UEN Homeroom welcomes Kip Motta, Principal of Rich Middle School and North Rich Elementary, to discuss the response to COVID-19 in our latest episode in the Learn @ Home series. We discuss topics such as: how Rich schools prepared for distance learning in a 1 to 1 computer program for students, helping students by balancing the workload during distance learning, and facilitating teacher adoption of tools like Canvas to help students in the online environment.

Jared and Dani welcome Dr. Ann Engar and Dr. Nora Wood, distinguished faculty for the LEAP program at the University of Utah, to UEN Homeroom this week. Our discussion focuses on helping students find a learning community that works for them. Topics include: how the LEAP program benefits diverse student populations, the biggest challenges for students as they enter college, why smaller learning communities are important to students, and the role that peer mentoring plays in helping LEAP students succeed.

On this episode of UEN Homeroom,Dani and Matt welcome founder and CEO, Jose Enriquez. They talk about Jose's organization, Latinos in Action, going national and how the organization has helped the Utah community over the past 20 years.

On this episode of UEN Homeroom,Dani Sloan and Katie Blunt welcome past Homeroom guest, Dr. Darren Draper. Their conversation focuses on the lessons learned during the pandemic, how educators can implement those lessons moving forward and how this past year might have changed education for the better.

In our next Learn @ Home episode of UEN Homeroom we are focusing in on Jr. High with Levi Andersen, a History teacher from Mound Fort Jr. High in Ogden School District. During our conversation we explored topics such as: how Levi is connecting with students who struggle, the role of using Canvas to help with distance teaching, and what kind of babysitter Jared Covili was.

Jared and Dani are joined by Liz Arias, a Senior Customer Success Manager for Adobe Education. During the episode we discuss Adobe's statewide partnership with Utah schools to bring Creative Cloud to teachers and students.

Dani and Jared are excited to have Max Gonzalez, Program Manager at UETN, join them to share information about the new Reimagine Teaching project. As pare of our discussion we learn how teachers can qualify for a $200 stipend related to distance teaching professional development through the CARES Act.

Melanie Durfee, Digital Learning Specialist from the Utah Board of Education, drops by the Homeroom to discuss making group work, well - work. We talk about the misconceptions of groups, how to work through challenges, providing structure for student to student conversations about learning, and making personalized learning matter.

In the new episode, we share the story of Michelle Reed, the Library Media Specialist at Jefferson Jr. High. In this episode we discuss the following topics - What is a makerspace? How can makerspaces empower students? What are some suggestions for teachers looking to get started with a makerspace?

UEN Homeroom continues along with our Back to School series as Utah prepares for the return of teachers and students to our buildings. This week we connect with Moe Hickey, CEO of Voices for Utah Children. Our conversation focuses on the fiver key areas of healthy development for kids: health, school readiness, safety, economic stability, and diversity. We also learn what Voices is doing to advocate for Utah students with the state legislature and local school districts.

On this episode of UEN Homeroom, Matt and Dani get the pleasure of speaking with "This Land" podcast host and activist, Rebecca Nagle about Native American culture and education. Their conversation covers storytelling, uplifting marginalized voices and how educators can learn more about Native American culture.

In this episode, Dani and Matt are joined by Heather Francis and Brenda Beyal from the BYU Arts Partnership's Native American Curriculum Initiative. They talk about the initiative, why it exists, how they built the curriculum and how it will help educators.

In the last of our Back to School episodes, Jared and Dani talk with Nicole Johnson, UEN Admin Assistant extraordinaire, about her experiences as a student during COVID. As part of the conversation we cover topics such as: what COVID required of students, how schools and educators fared providing instruction during distance learning, and what schools can do to help support students if classes go online in the upcoming school year.

On this episode of UEN Homeroom,Dani Sloan and Katie Blunt have an in-depth conversation with Megan Simmons and Joanna Schimizzi from the ISKME team. Megan and Joanna touch on the creation of the Open Educational Resources (OER) Commons and how it has been a powerful tool for educators during the pandemic.

In this episode of UEN Homeroom,Dani and Matt are joined by Ray Matsumiya and Iman Al-Omari from the Oleander Initiative. Listen to learn how they inspire peace education in the classroom by taking teachers from across the world to Japan to learn about the resilience of the survivors of the 1945 Hiroshima and Nagasaki bombings.

As UEN Homeroom celebrates our one year anniversary Dani and Jared take a look back at some great moments from the podcast. Producer, Fernando Lara joins in and answers some tough questions from Utah students. We also reflect upon some moments that made us laugh, think, and celebrate the wonderful world of education in Utah.

This week Dani and Jared interview Payden Littlefield, a Science/Robotics teacher at Syracuse Jr. High in Davis School District. As part of their conversation they look at the role robotics can play in helping students develop critical thinking skills.

Quin Henderson, Partnerships Manager of Future Design School, joins Homeroom today to share his thoughts on the importance of design thinking in our classrooms. Included in our conversation is the need for teachers and students to innovate, how problem solving is an essential art in learning, and the need to build creativity into our schools.

Jared and Dani welcome Quinn Rollins to UEN Homeroom this week. Quinn is a Social Studies teacher at Cyprus High School in the Granite School District and he is also the author of Play Like a Pirate in which he shares the importance of bringing play into your curriculum. During our discussion we cover topics such as: the importance of sharing your passions with students, the need to give students choice in assignments, how to bring pop culture into your lessons, and the Ten Commandments of 2020.

This week Jared and Dani welcome Rachael Larkin, an AVID teacher from Matheson Jr. High, to UEN Homeroom. With a new year upon us, Rachael dropped by to discuss helping our students to set goals for their academic and personal lives. Our topics included: a brief overview of the AVID program, the importance of having students set goals, extrinsic vs intrinsic motivation in goal setting, how parents can play a role in helping students achieve goals, and setting goals for all areas of personal growth.