Maine Educator Summit – Maine DOE Newsroom

Educators and school/district staff from across Maine gathered at the Augusta Civic Center recently to attend the second annual Maine Educator Summit. Hosted by the Maine Department of Education (DOE), the 2023 Summit offered more than 130 professional learning opportunities and workshops across four days, with topics including school safety, project-based learning, computer science education, student well-being, outdoor education, interdisciplinary instruction, and more. Doubling the previous year’s registration numbers, more than 600 educators attended the Summit which was themed Inspiration, Innovation, and Inclusion.

Beyond professional learning, the Summit also gave educators and school and district staff the opportunity to connect with and learn from each other while building a network and community of Maine’s Education Workforce.

“I feel like this is a place where you would learn a lot of stuff that [may be] different from what you already know,” one social studies teacher told WABI 5. The teacher went on to say that he was able to attend workshops and learn more about topics that were not strictly social studies including social emotional learning and inclusion.

Educators and school/district staff who attended sessions at the summit had the opportunity to fill out a survey to receive contact hours. The survey was completed more than 2,000 times by people attending sessions throughout the event.

Keynote addresses were delivered by Maine Commissioner of Education Pender Makin, 2023 Maine Teacher of the Year Matt Bernstein, and 2015 National Teacher of the Year Dr. Shanna Peeples. An additional lunchtime presentation included recognition of Maine’s 2023 finalists for the Presidential Awards for Excellence in Mathematics and Science Teaching (PAEMST) and the 2023 Maine History Teacher of the Year. Live and Work in Maine, a partner in statewide efforts to recruit and retain Maine’s education workforce, also attended the event providing t-shirt to attendees and to capture interviews for a campaign that aims to recruit people to work in Maine schools and districts.
Check out a video highlight from the four-day event:

Following the second official Summit, the Maine DOE looks forward to continuing to assist educators and school/district staff during the school year including offering a number of professional learning and training opportunities, in addition to refining and planning next year’s annual Maine Educator Summit.

The Maine Department of Education’s 2023 Summit was supported and funded by the American Rescue Plan funds received from the U.S. Department of Education. For more information about the 2023 Educator Summit, visit our website.

More than 400 educators from across Maine gathered at the Augusta Civic Center for the first annual Maine Educator Summit. The theme for the Summit was Supporting Resilience, Responsiveness, and a Renewed Approach to Education with more than 58 professional learning presentations on a range of topics including interdisciplinary instruction, student wellbeing, school safety, engaging with community, “grow your own” solutions to build the educator workforce, extended learning opportunities, and more.

The Summit also provided an opportunity for educators to connect, build community, and learn from and with one another.

Maine Education Commissioner Pender Makin and inspirational speaker Randy Judkins delivered keynote addresses to the educators.

“It’s extremely important for educators and school leaders to be able to have a space to come together, to network and share ideas, to learn new strategies, and to strengthen their professionalism and resilience as they are about to enter a new school year,” said Makin on the importance of the Summit.

One educator shared that they left feeling as though their enthusiasm for teaching was renewed and they held a greater sense of community and comradery while another shared that they were grateful to have connected with people who can help them implement the practices they learned about at the summit in their classrooms, schools, and districts.

Check out some of the media coverage from the event featuring teaching interviews: