Visiting Teachers from Spain Program

Is your school anticipating difficulty in securing a licensed Spanish teacher for the 2022-2023 school year or beyond? Do you want to expose your students to a proficient Spanish speaker and cultural expert? Are you trying to figure out how to staff a Spanish immersion program? Then the Visiting Teachers from Spain Program may help.

Maine’s Memorandum of Understanding with the Ministry of Education of Spain was created to promote strong cross-cultural ties between the citizens of Maine and the people of Spain, and to help address the uneven distribution of qualified instructors of Spanish in our state. Under this agreement, educators from Spain can be brought to teach in Maine schools for a period of up to three years (a two-year extension may be possible after the third year), depending on the availability of each individual teacher, his or her willingness to stay for an extended period, and the School Administrative Unit’s (SAU) interest in extending their visiting teachers’ contracts beyond the initial year.

Visiting International Teachers are licensed to teach in Maine while holding the cultural exchange status described above.

The process of securing a Visiting Teacher from Spain is comprised of a few simple steps. An interested school or SAU must first determine that they have a guaranteed position. Teachers on J-1 visas cannot be procured for openings that are uncertain or subject to elimination. Next, a detailed application must be completed and signed. New schools or districts also must sign a program contract, indicating a commitment to abide by all of the program’s requirements.

Both documents must be submitted together to the Embassy of Spain by April 15, 2022. Maine DOE representatives will conduct remote interviews with Spanish teachers and select a pool of highly qualified candidates whose skills and backgrounds may fit the needs of Maine schools. The next step is to put their visiting teachers under contract in accordance with any local bargaining unit agreements. Visiting teachers must receive the same salary and benefits that any other teacher would receive, based on their educational attainment and years of experience. Visiting teachers arrive in Maine in mid-August and undergo an intensive pre-service orientation provided by the Spanish Ministry of Education prior to their arrival in their Maine communities.

Participation by the visiting educator in a strong, year-long novice teacher mentoring program in his or her school or district is a requirement for securing a teacher through this program. The school or district also should be willing to assist the teacher with all aspects of getting settled. Again, the application deadline is April 15, 2022. Please secure the approval of your local board of education/sponsor to hire a teacher from Spain before the April 15th deadline. Hiring after this date might be possible but we cannot guarantee availability of candidates.

See the program brochure for more details.

If you have any questions, please contact Manuel Collazo, Education Advisor at the Embassy of Spain, at manuel.collazo@educacion.gob.es or 617-678-5920.

Maine’s Statewide Career Fair Launches March 22 with NASA Astronaut Jessica Meir and Hundreds of Presenters from Across Maine

Live sessions for the second annual ME Virtual Career Fair will begin on Tuesday, March 22 and will include 130 presentations for more than 10,000 students across the state. The Community Coordinators Collaborative (C3), an organization of educators working to support students with career exploration, organized the event in partnership with the Maine Department of Education and the Association of Computer Technology Educators of Maine (ACTEM).

The event will commence on Monday with a series of pre-recorded messages from keynote speakers, including Commissioner of Education Pender Makin, Mark McInerney of the Center for Workforce Research and Information, Cary Olson Cartwright, Unum’s Assistant Vice President of Corporate Social Responsibility, and David Herring, Executive Director of the Wolfe’s Neck Center for Agriculture & the Environment. The fair will continue throughout the week, offering hundreds of live sessions and featuring a vast array of businesses and organizations from different industries.

“The virtual career fair has allowed us to expand access and to expose students to the many diverse professions in Maine,” said Sheree Inman, co-chair of the ME Virtual Career Fair. “We have schools from Presque Isle to Kittery participating and are excited to introduce them to the wealth of opportunities available in their home state. This year, we have more than 100 presenters including trades professionals, entrepreneurs, artists, and scientists such as Maine’s celebrated NASA Astronaut Jessica Meir. The presenters are eager to share their experience and proud of what Maine has to offer.”

“Growing up in Aroostook County, I spent countless hours outdoors. It was the natural setting of Maine that inspired me to become an explorer,” said NASA Astronaut Jessica Meir. “The landscape sparked my curiosity to learn more about the world around me. I continue to feel a strong connection to Maine and am excited to share my story and hopefully inspire other young people from the state to explore careers in science.”

“The Jackson Laboratory is one of the largest non-profit employers in Maine and is always seeking to hire people who are motivated by our biomedical mission and have an affinity for this state. Maine high school students are the perfect audience to learn more about the many different types of work we offer,” said Michael McKernan, director of government and community relations at Jackson Laboratory. “It’s critical that employers interface with students and schools as often as possible, to share information about the opportunities that exist in the state. It’s surprising how even a short interaction might change a student’s outlook or open their eyes to a new possibility. The Maine business community can’t afford to miss those opportunities”.

Financial assistance is available to schools through the generous support of Unum, Bath Iron Works, and many other local businesses.

Hands-On Ocean Science Program Open to High School Applicants

Bigelow Laboratory’s Keller BLOOM program gives students an immersive look into life as a scientist and is now accepting applications for its weeklong May experience. The program is open, at no cost, to all Maine high school juniors.

Experience with hands-on scientific research is a rare opportunity for most students and can make a significant difference in their careers. Bigelow Laboratory’s Keller BLOOM program gives students a unique look into life as a scientist, and is now accepting applications for the weeklong experience, which will be held May 15th to 20th. The program is open, at no cost, to all Maine high school juniors.

“We are excited to show students a side of science that they may not see in school,” said Nicole Poulton, director of the program and a senior research scientist at Bigelow Laboratory. “Science is about collecting data and learning from it along the way, and that’s the experience we try to give them.”

The program provides 16 Maine students each year the opportunity to spend a week in residence at Bigelow Laboratory in East Boothbay, working alongside researchers to learn about the microbiology of the local marine environment. Students are immersed in hands-on research and explore what a career as a scientist involves.

Students in Bigelow Laboratory’s Keller BLOOM program collect marine samples in the Sheepscot River estuary. The program gives students a unique opportunity to conduct hands-on research, working alongside scientists to learn about the microbiology of the local marine environment.

During the program, students learn sampling and data collection methods and put their skills into practice on a research cruise in the Sheepscot River estuary. They work with scientists using advanced instrumentation to explore microscopic plants, animals, bacteria, and other organisms from the local marine environment.

“It really changed my view on how I see the job of a scientist,” said Marcus Russano, a student from the 2021 program. “It is not just someone who sits in a chair typing or just in a lab all day, but someone who is physically out in the world around us, collecting the data, and then working hands-on with it.”

Current Maine high school juniors, including homeschooled students, are encouraged to apply by April 8. No prior research experience is necessary, and Bigelow Laboratory provides chaperoned room and board. There is no cost to participate in the program. For more information, please visit the Keller BLOOM website.

Brownville Elementary School Hosts Dr. Seuss “Book Tasting Event”

In conjunction with Dr. Seuss’s birthday recently, Brownville Elementary School held a “Book Tasting Event” for their 3rd and 4th grade students. Organized by Title I Teacher Miss Ivy Stanchfield and Librarian Mrs. Jeannine Lavigne, students were invited to a “5 Star” restaurant to sample an appetizer, main course, and dessert in the form of books!

When they were done sampling, the students were able to take home books to keep courtesy of our Three Rivers Kiwanis, who supplies books for all K-8 students in the MSAD 41 school district.

“The kids had a blast,” said Carol Smith, Brownville Elementary Principal.

DATA WEBINAR: Home Instruction Forms and Rosters – March 23rd

The Maine Department of Education (DOE) NEO Home Instruction portal will open to superintendents on April 1st for 2022-2023 form submissions.

As School Administrative Unit (SAU) central offices prepare to manage a new school year of home instruction forms and rosters, we invite superintendents and/or SAU Home Instruction Points of Contact to join the Maine DOE Home Instruction Specialist and Data Team for a Home Instruction Webinar on Wednesday, March 23rd at 10am.

We will be discussing the new school year, updated resources, and how to access and navigate the Home Instruction Module in NEO.

Please follow the “Join Live” link at the time of the training to join us.

For questions, contact the Maine DOE Helpdesk at medms.helpdesk@maine.gov.

US DOE Invites Applications for the Educational Technology, Media, and Materials for Individuals with Disabilities Grant Program (ETechM2 Program)

The U.S. Department of Education published a notice on a discretionary grant program for the Office of Special Education and Rehabilitative Services: Educational Technology, Media, and Materials for Individuals With Disabilities Program-Innovative Technology-Based Approaches for Assessing Children With Disabilities.

The grant program seeks to support children with disabilities in a variety of ways, including through the use of technology, supporting educational activities, providing captioning and video description support, as well as through the use and distribution of accessible educational materials. The Department intends to use approximately $1,000,000 for this competition; however, the actual level of funding will depend on final congressional action.

Applications are due by May 2, 2022.

For more information visit the U.S. DOE Notice.

MLTI Launches – Space2Connect! 19th Annual MLTI Student Conference

The 19th Annual MLTI Student Conference will be held virtually on Thursday, May 26, 2022 from 8:30am to 2:00pm, and will be open to all MLTI 7th and 8th grade students. Since our first MLTI Student Conference in 2003, this event has been providing students with their own technology conference focused on issues, concepts, and subjects that matter to them. The theme of this year’s conference is: MLTI Launches Space2Connect! The intent of the conference theme is to reflect the many interpretations of space and connection as they relate to Maine students and their use of technology today.

This year’s virtual conference will have a brand-new, classroom-centered approach. Sessions will be delivered directly into your classroom where the workshop leader will act as a type of guest teacher. Workshop leaders will teach the class new skills, provide time for students to practice these new skills, and then support them as they create something new with what they have learned. This new design will allow students to work together as they explore new resources and applications, create with new digital mediums, and collaborate to complete tasks. For more information on our new conference model, please watch our video!

This virtual conference, as with past years, will be hosted on Zoom. The sessions will be 90 minutes with the morning session running from 9:30am to 11:00am, and the afternoon session running from 12:00pm to 1:30pm. All necessary materials will be provided to schools before the conference so students will have them to create with during the conference.

In past years we have asked educators to lead all of the sessions at the student conference. However, this year, since the pandemic has already asked so much of educators over the past two years, the MLTI team, in partnership with some educational partners, will plan interactive, creative sessions that we think students will be excited to attend. Having said this, if you would like to lead a session at this year’s conference, we’d love to have you! Please review the proposal submission information and fill out the proposals submission form, or reach out to Digital Learning Specialist Jon Graham.

Registration

Registration for the 2022 MLTI virtual student conference is now open. Please select a lead teacher from your MLTI school to fill out the online registration form (copy attached to review before filling out online). We will be asking for lead teacher contact information, the school information, as well as a physical shipping address so we can deliver or ship conference materials directly to the attending school. We will also need the total number of students attending in each grade, and the totals for shirt sizes. We ask that schools complete the registration form by April 3, 2022. For questions regarding registration, please reach out to Brandi Cota at Brandi.M.Cota@Maine.Gov.

Important Dates

March 10th registration opens
March 21st workshop sessions announced
April 3rd registration closes
April 4th session sign up opens
April 15th session sign up closes
May 12th session assignments finalized

For more information, please visit the MLTI Student Conference page or contact Brandi Cota at Brandi.M.Cota@Maine.Gov.

NEW Online Course: Cybersecurity Considerations for K-12 Schools and School Districts

The following opportunity comes from the U.S. Department of Education’s Readiness and Emergency Management for Schools (REMS) Technical Assistance (TA) Center.

Does your emergency operations team know the types of threats facing their networks and systems? Is your team prepared to handle cyber threats before, during, and after one occurs? Is cybersecurity included in your emergency operations plan (EOP)? These important questions for your planning team to consider will be answered by taking this NEW online course, Cybersecurity Considerations for K-12 Schools and School Districts.

This 30 to 45 minute free online course aims to help K-12 school personnel, school district administrators and staff, and state/regional education agency personnel include cybersecurity in EOPs and obtain critical data needed to prepare for network breaches and insider threats. This online course uses an engaging visual format and interactive features such as learning activities and quizzes that help you:

Recognize the connection between school safety and cybersecurity;
Identify the evolving threats facing school and school district networks and systems;
Prepare for possible cyber threats before, during, and after; and
Integrate cybersecurity with EOP development and planning.

Take Another REMS TA Center Online Course
The REMS TA Center offers a diverse set of self-paced, online courses as asynchronous training and professional development opportunities on school safety, security, emergency management, and preparedness topics. If you are a first-time user, create a profile for easy access to all our online courses.

Fundamentals of EOP Development

Annexes and Related Topics

School EOPs In-Depth: Planning for Large Events

Climate Data-Art Workshop for Educators

Join the Maine Department of Education and Friends of Maine Coastal Islands National Wildlife Refuge as they cohost an afternoon with Jill Pelto, an accomplished climate change artist with a passion for constructing new ways to communicate science through art.

March 31, 2022
3:00 – 6:00 p.m.
virtual event

This 3-hour workshop is designed for middle and high school teachers that would like to learn how to braid climate science, data, and visual art as a means of communicating both the data and the urgency of climate impacts in a novel way. Jill’s data-art approach has been utilized in classrooms internationally.

During the workshop, teachers will demo the activity as “students” and create an original artwork that integrates scientific data collected by researchers from Friends of Maine Coastal Islands, including Tern (Arctic, Common, Roseate) recovery and Atlantic Puffin fledgling rates in Maine. This activity can be adapted for the classroom using the same datasets, or other datasets that teachers (or upper-level students) identify.

Instructional objectives of this workshop include:

Understand the meaning of the data
Relate to the data personally
Create an original artwork that illustrates a story

Register here for this workshop. An agenda, list of simple materials to have at hand during the workshop, and the Zoom link will be sent to all participants after successful registration. Space is limited.

If you have any questions about this event, please contact Shari Templeton at shari.templeton@maine.gov or 207-530-6407.

MEDIA RELEASE: Maine Department of Education Announces $1.2 Million in Rethinking Responsive Education Ventures (RREV) Funding to Support Education Innovation

The Maine Department of Education (DOE) today awarded $1.2 million in Rethinking Responsive Education Ventures (RREV) funding to support education innovation in six School Administrative Units across Maine. These funds will be used to support projects focused on workforce development, environmental stewardship, outdoor education, a marine institute, and internship opportunities as well as supporting unique approaches to remote learning.

Awardees for this second round of RREV funding include East Grand School in Danforth, Belfast Area High School, Portland School Department, Telstar High School in Bethel, RSU 22 in Hampden, and RSU 25 in Bucksport.

“Education is changing in so many new and exciting ways, and we should be at the forefront, introducing our children to the great outdoors and offering them hands-on experiences outside the classroom that will spark new perspectives, engender new friendships, and deliver new skills,” said Governor Janet Mills. “Using these federal enrichment funds, creative Maine educators can get children outdoors this summer, exposing them to lived experiences that will get them ready for life and new careers.”

“Educators in Maine are constantly paving the way with their innovation and creativity, and RREV offers a way to supercharge these efforts,” said Education Commissioner Pender Makin. “We’re excited to invest in these educator-led projects to rethink teaching and learning in ways that deepen student engagement, expand beyond the traditional classroom, connect students with Maine’s bounty of natural resources, and allow them to explore career paths that fuel their passions.”

The Maine DOE was awarded $16.9 million from the U.S. Department of Education’s Rethink K-12 Education Models Funding. As one of 11 States to receive funding, Maine created RREV to support the work of visionary educators to develop innovative pilot programs around remote and outside of the classroom learning. RREV is flooding Maine with innovative practices, professional development, and pilot design classes. Courses in innovative design process are available through several of Maine’s public and private universities at no cost to Maine educators who wish to participate. In addition to the innovative pilot development classes, the Department is also offering asynchronous, innovative principles webinars which are available to all educators in self-paced, independent modules.

The first round of nine RREV pilots were announced last fall with an initial investment of more than $2 million to support projects including expanded outdoor learning, a makerspace, hiring an Outdoor Learning Coordinator, expanded internships, service learning, and work/study opportunities, and engaging remote learning pathways. MSAD 17, Brewer School Department, MSAD #28, RSU 89 Katahdin Schools, Mt Blue HS/ Foster Technology School, Harpswell Coastal Academy, Noble High School, MSAD 60, St. George Municipal School Unit, and School Union #76 were all part of the first round of pilots.

“At St. George School, we dare to dream big. For over 5 years, our school community has been working to bring the trades, technology, and innovation back to the heart of public education and allow all students, grades K-8, to engage in hands-on/minds-on projects,” said St. George MSU Superintendent Mike Felton, part of the first round of RREV pilots. “The RREV Program believes in the power of local schools and communities to shape their future and isn’t afraid when a small school dreams big. RREV’s support, assistance, and encouragement will help make our dream of a St. George K-8 Career Technical Education/Makerspace Building a reality and, in the process, stretch people’s imaginations as to what’s possible in rural education and economic development.”

For more information on how to get involved in RREV and to learn more about the pilots, visit https://www.maine.gov/doe/rrev.

New Pilots:

All RREV Pilots: