Maine Education Commissioner Pender Makin was awarded the Maine School Boards Association (MSBA) Distinguished Service Award on October 29, 2021 at their annual conference held virtually this year.
“Thank you for your leadership during these difficult times,” MSBA wrote on their Facebook page showcasing the above picture of Commissioner Makin and her award.
A recent Bangor Daily News (BDN) article reported on the award of Commissioner Makin, Maine CDC Director Dr. Nirav Shah, and school nurses across Maine who were also presented with awards at the MSBA conference. The article stated:
Makin was praised by MSBA for changing the focus of the DOE from being a regulatory agency to one that supports school boards, administrators and teachers in their essential work. That support was critical when the COVID pandemic hit.
The commissioner was the voice at the table with the governor and other state leaders, weighing in on the most effective ways to keep students, teachers and administrators safe while teaching and learning continued. She was integral in helping public schools navigate the COVID health crisis, and she did it while showing great respect for the people in the field.
Junior Achievement (JA) Maine has announced the 2022 Titan Challenge. The event will take place at seven business & educational institution settings across Maine on March 2, 2022.
JA Titan is a simulation-based program in which high school students compete as business CEOs in the cell phone industry. They experience firsthand how an organization evaluates alternatives, makes decisions, analyzes the outcomes of those decisions, and then strategizes what to do next.
For more information visit JA Maine’s website. To sign up email Jill Jamison at jjamison@jamaine.org.
The week of November 8-12 is celebrated nationally as School Psychology Week, a time for schools and communities to celebrate and appreciate the important work school psychologists and other educators do to help all students thrive.
The Maine Department of Education (DOE) thanks school psychologists, counselors, educators, and school support staff for their tireless efforts to support students’ emotional health, especially during this exponentially difficult school year. Your unwavering work in supporting the whole child in every way that you can is seen and appreciated by your community, your school, your students, and by us here at the Maine DOE. Thank you for all you do.
High school students from across Maine came to Thomas College recently to do some experiential learning at one of two Future Academies events the college hosted along with many state-wide partners this fall.
The events are part of an organized effort to provide Maine students with the opportunity to experience not just post-secondary learning, but to get the chance to meet and talk with professionals about their experiences and participate in hands-on style career exploration through four different lenses.
Thomas College Admissions Team
“We would like to thank our partners AT&T and Unum for their generous support of Maine high school students,” said Ed Cervone, Executive Director of the Center for Innovation in Education at Thomas College. Ed helped plan the Teachers Academy alongside Maine Department of Education Teacher Excellence Coordinator Tammy Ranger, and the Maine Teacher of the Year Program.
Students each had the opportunity to spend the day immersed in one of four career paths: teaching, forensic science, business, or technology. Each path provided the students with focused activities that give them a taste for what a career might look and feel like in that occupation.
In the Teacher’s Academy program students had the opportunity to meet Thomas College professors and top Maine educators from the Maine Teacher of the Year Program as part of their day long immersion into a career path in education. 2020 Somerset County Teacher of the Year Jenny France brings her Early Childhood Education students from Somerset County Career and Technical Center, along with other students in the local Jobs for Maine Graduates (JMG) program every year. She says it is a great opportunity to get the students out of the classroom to have a career focused experience. Throughout the day students at the Teacher’s Academy engaged in STEAM activities and got the chance to sit down with Thomas College professors and with local Maine County Teachers of the Year to talk about what it’s like to be a teacher.
Students working on a STEAM activity
students at the Future Teachers Academy
students at the Future Teachers Academy
Jenny France, 2020 Somerset TOY watching students at the Future Teachers Academy
Lindsay Mahoney, 2020 Kennebec County TOY watching students at the Future Teachers Academy
Tammy Ranger, Maine DOE Teacher Excellence Coordinator watching students at the Future Teachers Academy
“Spending time with these aspiring educators was energizing,” said Tammy Ranger, Maine DOE Educator Excellence Coordinator and 2017 Maine Teacher of the Year, after participating in both events. “We appreciate our partnership with Thomas College in providing passionate young people with experiential events like the Future Teacher Academy, which cultivates an interest in teaching, and supports students in their desire to engage in creative and meaningful work that will make a positive and lasting impact.”
In the Future Crime Scene Analysis program, students had the chance to go through a crime scene with Thomas College professors in the Criminal Justice/Forensic Psychology program. First given a rundown of what police know of a mock crime scene that had been set up outside on campus, students are asked to provide observations about what they see and help gather evidence.
Mock crime scene
Meanwhile in the Future Business Leaders program across campus, students interested in the Business Administration program took part in an operations management simulation with Dr. Ryan Wheaton, Assistant Professor of Management. In small groups the students first created a plan to make as many paper airplanes as possible in 10 minutes time. After 10 minutes is up and they’ve executed their plan, they re-plan and try again, aiming to beat their first goal.
Students at the Future Business Leaders Academy
Across the hall in the Future Technology Leaders program, a class full of Waterville high school students were hard at work in an on-campus computer lab learning how to program a Raspberry Pi, a small computer that can be used to learn about programming. Waterville High School teacher, Jamee Luce, who accompanied the students, said she was not going to pass up on the opportunity to bring her students to Thomas for a hands-on experience where they can meet professors and learn about local post-secondary programs that are right in their backyard.
Waterville High School students at the Future Technology Leaders Academy
Raspberry Pi
The first of the two events held on September 30th, drew in more students than anticipated. The second event, held on October 28th, had a waiting list of interested schools ready to get students over to the day-long, popular event.
Both events brought in a total of 136 students from the following schools over the course of the two days: Belchertown High School, Biddeford High School, Bucksport High School, Camden Hills Regional High School, Carrabec High School, Cony High School, Deer Isle-Stonington High School, Dexter Regional High School, Ellsworth High School, Foxcroft Academy, Greely High School, Hampden Academy, John Stark Regional High School, Lawrence High School, Lee Academy, Lewiston High School, Madison Area Memorial High School, Maine Central Institute, Messalonskee High School, Mount Abram Regional High School, Mt. Blue High School, Nokomis Regional High, Piscataquis Community High School, Scarborough High School, Skowhegan Area High School, South Portland High School, Thornton Academy, Waterville High School, and Winslow High School.
“Highly engaging career opportunities like the Future Academies send big ripples of energy in purposeful ways,” said Diana Doiron, Maine DOE Life and Career Ready Education Specialist. “Opportunities for students are increasing and relationships are evolving between Maine schools and a growing body of nonprofit and for-profit organizations all committed to offering young people the ability to get involved in new experiences, extend their connections with others, and comprehend their hopes and dreams.”
Students in the 21st Century Community Learning Center (CCLC) program at the Boys & Girls Clubs of Kennebec Valley created an ice cream truck on World Kindness Day this past October.
“We drove it to the construction site and gave the construction workers an ice cream and then delivered ice creams to all the kids in the building,” said Holly Jordan, the Teen Center/21st Century Community Learning Center Grant Director at The Boys & Girls Clubs of Kennebec Valley.
Using creative problem solving and innovation, the students used a motorized wheelchair as the movement for the truck and then created an interior base with PVC pipe and plywood to place the ice cream structure on and then made a freezer compartment in the basket area of the wheelchair.
On Monday, November 22, 2021 from 1:00 pm – 2:30 pm and 6:00 pm – 7:30 pm the advisory committee for LD 255 will have their second meeting. The meeting will be facilitated by an independent facilitator and will be recorded.
On Tuesday, November 23, 2021 from 1:00 pm – 2:30 pm and 6:00 pm – 7:30 pm the advisory committee for LD 386 will have their second meeting. The meeting will be facilitated by an independent facilitator and will be recorded.
LD 255, Resolve, Directing the Department of Education To Develop a Plan for the Provision of Early Intervention Services (Emergency), found here and LD 386, Resolve, Directing the Department of Education To Establish the Process for Transitioning the Provision of Early Childhood Special Education Services for Children with Disabilities from 4 Years of Age to under 6 Years of Age from the Regional Child Development Services System to School Administrative Units, found here, passed in the 130th legislature and are focused on several topics regarding CDS. If you’d wish to join as an attendee and listen to the discussion, you can use the following links.
The Maine Department of Education (DOE) would like to thank four Maine educators who recently participated in the recent Multi-State Alternate Assessment (MSAA) Bias/Sensitivity Passage Review.
The MSAA is Maine’s alternate assessment for students with the most significant cognitive disabilities. As a partner in the MSAA Consortium, Maine participates in the ongoing development cycle of these assessments. This participation ensures that Maine continues to strive toward increasing higher outcomes for students with cognitive disabilities, in preparation for a broad array of post-secondary opportunities.
Many thanks to the following panelists for sharing their time and expertise during this review:
Barbara Benjamin-McManus, EL Specialist, Lewiston Public Schools
Shelby Thibodeau, Director of Special Education, Augusta Public Schools
Mark Dennett, Special Educator & Functional Skills Teacher, Augusta Public Schools
Jakoba Morgan, Teacher of the Visually Impaired, Catholic Charities of Maine
Maine educators have multiple pathways to contribute to this work, and their expertise is a valued contribution to this process. Interested in participating on future review panels? Email Jodi Bossio-Smith, state coordinator for the alternate assessments at jodi.bossio-smith@maine.gov.
Pictured: Poster in Mr. Kumpa’s room connecting computer science tasks to classroom concepts.
Computer science isn’t so scary, just ask Bob Kumpa’s 8th-grade science students at Brewer Community School in Central Maine. As a precursor to a physics unit, students integrated computer science skills into class by programming an Edison Bot to navigate a maze of their creation.
Students drew any design they desired on a poster with the expectation that they would then program an Edison Bot to navigate through the design. Mr. Kumpa also required the Bot perform actions like going in reverse, spinning, and turning. There was no lack of creativity as students designed themed tracks such as Chutes and Ladders, Super Mario, trick-or-treating, passing on a soccer pitch and even one where the Bot travels the digestive system.
Students Julia Spencer (left) and Delaney McDonough (right) draft out their ice cream maze
Student designs a Mario themed maze
Student designs a Chutes and Ladders’ theme
A finished product of a Candyland themed maze
Eighth grader, Julia Rall, who also programmed her Bot to perform the Star Wars theme song, says the creativity aspect is her favorite. She wasn’t intimidated about the computer science, saying, “I feel like we’ve made it pretty easy. It’s just a lot of kinks that you have to work out.”
Students programmed their Bot either with Block or Python coding included in the program EdScratch. To navigate their design, some students elected to conduct the trial and error method, or, like project partners Julia Spencer and Delaney McDonough, some attempted to precisely measure out the distance and angles ahead of time. Delaney said that she and Julia felt that was the best way to do it because “that way we didn’t have to [unnecessarily] keep doing it over and over again.”
Kumpa told us the experience of perseverance via debugging does not happen by chance, but rather was one of the fundamental parts of the activity. It is those types of skills he hopes will translate to other sciences and other subjects, which is the main reason why he used the Edison Bots in the first place.
The Bots were supplied in 2018 from a grant through the Research in STEM Education (RiSE Center) at the University of Maine, in conjunction with their Maine STEM Partnership division, for a three-year study looking at the impact of computer science. Kumpa, who has done extensive work with the RiSE Center over the past 12 years, described the goal of the study to see if “teaching computer science will improve the learning of other sciences.”
Besides Brewer, there are 18 other schools involved in the study across the state. While Kumpa is focused on connecting computer science to physics, other schools have the option of also integrating computer science into life science or earth science.
Should this study prove fruitful, Kumpa said the hope will be to “allocate dollars towards moving computer science to the younger grades.” Bringing students more exposure to computer science provides not only regular experience with problem solving and critical thinking, but also an opportunity to shake off the intimidating stigma of computer science.
For further information about the Edison Bots or the RiSE Center, please feel free to reach out to Bob Kumpa at rkumpa@breweredu.org.
Looking for ways to connect your students with national issues and events through a local lens? Three Maine agencies have partnered to create “primary source sets,” themed packets of images, documents, artifacts, and sound recordings that open a window into Maine’s past.
The Maine State Museum, Maine State Archives, and Maine State Library have partnered with the Maine Department of Education to offer these free resources to schools and homeschools across the state.
The structure is simple. Each packet provides an introduction with contextual information on the topic. Then, students receive the primary sources – with no explanation of what they are. Students spend time with their source, finding clues, making observations, asking questions, and interpreting what they see and how it might connect to the broader story. The materials are presented like mysteries that the students can solve, with optional analysis worksheets to walk them through the process. They actively do the work of historians.
Only after these steps do they get the “answers,” labels with the names, dates, and facts associated with their sources. Optional reflection questions and activities offer opportunities for additional depth to the lesson, often drawing the line between the historical materials and issues that impact the present.
Sources exploring the history of incarceration in Maine.
What Kinds of People are in Prison?
Life in Prison
Captivity Outside of Prison
Working in Captivity
“Since mass incarceration is such a critical part of our history and our present, we must be able to offer students a way to understand how we got to this point,” said Freedom & Captivity Coordinator Catherine Besteman who worked on some of the materials for this project. “The U.S. is the world’s largest jailer. It is likely that many children have been impacted by the legal system because of the arrest or incarceration of a family or community member. Understanding how the criminal legal system in the U.S. developed, how it has grown, how it impacts families and communities, and what alternatives exist is a profoundly important task for our schools if we are ever to correct the abuses and problems of the past in order to build a healthier future.”
Interested in learning more? Join the next webinar about these great resources. More information can be found below. You can also reach out to Maine DOE Social Studies Specialist Joe Schmidt at Joe.Schmidt@maine.gov or contact Manie State Museum Education Program Specialist Kate Webber at kate.webber@maine.gov.
Part 4: “Maine Pandemics” Primary Source Set Exploring pre-packaged online educator materials on the theme of the history of pandemics in Maine. 3:00-4:30pm ET November 9th (Register for this session)
Due to popular demand, another session has been planned for December! This opportunity is two half-day interactive sessions that are relevant for staff working remotely or in-school.
Wednesday, December 8 from 12:00 to 2:45pm
Wednesday, December 15 from 12:00 to 2:45pm
You and your team can create a positive climate and culture during a pandemic! Participants will:
Learn strategies to build positive climate, improve school culture and decrease chronic absenteeism whether remote, in-person and 6 feet apart,
examine how to build healthy relationships within the school community even when behind the screen (staff with students, staff with staff, and staff with families),
explore strategies for difficult conversations among staff, students, and/or families,
access a framework (including staff survey) to assess your own school climate and culture through consensus decision-making,
leave the workshop with tools to help create a thriving school where all students and staff can feel welcome and be successful.
Everyone is welcome. We strongly encourage schools to register teams of 3 – 5 staff. During the training, you will work closely with your team-whether you are in-person or working remotely. All teams will leave the training with a plan that can be used immediately!
The cost is $85 for each member of the school team (minimum of 3 team members) and $115 for an individual registration. The same team should attend both sessions. The cost covers training and materials. Zoom link will be forwarded after registration. The sessions are limited to 50 participants.
Maine DOE Newsroom 