Are you innovative, motivated, passionate about education, and looking for an opportunity to support Utah districts, schools, leaders, teachers, and students to embrace digital teaching and learning to support student learning?

The Utah State Board of Education (USBE) Digital Teaching and Learning Team is seeking an Educational Specialist to manage the Early Interactive Software Program (EISP) by working with literacy directors throughout Utah to understand LEA needs and communicate those needs to software providers. Click Here and Apply before December 27, 2022

Digital Respons-Ability is Utah's digital citizenship education provider for schools and parents. Our curriculum helps positively change student attitudes and behavior around technology. We educate students in their classrooms, online or in-person, to empower kids in the online world.

Digital Respons-Ability offers multiple modules of digital citizenship topics such as media literacy, digital wellness and online safety. We believe in educating the whole child. Our modules are taught by a trainer in each classroom and are all free. Simply contact us to select the modules that work best for your school and then schedule trainers to come to you! Additionally, you can schedule a free in-person or virtual Digital Parenting event so parents and caretakers can be empowered by the same information their students are learning. Contact us to schedule a free training or event today: contact@respons-ability.net

The moment I moved from being a second-grade teacher to a fifth-grade teacher, I fell in love with the power of technology in the classroom. After completing a professional development opportunity with Microsoft Education, I jumped in with both feet to utilize the brand new Microsoft OneNote Class Notebook and Microsoft Classroom (now called Teams). My students were so excited to use the latest technology to capture their learning in their online notebooks and voice record their thoughts. They learned the concept of volume in creating 3-D figures in Minecraft Education, and I felt confident I was preparing them for their future. However, my students drowned in the intoxicating fumes of technology and many of them did not fully learn the content. I FAILED my students. As time went by, I learned different teaching models that had a technology emphasis, and I was able to revamp my craft. I realized that content and pedagogy are the front runners in education and that technology needed to be the enhancer. To transform my classroom and really prepare students for graduation, I needed to take these tools and implement them in a new way.

I believe Utah’s Portrait of a Graduate and Personalized Competency-Based Learning (PCBL) initiative is the new innovation, and needs to be focused on and implemented in K-12 schools. Utah’s Portrait of a Graduate describes ideal attributes of a Utah graduate. These characteristics such as mastery, autonomy, and purpose start at home and are refined in educational settings. The Utah Portrait of a Graduate requires a shift in both outcomes and how we approach education for K-12 students.

Though Utah’s Portrait of Graduate provided insight prior to the Coronavirus pandemic, I embraced the ideology in order to help my student’s learning once the schoolhouse expanded to their personal homes in March 2020. Before COVID, I attended a PCBL conference and learned the importance of student autonomy and student choice. I was mesmerized and overwhelmed by this new model, but I could see the value in beginning the road to transition to PCBL for my students. I started small and implemented these concepts in my own classroom. I created interactive resources like hyperdocs, personalized playlists, and choice boards. These resources provided opportunities for my students to develop their understanding in different ways and transfer the ownership of the learning from me to each student.

During the height of COVID my classroom became a true blended learning model that was focused on PCBL and Utah’s Portrait of Graduate. My students followed the station rotation model of individual rotation. I implemented the individual rotation model by providing students specific stations they could complete to achieve the learning targets. This blended model focused on students showing competency for any given standard. I was allowing them choice, time, and pace, goals aligned to the Portrait of Graduate. My students were getting autonomy in how they learned the content. For example, I created a choice board that focused on reading, listening, and writing. Students had Monday-Friday to complete at least two activities in each focus area. Within this choice board they could choose to read their own book, they could read curated online resources such as Newsela, Wonderopolis, Sora, Epic, etc., or they could read on our online reading website, Raz-Kids. For the first time, they were able to demonstrate mastery on a standard or objective where they got choice. I learned early on with technology, I needed to become the enhancer of the learning that was being driven by my students.

This model also allowed for students to have a purpose. Utah’s PCBL Framework identifies “student agency” as a core element for success, and explains that we need to empower students to take ownership of their learning with adaptable supports to amplify student growth and competence. Therefore, I had my students choose and keep track of their learning with our weekly goal trackers. The goals varied to reflect the needs of each student. For example, some students made it their goal to turn in all their assignments for the week. Others made it their goal to use a positive mindset when confronted by challenges. Every day students would reflect on their learning and their goals and identify challenges and ways to improve. In this new approach, my students were the MASTERS of their learning and demonstrated improvement in growth and confidence. I truly believe that all teachers, schools, and districts need to embrace the PCBL model and give it a whirl. The “personalized” in the PCBL framework supports teachers in making the model your own, it’s not one-size-fits-all. Adapt it, remix it, and play around with it. I can see future classrooms where students take the driver's seat in their learning experiences. Students are motivated to make their own decisions in their learning experiences. They get to choose how they will design and apply knowledge, and how they will demonstrate their learning. As all teachers adopt a PCBL learning model we will create empowered lifelong learners who take ownership of their learning.

- Kayla Towner

January 24-26, 2022 Utah TCC Winter Tech Retreat - https://utcc.us/

March 15-26, 2022 UCET 2022 - https://ucet.org/conference/

June 26-69, 2022 ISTE Live - https://conference.iste.org/2022/

Disclosure Statement: LEAs have the duty to select instructional materials that best correlate to the core standards for Utah public schools and graduation requirements. (UCA 53G-4-402(1(a)). Posting of resources by USBE staff does not imply the resources have received official endorsement of the State Board. Educators are responsible to ensure use of these materials complies with LEA policies and directives.