Category: Professional Development

2022 Maine Educator Summit Draws 400 Educators to Augusta

More than 400 educators from across Maine gathered at the Augusta Civic Center for the first annual Maine Educator Summit. The theme for the Summit was Supporting Resilience, Responsiveness, and a Renewed Approach to Education with more than 58 professional learning presentations on a range of topics including interdisciplinary instruction, student wellbeing, school safety, engaging with community, “grow your own” solutions to build the educator workforce, extended learning opportunities, and more.

The Summit also provided an opportunity for educators to connect, build community, and learn from and with one another.

Maine Education Commissioner Pender Makin and inspirational speaker Randy Judkins delivered keynote addresses to the educators.

“It’s extremely important for educators and school leaders to be able to have a space to come together, to network and share ideas, to learn new strategies, and to strengthen their professionalism and resilience as they are about to enter a new school year,” said Makin on the importance of the Summit.

One educator shared that they left feeling as though their enthusiasm for teaching was renewed and they held a greater sense of community and comradery while another shared that they were grateful to have connected with people who can help them implement the practices they learned about at the summit in their classrooms, schools, and districts.

Check out some of the media coverage from the event featuring teaching interviews:

While this is the first official Educator Summit, the Maine DOE looks forward to planning and hosting a summit each year moving forward.

IN-PERSON TRAINING: Amplifying Students’ Voices in the Transition Process: Outcome-Oriented Planning using Person-Centered Approaches

We can promote success for our students by partnering with them to understand their visions for the future and amplify their voices in the transition planning process. But how can we provide a structure for students to articulate their visions? How can we make time for students to engage in the experiences they need to achieve their future goals among other instructional priorities?

This training will provide strategies for assessing and promoting career pathways through education, work experiences, and other predictors of post-school success. You will engage in community resource mapping with other training participants using case studies to identify and plot resources within your communities. The session will culminate in each participant’s creation of an individualized action plan to bring back to your school, agency, or community with support from the trainers and other participants.

Date and Time: Thursday, September 22, 2022, 10:00am-2:00pm ET

Location: University of Maine at Augusta campus

Presenters: Josh Taylor (UMaine), Janet May (UMaine- Center for Community Inclusion and Disability Studies), and Gina Oswald (UMaine-Farmington)
Cost: $75.00

Register today! Once you register, you will receive an automated email confirming your registration, with directions to the training site.

Questions: Contact Lara Enein by email at lara.enein@umb.edu

WEBINAR: Outcome-Oriented Planning for Transition-age Youth

Transition planning is critical to ensuring that students’ educational experiences result in success after graduation. But transition planning can also be a daunting task for educators and other practitioners. What are the right pathways to get our students where they need to be? Where do we begin? This session will discuss how we can use person-centered and backwards planning to anchor transition to the outcomes students want for themselves. You will learn practical strategies for engaging students and families through reframing the transition planning process to develop students’ career potential. In this webinar, you can connect and share ideas with other practitioners through small group discussions in breakout rooms. Presenters will also host interactive Q&A discussions.

Date and Time: Tuesday, August 30, 2022, 2-3:00pm ET Location: Online (Zoom)

Presenters: Josh Taylor (UMaine), Janet May (UMaine- Center for Community Inclusion and Disability Studies), and Gina Oswald (UMaine-Farmington)

Cost: $25.00

Register today!  Once you register, you will receive an automated email confirming your registration. We will send reminders closer to the event date with the webinar URL link.

Questions: Contact Lara Enein by email at lara.enein@umb.edu.

WEBINAR: The Role of School Mental Health Professionals in Supporting School Safety Efforts

The U.S. Department of Education, Office of Elementary and Secondary Education, Office of Safe and Supportive Schools and its Readiness and Emergency Management for Schools (REMS) Technical Assistance (TA) Center will host a Webinar on Tuesday, August 16, 2022, from 12:00 p.m. to 1:00 p.m. ET. This Webinar will highlight the role of mental health professionals in supporting school safety efforts at the local level.

The objectives of this 60-minute Webinar are to

  • Demonstrate the importance of developing a collaborative planning team to support emergency operations plan development, as outlined in Step 1 of the six-step planning process detailed in the Guide for Developing High-Quality School Emergency Operations Plans.
  • Discuss the role that school mental health professionals — including mental health coordinators, counselors, and others — play in implementing the National Preparedness System mission areas before, during, and after a potential emergency.
  • Share resources to strengthen mental health professionals’ efforts around climate assessment, behavioral threat assessment, continuity of teaching and learning, and overall plan development.

Register on the REMS TA Center Website to participate in the Webinar!

Presenters:

Mobile County Public Schools

  • Denise Riemer, LCSW, Mental Health Services Coordinator

REMS TA Center

  • Janelle Hughes, Project Director

Questions About the Event?

Contact the REMS TA Center Help Desk at 1-855-781-REMS [7367] or info@remstacenter.org from 9:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. ET, Monday through Friday.

WEBINAR: Graduation Reporting

The Maine Department of Education Data Team is holding a Graduation Reporting webinar Tuesday August 9th at 10am. We will be discussing the graduation certification report and related procedures for validating and clearing up any issues on the report. This certification is due by August 30th, so attendance is strongly encouraged for those charged with validating this report. Please follow the “Join Live” link at the time of the training to join us. Thank you.

Join Live

If you have any questions, comments or concerns regarding this webinar please contact the MEDMS Helpdesk at MEDMS.Helpdesk@Maine.gov or (207) 624-6896.

WEBINAR: Screening for Early Literacy Milestones, Dyslexia, and other Reading Disabilities

Dr. Nadine Gaab will host a webinar, “Screening for Early Literacy Milestones, Dyslexia, and other Reading Disabilities: The WHY, WHEN, WHO, HOW and WHERE on  September 28, 2022 from 3:30-4:30 pm

Audience: General & Special Educators, Administrators, Parents, Caregivers and Community Members Interested in Early Literacy, Dyslexia & Reading Disabilities

Cost: FREE please register for ZOOM Link here

This session will address:

  • Screening for literacy milestones and reading disabilities, including developmental dyslexia in early grades (pre-K-2nd)
  • The WHY behind the screening movement with a strong focus on the neurobiology of reading development and reading disabilities.
  • The ‘Dyslexia Paradox’
  • Important constructs to screen for with a developmental lens
  • Practical steps for implementing a screening protocol in various educational or clinical settings.
  • Different screening instruments and criteria for picking the right screener
  • Educational and clinical implications of screening and early identification in young children.

About the Presenter: Dr. Nadine Gaab is an Associate Professor of Education at the Harvard Graduate School of Education. Nadine’s work focuses on developmental cognitive neuroscience, particularly in language-based learning disabilities. Her research in the GaabLab examines the development of typical and atypical language and literacy skills in the pediatric brain and pre-markers of learning disabilities and the development of screening tools for screening literacy milestones and dyslexia.

She is the 2019 recipient of the LDA Award (Learning Disabilities Association America) for her work on learning disabilities. In 2018, Nadine was presented with the Allan C. Crocker Award for her advocacy on behalf of children with dyslexia and reading disabilities and efforts around the recent passage of the Massachusetts screening legislation (under the guidance of Decoding Dyslexia MA). She has also been recognized by the International Dyslexia Association in her receipt of the Norman Geschwind Memorial lecture 2020 and the Alice H. Garside Award for outstanding leadership in advancing the science and advocacy of dyslexia. She is an international speaker, frequently presenting to teachers on the brain science of typical and atypical literacy development.

If there are additional questions please email Tracy (Tracy.W.Whitlock@maine.gov), Anne-Marie Adamson (Anne-Marie.Adamson@maine.gov_) or Dee Saucier (danielle.m.saucier@maine.gov).

WEBINAR: Registering and Enrolling Refugee and Immigrant Students in Secondary Schools

The U.S. Department of Education’s Office of English Language Acquisition (OELA) is hosting to a webinar where panelists will discuss best practices and resources for facilitating refugee and immigrant students’ transition into U.S. schools, including scheduling considerations, academic evaluations, and options for registering newcomer students who arrive without academic credentials or who do not meet state academic requirements.

The panelists will also discuss models of academic background review and assessment that can be used during newcomer immigrant registration and enrollment to set students on a success trajectory and pathway to graduation.

Aug 12, 2022 02:00 PM in Eastern Time (US and Canada)

More Information and Register Here

2022 Foreign Language Association of Maine Summer Institute

The Foreign Language Association of Maine in collaboration with The University of Maine Department of Modern Languages and Classics invites you to the 2022 FLAME Summer Institute.

Date: August 22, 2022
Place: University of Maine, Orono. Bennett Hall Bldg.
Time: 8:30 a.m. to 4:00 p.m.
Cost: Registration is $50 with FLAME membership 2022-2023. $60 without FLAME membership. Registration for new teachers and student teachers (0-1 year of experience)$30 with FLAME membership 2022-2023, $40 without membership (learn more about becoming a FLAME member here).

Keynote Speaker: Gisela Hoecherl-Alden, Assistant Dean & Director of Language Instruction Professor of the Practice in German at Boston University.

Gisela Hoecherl-Alden is currently Professor of German and Assistant Dean and Director of Language Instruction at Boston University, where she works closely with the faculty in over 20 language programs. She recently received ACTFL’s Nelson Brooks Award for Excellence in the Teaching of Culture and has also served on the boards of the Northeast Conference, American Association of Teachers of German, and FLAME.

Keynote Address: Starting Strong: Where Do We Go From Here?

As we reimagine our language classes, we let our experiences teaching during the pandemic and our students’ aspirations and fears guide us. While we ensure that our students engage with products, practices and perspectives from target language communities, we also help them move from basic concepts to big questions, so they learn to think critically about how social structures impact daily lives. The talk explores how and why our language classes are important sites for connecting with social justice issues and highlights approaches to making them relevant for a changed reality.

Session Highlights:

  • 5 Tricks to start the year strong! Ready to go activities for the first week of school
  • How to Integrate Cooking into Language Learning?
  • How to Love Teaching and Prevent Burnout
  • Card talk in Bulgarian
  • Creating Comprehensible Input Activities with Authentic Resources
  • Responsibility of the Cultural & Language Broker
  • How to create a lesson from an authentic game

For a full list of sessions and descriptions click here.

Register here for the Summer Institute!
(Paypal link).
Deadline to register is August 15, 2022

Free One-Day National Conference for Educators: Virtual State of Agriculture

Maine Agriculture in the Classroom (MACITC) is offering a FREE Professional Development Opportunity from National Agriculture in the Classroom and CHS Foundation. The Virtual State of Agriculture is a one-day virtual conference on July 28th from 10:00am – 5:45pm (ET).

The conference will will feature a keynote address from the award-winning author Peggy Thomas. Sessions will feature a variety of agricultural subjects and interests for all grade levels. There are two session tracks, one for elementary and one for secondary, and participants can switch back and forth to any session that interests them.

Join us for a day sure to leave you with valuable agricultural literacy resources and excitement for the new school year!

Learn more and register here.

For more information reach out to Maine Agriculture in the Classroom at P: 207.287.5522 or E: maitc@maine.gov.

Employment Specialist Certification Training

The Maine Departments of Labor, Education, and Health and Human Services are pleased to announce the new Working Together Maine Workforce System training led by the Institute for Community Inclusion at the University of Massachusetts Boston.

Successful completion of this training leads to an approved Employment Specialist certification that meets the requirements of Maine state agencies to support individuals with disabilities on their paths to employment.

To learn more about this in person training and to register view the flyer.

For additional information or questions, please contact Lara Enein at lara.enein@umb.edu.