2019 Utah Rural Schools Conference

Relevance should be an essential and achievable goal for the schools, educators and content providers who are involved in educating 21st century learners. All content―test prep included―must be culturally relevant, accessible through preferred digital platforms, fun and engaging, and reinforce the core competencies needed for success in college and career.

In this session, educators will learn about Shmoop’s digital content platform and library of materials that truly “speak student” and will gain proven strategies to deploy digital content to achieve positive outcomes including increased engagement, motivation, equity, creativity, and enjoyment of education―plus outstanding results in school and on the ACT! 

Utah’s students use Shmoop to prepare for the ACT and have achieved some of the nation’s highest scores on the test for the past several years. Did you know Shmoop also has a full library of digital content in all subjects, including literature, science, math and social studies, as well as business, life skills, career prep, preparation for every AP test, and much more. All content is presented with a consistent goal in mind: to be relevant and engaging to today’s learners.

At the end of this session, participants will reflect on the following question: How can I use digital content, along with my instructional practices, to strengthen motivation and engagement for my students? You will consider techniques for presenting content in a way that students truly want to engage with, so they are driven to learn and achieve. 

UtahFutures is Utah's one-stop-shop for college and career planning. The resources saw major improvements and additions over the past couple years. This session will update educators about important changes to this website. Attendees should bring a tablet or laptop if possible.

You will learn how to implement Snow College's IVC Program to provide your students with Concurrent Enrollment opportunities for any size high school. You will learn how to sustain your current IVC program. This presentation will also include an overview of Snow College IVC Program benefits including a brief history of concurrent enrollment at Rural Schools.

A journey through the publishing world wilderness to find high quality courseware, both print and digital. The newly recreated Recommended Instructional Materials System database will be explored as well as Open Education Resources being gathered at OER Commons. Attendees will be sure to find valued resources for instruction, both priced and free.

Today's classroom is gathering more data about our students and ourselves than ever before through the use of online apps and websites. This session will focus on how teachers and administrators can protect students from digital harm by showing them how to safeguard their privacy. We will discuss how technology has changed the landscape of student data and how that may affect their privacy and security. We will also focus on Federal laws and what teachers need to know to stay out of the headlines.

Ever want to create tutorial videos for your students or have students create movies to show their learning and understanding? Using iMovie is an easy way to accomplish that and then some. By the end of this session you will be confident in your ability to use iMovie for the iPad. You will learn how to film, edit, and share movies using the iPad and be able to show students in order for them to use it in class. This is meant to be for beginners who have never used iMovie on the iPad before or who want to learn how to use it better. Participants should come prepared with their own iPad and with iMovie installed and updated.

A close read of the new (draft) Science standards reveals that students should be learning engineering principles and creating their own models for each of the major concepts. This can be overwhelming, especially when many of the topics we've taught in the past are switching to different grade levels! On top of this are additional encouragements to incorporate more computer science into our teaching. The only solution is to use an integrated, project-based approach. In this session, we will engage participants in creating and programming robotic models of science concepts. We will also share interdisciplinary projects that we have developed and piloted with elementary students and teachers in the STEM endorsement program.

A close read of the new (draft) Science standards reveals that students should be learning engineering principles and creating their own models for each of the major concepts. This can be overwhelming, especially when many of the topics we've taught in the past are switching to different grade levels! On top of this are additional encouragements to incorporate more computer science into our teaching. The only solution is to use an integrated, project-based approach. In this session, we will engage participants in creating and programming robotic models of science concepts. We will also share interdisciplinary projects that we have developed and piloted with elementary students and teachers in the STEM endorsement program.