Category: Professional Development

Opportunity for Aspiring Mentors: Mentor Trainings Offered this Spring and Summer

The Maine Department of Education (DOE) is committed to supporting the growth and development of educators aspiring to be mentors.  Over the past four years, the Maine DOE has collaborated with teacher leaders, administrators, and higher education partners to customize Maine’s mentor resources. These resources are available to School Administrative Units (SAUs) that wish to provide local support and training to new mentors.  We extend our sincere thanks to educators who continue to offer mentor training throughout the state.

Mentors serve a critical role within their schools, and we are appreciative of their ongoing dedication to supporting and growing the profession.  Current mentors have been crucial to the educational environment—each individual mentor has made an impact.  We are encouraged by and thankful for those educators who are enthusiastically stepping up to become mentors.

This spring and summer, the Maine DOE will be offering virtual mentor trainings. These interactive sessions will serve as a foundation for aspiring mentors and a refresher for current mentors.  Participants will have the opportunity to learn about the principles of mentoring, reflect deeply on the role of mentors, apply practices into real-world situations, and engage in lively discussion with peers from across the state.

Details: Educators are welcome to select the session below that works best with their schedule. The sessions will take place via Zoom and a link will be sent to participants following registration. Sessions are offered at no cost and all materials will be available electronically.

Choose from three sessions:

May 5, 2022
8:30am – 3:30pm (with a built-in lunch break)
Registration Form

June 30, 2022
8:30am – 3:30pm (with a built-in lunch break)
Registration Form

July 19, 2022
8:30am – 3:30pm (with a built-in lunch break)
Registration Form

Contact Hours: Educators will receive contact hours for participation

Educators are encouraged to discuss the opportunity, along with local training requirements, with their mentor chairperson prior to registering.

Support for new educators through mentoring and induction is a key strategy outlined in the Teach Maine Plan to develop, support, and sustain Maine’s education workforce.  This plan will be released in early May.  Interested in learning about future offerings, discussing customizable resources, or sharing promising practices?  Please reach out to Emily Doughty at Emily.doughty@maine.gov or at 207-592-0314.

Planning for Family Reunification Before, During, and After an Emergency Train-the-Educator (TtE)

The following opportunity is being provided by the REMS TA Center, a partner of the U.S. Department of Education, Office of Safe and Supportive Schools.

The Readiness and Emergency Management for Schools (REMS) Technical Assistance (TA) Center is excited to offer the Planning for Family Reunification Before, During, and After an Emergency Train-the-Educator (TtE) Virtual Training by Request (VTBR). This dynamic and interactive 2.5-hour training is designed to provide educators and school staff with a better understanding of family reunification before, during, and after an emergency and how to develop a Family Reunification Annex for the school emergency operations plan (EOP) that meets the needs of the local school and community.

TRAINING DESCRIPTION
This training is intended to provide participants with an introduction to family reunification and how it is used to reunite children with verified and authorized family members after a critical and often highly stressful incident (e.g., a fire, a natural disaster, a school bus accident, a situation involving weapons or violence at school, etc.) that prevents a normal school dismissal. The Family Reunification Annex is recognized in Guide for Developing High-Quality.

School Emergency Operations Plans and The Role of Districts in Developing High-Quality School Emergency Operations Plans as a critical element of the overall EOP.
Participants will be equipped to review and update their Family Reunification Annex on a regular basis to ensure the most successful outcome, while applying training principles for including a step-by-step plan to reunify children with their families before, during, and after an emergency across the five mission areas.

WHO SHOULD ATTEND?
The intended audiences for this training are school and school district administrators, educators, staff, and members of an EOP planning team. This training is also applicable for fire officials, emergency medical services personnel, law enforcement and school resource officers, local public health officials, local mental/behavioral health practitioners, and other community partners.

TRAINING DETAILS
When: Tuesday, May 3, 2022 Time: 10:30 a.m. to 1:00 p.m. ET Cost: NO CHARGE
Register here (Registration for this event closes on Friday, April 29, 2022 at 5:00 p.m.)

If you have any questions or need additional assistance, please contact the REMS TA CENTER at 1-855-781-REMS [7367] or via email at info@remstacenter.org or contact the Maine School Safety Center.

NEW Outdoor Learning Accelerator Program Includes Funding & Resources

The Maine Department of Education’s Rethinking Responsive Education Ventures (RREV) initiative is offering a new Outdoor Learning Accelerator award program in an effort to mobilize funding and resources to create more opportunities for schools in Maine to innovate around outdoor and environmental learning in the 2022-23 school year. This will also create opportunities to share ideas and learning with other schools through RREV’s online learning platform, EnGiNE.

Who can apply?

  • The goal of this project is to fund innovative pilot projects across the state of Maine. This effort emphasizes iteration on an existing model rather than creating something from scratch.
  • Preference will be given to projects from different Superintendent Regions.  Awards will be determined by the Maine Department of Education and priority will go to highest need schools and districts who apply.
  • Preference will be given to projects that incorporate collaboration with a partner organization.
  • Schools that have already received funding through the RREV Grant for an outdoor learning project are not eligible for the outdoor learning accelerator program.
  • At least one classroom educator and an administrator must both take part in the four-week Outdoor Learning Accelerator Workshop that will support participants in developing an innovative outdoor or environmental learning project for their school or district. A community partner is also welcomed to join the school team in the workshop to support project development. Participants will be provided a template application with resources to support project design.
  • This opportunity is open to educators in public and private schools.

How much funding is available?
Each school or district can request up to $100,000.00 to support implementation of your innovative outdoor and environmental learning project in the 2022-23 school year. We hope to fund at least 10 projects.

We are excited to connect with you about your innovative outdoor and environmental learning projects in your schools or districts in this innovation accelerator program!

To learn more including how funds can be spent, an FAQ, and timeline, download the Outdoor Learning Accelerator Program Flyer (PDF).

For further information and questions, reach out to Martin Mackey, Maine DOE RREV Director, at martin.mackey@maine.gov.

NEW Online Course: Assessing Your School Site

The following opportunity is being provided by the REMS TA Center, a partner of the U.S. Department of Education, Office of Safe and Supportive Schools.

Is your school or school district looking to examine the safety, security, accessibility, and emergency preparedness of its building and grounds? Do your ongoing assessments include a site assessment? To support K-12 school safety teams in conducting site assessments, the U.S. Department of Education, Office of Safe and Supportive Schools and its REMS TA Center are pleased to provide a NEW online course: Assessing Your School Site.

This 30- to 45-minute free online course aims to help K-12 school (public and nonpublic) personnel, school district administrators and staff, state/regional education agency personnel, and their partners develop a greater understanding of site assessments and how to examine the safety, security, emergency management, and preparedness of K-12 buildings and grounds. This online course uses an engaging visual format and interactive features, such as learning activities and quizzes, to help you learn about

  • Site assessments, including their purpose and their role in the planning process, how frequently they should be conducted, by whom they should be conducted, and the process for conducting them.
  • Building design principles that guide site assessments, such as Crime Prevention Through Environmental Design and Universal Design.
  • Data from site assessments and how they can be used to inform your school emergency operations plan and safety, security, emergency management, and preparedness programs.
  • Tools that are available to support you with this important work.

Get more information and take the course here.

If you have any questions or need additional assistance, please contact the REMS TA CENTER at 1-855-781-REMS [7367] or via email at info@remstacenter.org or contact the Maine School Safety Center.

Save The Date: 2022 Maine Educator Summit August 9-10

The Maine Department of Education (DOE) is hosting the 2022 Maine Educator Summit this summer to provide all Maine educators and school staff with opportunities for professional learning, peer networking, and resource materials to further support students impacted by the COVID-19 global pandemic. In sponsoring this event, the Maine DOE aims to further support Maine’s education workforce in the areas of resilience, responsiveness, and a renewed approach to education.

We hope that you and your colleagues will join us for the 2022 Maine Educator Summit at the Augusta Civic Center on August 9-10, 2022. The summit will offer a variety of sessions around topics like social-emotional learning (SEL), school safety, interdisciplinary learning, special education, and more. Participants will be able to join several different learning sessions over the two-day event and the Maine DOE is encouraging teams from each School Administrative Unit (SAU) to register.

Be on the lookout for registration and Summit materials on the Maine DOE website. Reimbursement of accommodations, meals, and mileage is available.                              

Contact hours will also be provided.

If interested in presenting at the summit or for further information about the 2022 Maine Educator Summit, please reach out to Teri Peaslee, Continuous School Improvement Professional Development Coordinator, at (207) 530-7672.

#MEEducatorSummit

Maine PBIS 2022-2023 Cohort Applications Now Open

Maine Positive Behavioral Interventions and Supports (PBIS) is a state-wide effort designed to help school teams form a proactive, school-wide, systems approach to improving social and academic competence for all students. Schools in Maine are engaging in the implementation of PBIS through a variety of training and coaching opportunities offered by the Maine Department of Education in strong partnership with the University of Maine System. PBIS has documented outcomes for schools who implement PBIS with fidelity and integrity related to dramatic decreases in the number of behavior problems experienced in their schools. Additionally, students and staff in these schools report higher ratings of school climate scores than those in comparative schools who do not use a system of Positive Behavioral Interventions and Supports.

Maine DOE is now accepting new applications for schools and SAUs interested in joining a 3-year professional development cohort to establish a strong PBIS Tier One System.

To receive the application, please go to https://forms.office.com/g/P8k2wy3veW.

For more information, please contact Anne-Marie.Adamson@maine.gov.

Registration for Math4ME is Now Open 

The Maine Department of Education Office of Special Services, in collaboration with the Maine Math and Science Alliance (MMSA), is pleased to announce a new Math4ME cohort for the 2022-2023 school year. Math4ME is designed to increase access to mathematics for all learners through teacher professional development.  This year, participants will register as a team – an administrator, general educator, special educator and ed tech for hands on in person learning and remote synchronous interactive sessions.  To learn more about this math learning opportunity, please view the Math4ME Informational video found here:

To receive an application for the 2022-2023 Math4ME cohort please go to https://forms.office.com/g/PUizY0fmF2. 

If you have questions, contact Anne-Marie Adamson at anne-marie.adamson@maine.gov.

WEBINAR: Resilience Strategies for Educators: Techniques for Self-Care and Peer Support

Resilience Strategies for Educators (RSE): Techniques for Self-Care and Peer Support Train-the-Educator (TtE) Virtual Training by Request (VTBR) is a virtual learning opportunity coming up for caregivers in schools and school districts to better understand, and teach others, resilience strategies following emergency events.

The REMS TA Center is excited to offer the NEW Resilience Strategies for Educators: Techniques for Self-Care and Peer Support (RSE) Train-the-Educator (TtE) Virtual Training by Request (VTBR) created in partnership with the U.S. Department of Education’s Office of Safe and Supportive Schools (OSSS). This dynamic and interactive half-day-long training is designed to assist caregivers in schools and school districts to better understand resilience and self-care strategies following natural disasters and other emergency events.

Participants will gain the knowledge and hands-on skills needed to implement the five components of Psychological First Aid — listen, protect, connect, model, and teach, as well as awareness about compassion fatigue, and how to build a self-care plan.

Pre- and -post training activities will provide guidance on how this training is relevant to emergency operations planning and assist with the implementation of what is learned.

TRAINING DETAILS
When: Tuesday, April 26, 2022
Time: 10:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. ET
Cost: NO CHARGE
Register here. (Registration for this event closes on Friday, April 22, 2022 at 5:00 p.m.)

TRAINING DESCRIPTION
As part of a comprehensive school emergency operations plan, it is important for schools and school districts to understand how to prevent, protect against, mitigate, respond to, and recover from critical incidents, including social, emotional, and behavioral recovery. The training is designed to provide educators and school staff with a better understanding of resilience strategies that can be used to increase their ability to work more effectively with individuals impacted by stress, loss, and trauma brought on by community or family violence, natural and man-made disasters and economic hardship.

WHO SHOULD ATTEND?
The training is applicable in areas that have been impacted by traumatic events and/or natural disasters, as well as those that have not recently experienced a traumatic event(s). The intended audiences for this training include, but are not limited to:

• School counselors and psychologists
• School social workers and nurses
• Administrators, educators, and support staff
• School Resource Officers
• Community partners such as local mental/behavioral health practitioners

For more information and questions reach out to REMS directly at info@remstacenter.org or contact Maine School Safety Center (MSSC) staff Melissa Condon at melissa.a.condon@maine.gov.

SAVE THE DATE: School Safety Summit – June 21-23

Save the date for the first School Safety Summit hosted by the Maine Department of Education’s (DOE) Maine School Safety Center (MSSC).

Windham High School & virtually on Zoom
June 21-23
9:00 am – 3:00 pm

There will be classes and breakout sessions designed for school administrators, staff, school board, and social workers, as well as JCCOs, SROs, Police Officers, front line supervisors, and administrators.

For more information, contact Rob Susi, Maine DOE MSSC School Safety & Security Manager at robert.w.susi@maine.gov.

Spring Training Continues in April – Check Out This Lineup of MLTI Professional Learning Offerings

Active learning, student engagement, technology integration, digital instructional design, and digital citizenship and online safety are the main topics for an ongoing professional learning series offered by the MLTI Ambassadors. This series features daily offerings that can be attended live via Zoom and are open to all interested educators. The sessions are now available as asynchronous versions through our website. To attend one of the live sessions via Zoom, be sure to register through this April calendar. Please note that the times of these offerings vary from day to day. Asynchronous versions of these sessions will be available through MLTI Professional Learning as well as the MLTI Youtube channel. 

Some topical offerings:  

MondayMonday – Technology Integration with Rob Dominick 

The Technology Integration series has dug into some data describing the effect of technology in the classroom, discussed the foundational integration strategies of TPACK and SAMR, and introduced three other useful strategies of TIM, PICRAT, and Triple E.  

Coming up in April, we will continue to discuss those strategies by analyzing each one and looking into what they actually look like in practice in the classroom. The series will culminate in the last week of April by evaluating some example lesson plans which integrate technology so that participants can apply that skill to their own planning. 

To find the previous professional development sessions in this series, and receive contact hours for them, please visit our YouTube playlist. 

TuesdayTuesday Tech – Student Engagement with Erik Wade 

The student engagement series has been engaging audiences far and wide with professional development about integrating graphic design, inquiry, citizen science, and 3D design and printing. If you would like to view these past professional development opportunities, you can find them by clicking this link.  

Coming up in April, we will explore engaging students through virtual reality, math and science simulations, and the use of technology in outdoor education and agriculture.    

WednesdayWednesdays with Werner – Digital Citizenship & Online Safety with Jonathan R. Werner 

This six-part series on Digital Citizenship and Online Safety will draw on the incredible resources Common Sense Education (CSE) has curated to provide educators with a framework for and tools to teach students about Digital Citizenship. April will include the last two offerings: Relationships and Communication (Week 5) and Cyberbullying, Digital Drama, and Hate Speech (Week 6).

Please note, educators can choose any or all of these sessions and do not need to be able to attend all six. After April Break, we will tackle the sixth CSE focus area, News and Media Literacy, in a multi-week series focusing on issues such as Finding Credible News, the Four Factors of Fair Use, and Creator’s Rights and Responsibilities. 

ThursdayThursday – Digital Instructional Design with Kate Meyer 

This series of workshops will explore the creation and implementation of high-quality, engaging, interactive digital learning experiences for your students. Each week we will explore a new digital strategy that you can easily implement into any unit of study. This month we will be exploring Digital Poetry, Design Thinking Infographics, and Podcasting. 

If you missed March’s workshops on Hexagonal Thinking, Silent Discussions, or Curation Projects, you can view them asynchronously on MLTI’s YouTube channel on the Digital Instructional Design playlist. 

FridayFriday – Active Learning with Holly Graffam 

The first series of workshops focused on integrating Problem-Based Learning in the classroom, including an overview of Problem-Based Learning as well explored applications across a variety of content areas from literacy to science.  

Beginning in April, Computer Science across the curriculum will be the subject of the second series of workshops. Sessions will discuss the critical need for computer science in our classrooms and examine engaging, creative ways to integrate computer science into your existing curriculums.