Schools and Sports

Garfield County School District Teacher Highlight

by Danette Verde

Samie Ott - Bryce Valley Elementary School

Ott has taught in Garfield County for eighteen years—ten years in 3rd grade and eight in 5th grade. Ott also teaches Language Arts to 4th and 6th graders at Bryce Valley Elementary School. She loves everything about teaching, but, most importantly, she loves the students. Ott grew up in Tropic. She received her bachelor's and master's degrees at Southern Utah University. Ott also has Reading Levels 1 and 2, Math, and ESL endorsements. In Ott’s spare time, she loves to spend time with her family on their ranch, traveling, and taking classes to further her education. She has two children—Kage, who is in his second year at

SUU majoring in Aviation, and Skyler, a junior at Bryce Valley High School. Education is extremely important to Ott and to her family. She comes from a long line of educators; her grandpa and father both taught at Bryce Valley.

Ott has taken many classes to further her knowledge of Computer Science software. She has enjoyed teaching her students about the many jobs available in the Computer Science industry. She enjoys seeing them create and use their imagination with Scratch, Code.org, and Kodable.

The 5th graders get to use the Spheros robots this year and have so much fun racing, building obstacles, drawing messages, and coding directions. “They have been the most interactive tool we have had thus far. We have had a lot of fun with them!”

Ott loves that Shawn

Caine is always looking for ways to bring new technology to the school.

“Even though we are small and rural, we have the highest and most advanced technology out of even big schools. Our kids have so many more opportunities because we are small and because we have people like Ms.Caine, who seek knowledge and funding for our students,” says Ott. Ott loves what Computer Science has to offer her students because there are so many different avenues; they can do what interests them most.