Stacey Turkington Named MAHPERD Richard H. Bartlett Adapted Physical Education Teacher of the Year

Stacey Turkington, Adapted Physical Education at RSU 14 serving the Sebago Lakes communities of Windham and Raymond has received the the Maine Association for Health, Physical Education, Recreation, and Dance (MAHPERD) 2021 Richard H. Bartlett Adapted Physical Education (APE) Award.

Stacey has been providing adapted physical education for students for 17 of her 22 years with RSU 14. In these years she has thoughtfully prepared appropriate modification of traditional physical education (PE) activities and equipment adjustments for those with a disability so they can partake in the traditional PE classroom. Stacey has provided these services with genuine care and concern, all the while putting the student first.

Her nurturing approach was recently recognized when she was nominated anonymously for the annual Dr. Richard H. Bartlett Adapted Physical Education Teacher of the Year Award. Between the anonymous recommendation and a letter of endorsement by Principal Dr. Kyle Rhoades of Windham Primary School, Stacey was chosen as this year’s winner.

“Countless learners from our district have benefitted from Stacey’s hard work and gentle touch,” Dr. Rhoades said in his letter. “When observing her with children, you know they want to work with her because of how she presents herself. Learners feel this confidence and grow from the safe feeling created.”

Stacey believes that being physically active is imperative to a student’s overall health and it is for this reason she puts heart and soul into her work – and into the students she works alongside.

To develop quality programs for her students, Stacey starts with observing a student ideally in their regular Physical Education class, at recess, with PT/OT therapists, and/or in their classroom. After reflection on the data collected, she shares her results with the student’s IEP team to determine the best program for each student. Stacey continually checks in to ensure the program developed is meeting the student’s needs and completes an assessment at the end of the year. While Stacey’s focus is quality APE programming, she doesn’t take credit for all her learners’ success because in her words “in the long run, it is actually a team approach.” Working with learners with disabilities involves so much more than just teaching. It involves a lot of human development research and medical advancements. Stacey is constantly learning new techniques and adding more and more tools to her toolbox.

“Running from school to school can take its toll and I must admit that there are challenging days,” says Stacey. “But it is the passion that keeps me going – that and the love for the kids. What I love the most about my job is that I have the pleasure of working with students from primary school to post-graduation. I get to work with most students from the age of 5 and watch them grow until the age of 21 when they age out of the program. It is an honor to work with these students and it is the most rewarding job EVER!”

Maine Association for Health, Physical Education, Recreation, and Dance (MAHPERD) Honor Awards are presented to MAHPERD members in recognition of their excellence to their profession by demonstrating outstanding dedication to their students and profession. To learn more about MAHPERD visit maineahperd.org.

Becki Belmore Receives MAHPERD Distinguished Leadership Award

Becki Belmore is this year’s recipient of the MAHPERD Distinguished Leadership Award. Becki teaches Physical Education and Adapted Physical Education at Greely Middle School in MSAD 51, serving students in Cumberland and North Yarmouth. Nominated by a peer, the Distinguished Leadership Award recognizes a person’s excellence in their profession and commitment to the MAHPERD association.

Her administration speaks very highly of Becki and says that she is student focused and a fierce advocate for our students with special needs and their programming. She has an extensive understanding of the continuum of motor skill development and successfully engages with families and community partners.

Becki has been awarded two MAHPERD Teacher of the Year awards in the past, Elementary Physical Education and Adapted Physical Education and she is a National Board Certified Teacher, one of a very small cohort in Maine.

Here are just a few of her many accomplishments:

She is an active member of the Maine APE Task Force serving as the liaison to the MAHPERD board.
Highly involved in APE advocacy – working with the Maine Parent Federation, and directly with Maine’s Director of Special Education, National Consortium for Physical Education for Individuals with Disabilities (NCPEID)
Collaborator on the Adapted Physical Education information document
Collaborator on the State of Maine DOE Q & A document for APE
MAHPERD conference presentations
- APE sessions
- Physical education sessions
- Member of the Steering Committee for Update of Maine’s Physical Education Standards

REMINDER: Maine’s State Performance Plan/Annual Performance Report (APR)

As a reminder, the Office of Special Services has released important informational videos to gather feedback from stakeholders on Maine’s State Performance Plan/Annual Performance Report (APR).

Please access the full collection of videos that relate to the APR indicators here.

Indicators are specific reports that are required by the federal government. Alerts will be sent out as new videos are released. Please complete the survey associated with each indicator video.

The indicators include:

Graduation rates
Dropout rates
Parent involvement
Educational environment
Dispute resolution
Preschool outcomes
Post school outcomes

Your input is essential in establishing targets for each indicator and in helping determine special education initiatives in Maine.

For further information contact the Maine Department of Education’s Office of Special Services.

Start a Student Leadership Ambassadors of Maine (SLAM) Club

Are you looking for a way to engage with your students? And for ways for your students to engage safely with other students throughout the state?

Checkout this free, interactive, student leadership opportunity that requires no prior experience for students and staff.

Weekly chances for students to win prizes and opportunities to earn tech tools (mics, webcams, 3D printers) for your school!

The newly imagined MLTI 2.0 (Maine Learning Technology Initiative) invites interested educators and students to join others from around the state and start a SLAM, Student Leadership Ambassadors of Maine, club in their school. This initiative will be guided by Kern Kelley, who, along with his trailblazing Tech Sherpas, has been a national leader in student agency. Once a week, each SLAM group will virtually join other SLAMmers from across the state. During these meet-ups, students will learn presentation and tech skills and will produce a livestream tech help show on our youtube channel.

MLTI 2.0 hopes to have SLAM clubs in every school in Maine. To help you get started, MLTI will provide your club with either a live-stream webcam or recording microphone. There will be more opportunities to earn additional equipment for continued participation.

We hope you will consider starting a SLAM club at your school or that you will forward this to someone in your school who might be interested. To register your SLAM club please complete this form.

To check out our weekly SLAM show, visit our youtube channel, or watch our introductory video here.

To learn more about MLTI 2.0 SLAM visit our webpage.

For more information on SLAM or other MLTI 2.0 initiatives, contact Beth Lambert, Director of Innovative Teaching and Learning at beth.lambert@maine.gov.

LD 313 Career and Technical Education Work Force Group to Meet Nov. 23rd

On Tuesday, November 23, 2021 from 8:00-10:00 am the Work Force Group for LD 313 will hold its second virtual meeting, hosted by the Department of Education.

LD 313 was passed in the 130th legislature and is focused on several topics regarding Career and Technical Education (CTE). If you would like to join as an attendee and listen to the discussion, you can use the following link.

Link to join Webinar as Attendee: https://mainestate.zoom.us/j/81283687048

If you have any comments on the discussion, you can send email them to; cte.doe@maine.gov .

Celebrating National Apprenticeship Week

In celebration of National Apprenticeship Week, the Maine DOE would like to highlight the industry-driven, high-quality career pathways offered through the Maine Department of Labor Maine Apprenticeship Program and foreshadow the work underway to build the Maine Pre-Apprenticeship Program.

Currently, there are 1126 active apprentices and 191 active employers in the Maine Registered Apprenticeship Program and between September 2020 to September 2021, 117 apprentices completed their apprenticeship. Sponsors play a key role in the Maine Apprenticeship Program and currently there are 119 active sponsors and 58 new potential sponsors of apprenticeships in Maine.

To view the list of current sponsors by occupation, click here.

To view the list of current sponsors by Maine county, click here.

Recognizing Maine’s workforce needs in high wage, in-demand jobs, the Maine Department of Labor is working to increase the number of employers, sponsors, and apprentices in the Maine Registered Apprenticeship Program. A Request for Applications (RFA) process will be used to allocate federal American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) funds for the expansion of the Maine Registered Apprenticeship Program and the creation of the Maine Pre-Apprenticeship Program. The unique qualities of each of these two programs is highlighted below.

Maine Pre-Apprenticeship Program:

Pathway to begin apprenticeship training for high school juniors and seniors who are 16 years of age or older.
Pre-apprenticeship programs may also be established for out-of-school youth (at least 16 years old) or adults.
Collaboration and formal agreement approved among the school, the employer, the student, Maine DOL Apprenticeship Program staff, and in some cases the parent or guardian.
Student must be full-time student, in good academic standing who works part-time for a registered employer/sponsor and is interested in becoming a registered apprentice after graduating from high school.

Maine Registered Apprenticeship:

Registered Apprentice must be at least 16 years of age (except when a higher minimum age standard of 18 years is otherwise fixed by law or a sponsor) and employed to learn in an occupation approved by the Maine Department of Labor, Maine Apprenticeship Program.
Employers, employer associations, and joint labor-management organizations, known collectively as “sponsors”, provide apprentices with paid on-the-job learning and academic instruction that reflects industry needs.
Individual apprentices obtain paid work experience, classroom instruction, mentorship, and a portable, industry credential.
Length of time of an apprenticeship is dependent on the specifics in the formal agreement and ranges from 1-5 years. Apprentices are expected to make a long-term commitment to the apprenticeship.

As Maine high schools and Career and Technical Education schools implement the Maine Learning Results Life and Career Ready Standards and design, develop, expand, and refine career exploration and development pathways for high school students, they are encouraged to engage in the Maine Apprenticeship Program’s RFA process and connect current extended learning career exploration programs, Co-op programs, and Maine Career and Technical Education programs as on-roads to the Maine Pre-Apprenticeship Program or Maine Registered Apprentice Program. These partnerships will create more options and career development pathways for students that will lead to industry credentials and employment.

For more information on the Maine Pre-Apprenticeship Program or Maine Apprenticeship Program contact Joan Dolan, Director of Maine Apprenticeship Program at joan.dolan@maine.gov and Kristine McCallister, Maine Department of Labor, Career Center Consultant-Apprenticeships at kristine.mccallister@maine.gov

For more information on Maine Career and Technical Education, contact Dwight Littlefield, Maine DOE State Director of Career and Technical Education at Dwight.littlefield@maine.gov

For more information on developing high school extended learning career exploration opportunities contact Diana Doiron, Maine DOE Life and Career Ready Education Specialist at diana.doiron@maine.gov and Rick Wilson, Maine DOE Distinguished Educator for Career Exploration at rick.wilson@maine.gov

For more information about the foundations and bridges the Maine Learning Results Life and Career Ready Standards lay to support career exploration and career planning contact Diana Doiron, Maine DOE Life and Career Ready Education Specialist at diana.doiron@maine.gov

Online Library of Videos Now Available to Support Emotional Wellbeing of Educator Workforce

Our schools need healthy and safe adults in order to foster healthy and safe students. During these stressful times, our education workforce is working harder than ever to nurture and educate their students. They continue to be called on to re-invent and even defend their profession, addressing unfinished learning, new or increasing anxieties, and disrupted protocols on how schools and societies should function.

We know our workforce is short staffed, and therefore doing more than is possible, while also trying to meet the needs of their families and themselves. We know staff, students and the families of our students may also be more frustrated, exhausted or anxious. We need our adults to take care of themselves and one another, and to take time to attend to their physical and emotional well-being.

With our educators’ needs in mind, the Maine Department of Education is pleased to announce the development and release of SOS! Supporting our Staff (SOS), a library of online modules designed for our educator workforce here in Maine.

These free, online activities are designed to support educators in many different areas, from adult emotional intelligence and wellness to skills that can be used in the classroom. The modules are available for use by anyone, including parents, caregivers, and educators. They are asynchronous and designed to be used with flexibility such as part of a professional development day, a team or staff meeting, or part of an individual self-care and professional development plan. The Maine DOE hopes that these resources are a support for the educators who are doing everything they can to support students and their families.

Please check out SOS by registering/logging into: sel4me.maine.gov and share this resource, along with our gratitude and offer to support or listen in whatever way we can.

Together we can ensure our schools are places where physical health and emotional well-being are prioritized, creating an environment when all students and adults can thrive.

For more information or support with the SOS modules, contact Kellie D. Bailey, Maine DOE Social Emotional Learning Specialist for the Maine Department of Education at at Kellie.Bailey@maine.gov.

Maine FFA Student Leaders Learn New Skills at Presque Isle Workshop

Twenty-five Chapter Officers of the Maine FFA Association (formerly known as “Future Farmers of America”) gathered on October 22, 2021 at the University of Maine at Presque Isle to learn more about leading their local chapters. FFA is a national organization for agriculture and natural resources students grades 7-12, with affiliated chapters in all fifty states, Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands.

Presque Isle’s workshop participants came from five different Aroostook County FFA chapters: Ashland High School, Central Aroostook High School (Mars Hill), Easton High School, Presque Isle Regional Career & Technical Center, and Washburn High School.

Leading the workshop were State FFA President Nickie Deschaine, State FFA Vice President Delaney McKeen, and State FFA Secretary-Treasurer Ryder Brewer. Participating Chapter Officers learned Leadership, Teamwork, and developing imaginative, worthwhile activities for their local chapters despite challenges associated with COVID-19. Students got a chance to know each other, to share ideas, and to participate in brainstorming and fun activities.

Mascot Making

Icebreaker Activity, Maine FFA Chapter Officer Workshop, Presque Isle

Follow-up activities for the year will include agricultural and community projects at the local level, a subsequent workshop for FFA members, and a State FFA Convention with competitions and awards.

For more information on starting an FFA chapter to access student agriculture/natural resources opportunities related to leadership events, travel, community, competition and scholarships, please contact the Maine FFA State Advisor in the Maine Department of Education, Doug Robertson, doug.robertson@maine.gov 207-624-6744

Behavioral Threat Assessment Team Training

Paid for by the State of Maine, the Behavioral Threat Assessment Team Training gives Maine school districts access to the leading training program for Behavioral Threat Assessment (BTA) at no cost to them. Targeted violence is preventable. When school teams have the knowledge and skills to identify, assess and intervene, they can help guide students to a safer path.

CSTAG Level 1 Training: Begins November 29, 2021 – Asynchronous, online (You must complete Level 1 by 12/14/21 to participate in Level 2).
CSTAG Level 2 Training: December 15, 2021 – Synchronous, in-person or virtual
workshop from 9:00am – 1:00pm.

Training is ideal for all members of a multi-disciplinary BTA Team, including:
School administrators, school mental health professionals, School Resource Officers (SRO) or law enforcement, special education coordinators.

Behavioral Threat Assessment Team Training is a necessity when it comes to helping students move off a path of violence to themselves or others.

The training is hosted by Navigate360, a leader in school safety solutions and Dr. Dewey Cornell, author of the Comprehensive School Threat Assessment Guidelines (CSTAG).

Those headed down a path of targeted violence display observable behaviors (i.e. they don’t just “snap”) When school communities know these warning signs, they can intervene and help Behavioral Threat Assessment is a fact-based, non-punitive method of identifying the reasons a student may beheaded down a path of violence
BTA uses a collaborative, multidisciplinary team to assess and identify effective interventions and supports that mitigate a potential threat.

For more information about this training: Download the flyer

To register for the trainings contact Karen Barnes, Threat Assessment/Mental Health Officer at the Maine School Safety Center at karen.a.barnes@maine.gov

Maine DOE MLTI Team Presents at ACTEM 21 Annual Conference

The 34th annual ACTEM Conference was a virtual event for the second year in a row and offered over fifty sessions from a variety of Maine educators, educational consultants, and edtech vendors. The Maine Department of Education’s MLTI team offered eleven sessions that showcased their diversity of knowledge and experience.

On Thursday afternoon, Digital Learning Specialists, Jon Graham and Emma Banks, led a “Meet the MLTI Ambassadors” session, which provided an overview of professional learning under MLTI 2.0. The Ambassadors (Rob Dominick, Holly Graffam, Kate Meyer, Erik Wade and Jonathan R. Werner) were able to introduce themselves, discuss what drew them to the position, and each shared some aspects of their role within MLTI. The recording of the session has been made publicly available by ACTEM and is available here for viewing:

The ten sessions hosted by the Ambassadors were largely developed from their classroom experiences and several drew heavily from the realities of the past two school years. Kate Meyer’s, “Let’s Talk: Using Parlay Ideas to Practice Civil Discourse,” and Holly Graffam’s, “EdPuzzle, FlipGrid & HyperDocs to Build a Video/Audio Library,” spoke to apps that they used regularly in both in-person and hybrid education settings. Holly also tapped a Technology Engineering teacher, Scott Daigle, to co-present, “Add a Little Fruit to Your Tech Diet with Pear Deck.” Erik Wade, the only Minecraft certified Educator in the state of Maine, brought his expertise to his offering, “Engage, Explore, and Create with Minecraft Education Edition.” Rob Dominick, a Google certified educator and trainer, presented sessions on two popular Google tools in, “Making G Sheets FUNCTIONal,” and, “Powering Up Google Slides.” Aside from the exploration of specific tools, Erik Wade blended science and outdoor education in his sessions, “Engaging Students through Citizen Science” and, “Authentic Integration of Technology and the Outdoors.”

Two additional sessions, facilitated by Jonathan R. Werner, arose from his experience with a pair of concepts that have proven highly successful in shaping educators’ practice both during the pandemic and going forward. The first, “Ready to LAUNCH: Bringing Design Thinking to Your Classroom,” offered educators a glimpse of how Jon Spencer and A.J. Juliani’s, LAUNCH Cycle, with its reliance on iterative thinking and prototyping practices, might apply to a range of classrooms and disciplines. His second session, “Irresistible: Fighting Back Against Addictive Tech,” focused on ways educators can help address the tensions that emerge when our reliance on tech to facilitate teaching and learning bumps up against the tech industry’s aggressive efforts to distract and entertain its consumers.

All of the MLTI Ambassadors’ sessions, as well as dozens of other sessions from ACTEM `21, (plus over a hundred sessions from previous conferences) are available through the ACTEM website for members.

ACTEM’s Vendor Expo Hall provided another opportunity for the MLTI team to connect with some educators from across the state. The MLTI “table” featured a Bitmoji classroom inspired space that offered links to some of the key programs tied to the team. During the afternoon expo time, a rotating group of Ambassadors joined in-person. Some educators joined and made introductions in the chat, while others came right in with their cameras on for some face-to-face discussion. It was a relaxed and welcoming environment. This proved to be another vital step in making contact to educators, especially those at the MLTI Ambassadors’ respective schools, as the MLTI 2.0 professional learning program comes together.

The MLTI Ambassadors are available to provide professional learning to all MLTI schools. If you are not sure which Ambassador has been assigned your school, check out our interactive map. If you are interested in connecting with an MLTI Ambassador, contact information is here. If you are looking to learn more about MLTI 2.0, please check out our website.