preaching. In other words, make sure that you are also checking and have confidence in your skills. Because just like we tell students you have to check and you have knowledge, we need to do the same thing. In the end, I always tell teachers: You are ultimately responsible for everything you put in front of your students. It doesn't matter if AI made it. You put it in front of them, so make sure you're also checking everything as well.

Paul Beckermann [27:12]: All right, Danielle, final thought. One thing.

Danielle Reyes [27:16]: I'll give you the quote from my email signature. That's another quote: "The secret of change is to focus all your energy not on fighting the old, but on building the new." —Socrates.

Paul Beckermann [27:31]: Oh, Socrates! Hey, thank you so much for joining us again, Danielle. We love having you on the show, and we love hearing your insights.

Danielle Reyes [27:37]: Thank you. Thank you so much for having me.

Closing

Rena Clark [27:40]: Thanks for listening to Unpacking Education. We invite you to visit us at avidopenaccess.org,

Winston Benjamin [27:47]: where you can discover resources to support student agency and academic tenacity to create a classroom for future-ready learners.

Paul Beckermann [27:56]: We'll be back here next Wednesday for a fresh episode of Unpacking Education.

Rena Clark [28:01]: And remember: Go forth and be awesome.

Winston Benjamin [28:04]: Thank you for all you do.

Paul Beckermann [28:07]: You make a difference.