Category: Newsroom Articles

Using Book Creator & Educational Technology Tools to Engage Students in Reading

The Gorham Middle School (GMS) library website is a rich resource for students to discover and access reading materials from their home or classroom using their MLTI iPads. Librarian Suzanne Liacos-Dix has created an extensive collection of Book Talk videos, a Google Classroom stream, and a selection of Google Forms to engage students in sharing their literary passions with others. This year, in collaboration with 7th grade teacher, Sherry Coyne and the GMS technology integrator, Terri Dawson, the library website has a new feature to help engage students in Silent Sustained Reading (SSR).

The GMS library website features a link to join a Google Classroom where Mrs. Dix streams library announcements like new book arrivals, book fair information, and author visit events. She has also created a Google Form where students can request a featured “Favorites Shelf” to display their top picks as well as a form to request new books to be added to the library. The forms are student-friendly and provide students an opportunity to have a voice in the library collection. The Google Classroom stream allows students across grade levels to have conversations that they might not otherwise from expressing excitement about a new book release or sharing thoughts on upcoming events with others. The stream is also an opportunity for Mrs. Dix to help students learn how to communicate effectively with others and become good digital citizens. Mrs. Dix says there is a long waiting list for the Favorites Shelf that just started this September. It has been extraordinarily popular with the students!

Like many middle schools, Gorham Middle School has a Silent Sustained Reading period during the day to allow students to dive into a book of their choice for a set amount of time. Sometimes getting students to actively engage in SSR can be a challenge. Sherry Coyne, a 7th grade teacher on the Little River team reached out to Mrs. Dix about an idea she had heard about that might help support students who have a difficult time with the SSR period. Mrs. Dix talked to the technology integrator and a new, creative solution was born: Meet a Book Mondays. Using Book Creator, an app for web browsers and tablets that “enables students to create and read multimodal digital books,” ¹ along with audio recording and image editing tools on the MLTI teacher MacBooks, Mrs. Dix and Mrs. Dawson created a comic book style book that is full of book previews, character descriptions, book release announcements, audio recordings of chapters and more. The book has a vibrant and fun design to grab student interest.  The Meet a Book Mondays book is projected for the class all together during SSR. Students fill out a feedback form on their iPads and draw whatever comes to mind as they listen. The following day, students have the option to read the books that they learned about. Students can come back to Meet a Book Mondays any time as it is readily accessible via their iPads. Mrs. Coyne has seen a positive result since introducing the project to her students, they are more engaged and she feels like the SSR time is becoming more valuable to students. They are already exploring a new Google Maps project based on the response from students on a particular book that they learned about through Meet a Book Mondays. They plan to virtually follow and map out a character’s journey around the world. After hearing about the success on the Little River team, other teachers are beginning to use the Meet a Book Mondays book with their classes for SSR as well!

Mrs. Dix’s library website and the Meet a Book Mondays Book Creator Project are great examples of blending educational technology tools into every day learning to provide accessibility and actively engage students in a creative way. Using their MLTI devices to create and access content, both teachers and students are connecting and discovering new resources to support reading. You can see the Gorham Middle School Library website and the ongoing Meet a Book Mondays project here: https://sites.google.com/view/gorhammiddle/home

¹University of Massachusetts Amherst. (n.d.). Learner-Centered Tools, Book Creator. Online Tools for Teaching and Learning. Retrieved October 18, 2022 from https://blogs.umass.edu/onlinetools/learner-centered-tools/book-creator/.

The Telling Room Statewide Writing Contest Open for Student Submissions

The Telling Room, a literary arts education organization in Maine has opened submissions for a Statewide writing contest. Youth youth ages 6 – 18 can submit writing samples in all forms of creative and personal writing – the theme is open.

The grand prize winner will receive a $250 Award and will be published in The Telling Room’s Annual Anthology.

Submissions close on November 30, 2022.

For more information and to make a submission visit The Telling Room website.

Download a flyer to help promote.

Governor Mills, Commissioner Makin Help Celebrate 2022 Maine County Teachers of the Year at Annual Tailgate Gala

The 2022 County Teachers of the Year and the recently named 2023 Maine Teacher of the Year Matt Bernstein were celebrated recently at the 2022 Teacher of the Year Tailgate Gala. The Gala is an annual celebration of the program honoring the hard work and dedication of these teachers and the teaching profession.

The event was held outdoors under a tent at Geiger, in Lewiston, a long-time supporter of the Maine Teacher of the Year (TOY) Program. A delicious lunch was served by students from the Lewiston Regional Technical Center’s The Green Ladle Food Truck, a part of the Center’s Culinary programing.

The Green Ladle Food Truck
Gov. Mills and Commissioner Makin talking with 2022 CTOYs
Group picture!

Present and legacy State and County Teachers of the Year, along with their families, friends, colleagues, and administrators traveled from across Maine to gather together on a sunny day to celebrate and honor the innovation, dedication, excellence, and hard work of these amazing educators.

L-R: Tim Doak (RSU #39 Superintendent), Leland Caron (Caribou Community School Principal), Heather Anderson (2022 Aroostook CTOY), Jane McCall (RSU #39 Assistant Superintendent), Travis Barnes (Caribou Community School Assistant Principal), Kim Barnes (2019 Aroostook County CTOY)
L-R: Travis Jalbert Asst Principal Conners Elementary School, Kelsey Boucher (2022 Androscoggin CTOY) and Nesrene Griffin (2017 Androscoggin CTOY)
L to R: Dolly Sullivan (Educate Maine) Governor Mills, Martha Harris (former State Board member), Peter Geiger (former State Board member)
Brooke Teller (2017 Cumberland CTOY), Cindy Soule (2021 TOY)
Katie Howell (Educate Maine), Emily Doughty (Maine DOE)
L-R: Suzanne Day SAD 55 Curriculum Coordinator, Ashley Bryant (2022 Oxford County TOY), Michael Lane Sacopee Valley Middle School Principal

Images with the logo ‘Everyone’s Story Includes a Teacher’ is the property of the Arizona Educational Foundation and used with permission.

In addition to an awards ceremony that honored the 2022 County Teachers of the Year, the event featured remarks from Educate Maine Executive Director Jason Judd, 2022 Maine TOY Kelsey Stoyanova, Governor of Maine Janet T. Mills, Education Commissioner Pender Makin, and 2023 TOY Matt Bernstein. Program sponsors were also present, many offering words of appreciation and admiration to the educators in the audience, stressing the importance of education.

Jason Judd
MCSTOYA
Commissioner Makin
Hannaford
Peter Geiger
ACTEM presents an iPad to Matt
Kelsey Stoyanova (2022 TOY)
Governor Mills receives a MTOY bag of goodies

Another annual tradition of the Teacher of the Year Gala is for the Maine Secretary of State to provide a specialty license plate to the Teacher of the Year. We were honored to host Secretary of State Shenna Bellows who presented Bernstein with the license plate this year.

The Maine Department of Education along with its dedicated Maine TOY Program partners Educate Maine, the Maine State Board of Education, and the Maine County and State Teacher of the Year Association would like to extend a sincere dept of gratitude to the program’s funders and sponsors: Bangor Savings Bank, Dead River Company, Geiger, Maine State Lottery, Hannaford, Unum, and the Silvernail Family.

The Maine Teacher of the Year program is administered by Educate Maine, a business-led education advocacy organization, in partnership with the Maine Department of Education, the Maine State Board of Education, and the Maine County and State Teachers and County of the Year Association (MCSTOYA). To learn more about the Maine Teacher of the Year Program visit https://www.mainetoy.org/. 

2022 County Teachers of the Year

 

November is National Runaway Prevention Month – Get Involved!

We hope you will join us this November to Shine a Light on youth experiencing homelessness. Use these resources to get involved.

Also, there are many events you can get involved with. Here are some highlights:

November 10: Wear Green Day

Get to Know the Maine DOE Team: Meet Matt Vaughan

Maine DOE Team member Matt Vaughan is being highlighted this week as part of the Get to Know the Maine DOE Team Campaign. Learn a little more about Matt in the question and answer below.

What are your roles with DOE?

As the Resource Administrator for the Department, I am responsible for supporting the Department with human resource needs for our team. I help with hiring and onboarding processes, maintain the organizational chart, assist with keeping performance evaluations timely. I am also a part of the employee recognition planning team. I also prepare the weekly Tuesday Tidbits email, an internal newsletter.

What do you like best about your job?

I truly enjoy supporting our team by helping guide people through processes, as well as working to better the processes to make all of our lives easier in the future.

How or why did you decide on this career?

I have always taken great pride in helping to analyze and build processes to incorporate efficiencies to our everyday responsibilities. I also enjoy the processes relating to employee management like hiring and performance evaluations.

Matt V. ice fishing

What do you like to do outside of work for fun?

My family is very fast paced and is constantly on the move! I enjoy just about anything sports related – coaching youth sports, bowling, softball, football. I also take advantage of our great State’s four season with camping in the summer, hiking in the fall, and of course ice fishing in the winter, and baseball in the spring.

Augusta Adult and Community Education Offers Free Childcare for Students

Augusta Adult and Community Education is pleased to announce their partnership with the City of Augusta Parks & Recreation to offer free child watch services for adult education students. This is a momentous moment for adult education programming as childcare is the leading barrier for many adult education students.

“All students should be able to access their education. Adult education students often face many barriers when returning to school. As the director of this program, it is my goal to eliminate barriers whenever possible. I am excited for this opportunity to partner with our neighbors at Buker Community building and offer free child watch for our adult education students,” said Kayla Sikora, Director of Augusta Adult and Community.

“This partnership with Augusta Adult Education is extremely exciting for our community and the students that August Adult Education serves. We are so fortunate to have the Augusta Adult Education Program  in the Buker Community Center and I believe that our  partnership is going to continue to grow beyond the child watch program,” said Bruce Chase, Director of Parks & Recreation

A Memorandum of Understanding was signed into effect on October 25, 2022 between Augusta Adult and Community Education and the City of Augusta Parks & Recreation to offer free child watch for adult education students. Pictured- Kayla Sikora, Director of Augusta Adult Education and Bruce Chase, Director of Parks & Recreation.

Secretary of State’s 2022 Maine Native American History and Culture Essay Contest

In an effort to enhance Maine Native American Studies lessons (MRSA 20-A Sec. 4706), the Secretary of State sponsors an essay contest in which middle and high school students explore at least one aspect of Wabanaki history and then write an essay on their findings.

This program is designed to give students an opportunity to share and showcase what they’ve learned in this fascinating area of study. Essays are reviewed by a panel of judges, who will select a top entry in both the middle and high school categories.

For details visit: maine.gov/sos/kids/programs/nativeamerican. Entries are due November 10.

PROFESSIONAL LEARNING: The Rural Experience in America Inquiry

Library of Congress Teaching with Primary Sources (K-12 grade educators)

Funded by a grant from the Library of Congress Teaching with Primary Sources program, NCHE is proud to announce a 3-part colloquium for teachers focusing on Rural America. These free professional learning opportunities will help teachers develop place-based interdisciplinary units that connect students to their rural communities.  Additionally, the Maine Department of Education will be hosting a bi-weekly professional learning community to support educators through these NCHE modules.  The PLC will incorporate the work developed by the MDOE interdisciplinary instruction specialists.

The program is designed to:

  • engage rural teachers in a deep examination of rural history and the impact of agricultural change on children, families, and communities in the United States:
  • connect teachers with the Library Congress’s collections on rural history and with local rural historical societies so they can situate local history in the larger human experience;
  • support teachers in the design and implementation of works of public value that connect rural students to their community’s history
  • The Right Question Institute will be leading a 4-week session on the Question Formulation Technique (QFT) with a focus on working with rural students

Educators may complete all or part of the 3-part colloquium.

  • Part A – Free, asynchronous, online modules. (Dec 1-March 31)
  • Part B – Free, synchronous, online colloquia. (Feb 25, April 15, May 6)
  • Part C – Summer Colloquium.  Details TBD

Register here for these NCHE events. When you register with NCHE, you will receive a follow-up from the Maine DOE to register into our Maine PLC.

Information Sessions with the NCHE will be held on:

For more information, please contact Jaime Beal, Interdisciplinary Instruction Specialist, at  jaime.beal@maine.gov.

Update of the Maine Early Learning and Development Standards

The Maine Early Learning and Development Standards (MELDS) are the state’s learning standards for children ages three-five. Building from the Infant Toddler MELDS (IT MELDS) and bridging developmental expectations to the Maine Learning Results (MLRs), the MELDS inform all early childhood professionals about the typically developing expectations of young children as well as curriculum and assessment practices.

Over the past few years, the IT MELDS and MLRs have been updated. In order to ensure alignment across the sets of standards, it is time to update the MELDS which were last updated in 2015.

To guide the update process, a steering committee of early childhood professionals from around Maine has been formed and is interested in collecting feedback about the current version of the MELDS.   All interested early care and education stakeholders (e.g., childcare providers, parents, teachers, ed techs, administrators) are encouraged to complete this feedback survey no later than November 6, 2022. Input will inform the next steps in the updating process.

In he new year, early care and education stakeholders will be encouraged to consider contributing their expertise to writing teams that will assist with the updating process.  The goal is to have the MELDS update completed by July 2023.

If you have any questions, please contact the Department of Education’s Early Childhood Specialist, Nicole.Madore@maine.gov or the Office of Child and Family Services Child Care Services Program Manager, Crystal.Arbour@maine.gov