Some 260 teachers and administrators from 27 Maine schools will gather at the University of Maine on Aug. 9 to draft action plans aimed at improving literacy instruction.
Category: Professional Development
Conference allows deep exploration, collaboration
By Tim Follo
BRUNSWICK — Summer may mean vacation for students, but not for 155 of their teachers who spent three summer days recently at Bowdoin College for the annual Maine Learning Technology Initiative Summer Institute.
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Risk-taking as a route to transformation
Tony Wagner came to Maine this week with a message to which we in education should pay attention.
What we need to do isn’t get better at teaching within the system we have now. We need to retool our education system to teach the skills that take precedence in our 21st-century, knowledge-driven economy.
Wagner: Schools should retool, teach ‘survival skills’
ORONO – The world of the 21st century is a world that requires its citizens to be critical thinkers, collaborators, effective communicators, entrepreneurs and continuous learners.
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Conference to focus on keeping kids in school
ORONO – More than 200 professionals working with students in schools, the juvenile justice system and after-school programs will gather next week for three days of training focused on gaining the tools needed to engage students in their learning and keep them from dropping out.
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Travis Roy: ‘Challenges define who we are’
CARRABASSETT VALLEY – Travis Roy knew his life had fundamentally changed the moment he crashed into the boards 11 seconds into his first game wearing a Boston University hockey uniform.
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Building project turns focus to instruction
Mount Blue High School and Foster Technology Center have long shared a campus. But the 750-student high school and 300-student technology center have been distinct buildings with distinct identities, divided by a glass walkway.
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At Yarmouth High, the environment is technology
In biology class, Yarmouth High School students plug digital microscopes into their laptops to record video of the organisms they’re observing. They can refer to that video later in the day, outside the classroom.
During the uprising that led to the resignation of Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak, students in a Yarmouth High School social studies class used their laptops to learn from the Twitter postings that were pivotal in ending Mubarak’s reign.
And when Yarmouth students need to study for a quiz, many of them make flash cards using an online tool known as Quizlet and share them with classmates.
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In ‘ordinary’ district, standards-based transformation takes hold
When it comes to educational transformation, Victoria Burns prefers to think of her school district as ordinary.
“If we can do it, it’s something that can be translated to almost anyone,” said Burns, superintendent of School Administrative District 15, which serves Gray and New Gloucester.
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An invaluable partnership
The school administrators who attended our 100th annual Maine School Superintendents’ Conference this week had a tall order.
Maine DOE Newsroom 