Educators Invited to Register for Continuation of Maine Solutionaries Project

The Maine Department of Education’s (DOE) Interdisciplinary Instruction team works with educators throughout the state to deliver high-quality professional development that is both relevant and useful. In a continuation of the Interdisciplinary Instruction team’s partnership with the Institute for Humane Education, the Maine Solutionaries Project will extend through the winter for educators interested in supporting their students in applying their learning.

This innovative project offers Maine educators a unique opportunity to participate in a customized version of the Institute for Humane Education’s Solutionary Micro-credential Program. Educators who register for the Maine Solutionaries Project join statewide educator cohorts focused on specific topics of interest. Participation is free, and participating educators are eligible to receive a $1,000 stipend and 30 contact hours upon completion of the program.

The winter cohorts will combine traditional Solutionary programming with a fresh emphasis on cross-curricula literacy integration, featuring targeted strategies and insights from literacy specialists.

Cohorts A through D will focus on the traditional Solutionary framework and highlight:
- Climate Change (Cohort A)
- Human Rights and Equity (Cohort B)
- Water Quality (Cohort C)
- Food Waste (Cohort D)
Cohorts E and F will blend the traditional Solutionary program with literacy integration throughout all content areas and will include literacy experts Cris Tovani and Kellie Smith.
- Cohort E: available to any educator who teaches grades 4 through 8
- Cohort F: available to any educator who teaches grades 9 and higher

For kickoff information, including Zoom session dates and times, and to register, please visit the Maine Solutionaries Project website. There, you can also learn more about this collaboration. Spots are limited and filling quickly, so don’t delay!

The Interdisciplinary Instruction team is part of the Maine DOE Office of Teaching and Learning. For more information about this project, please contact Interdisciplinary Instruction team members Kathy Bertini at kathy.bertini@maine.gov or Erik Wade at erik.wade@maine.gov.

Integrating Literacy through Applied Science Workshop with Katie Coppens

A number of studies on literacy have concluded that students who engage with texts on specific topics, particularly social studies and science, make greater advances in reading skills and comprehension compared to those who work solely with texts focused on reading.

To support educators with literacy integration, the Maine Department of Education’s (DOE) Interdisciplinary Instruction team is hosting a workshop on Integrating Literacy through Applied Science with educator and author Katie Coppens. This event is scheduled for Wednesday, January 15, 2025, from 8 a.m. to noon at the Curtis Memorial Library in Brunswick.

Participants in this workshop will explore, discuss, and engage with:

The role of applied science in literacy.
The role of applied science in interest and in comprehension (or “meaning-making.”)
How applied science helps a student gain or transfer new knowledge.
Ways this support can be incorporated into their classrooms and future learning.

Limited in-person spots are available and will be filled on a first-come, first-served basis. Participants may also join virtually through Zoom, and the workshop will be recorded and shared with educators. Contact hours are available to participants. To register for this event, please use this registration link.

The Interdisciplinary Instruction team is part of the Maine DOE Office of Teaching and Learning. If you have any questions about this workshop, please contact Interdisciplinary Instruction team members Kathy Bertini at Kathy.Bertini@maine.gov or Heather Martin at Heather.Martin@maine.gov.

Registration Open for 2025 Maine School Winter Wellness Summit: “Nourishing the Body, Mind, and Soul”

The Maine Department of Education (DOE) Office of School and Student Supports’ Employee Health Promotion and Wellness Program is pleased to offer the 2025 Maine School Winter Wellness Summit: “Nourishing the Body, Mind, and Soul.” School employees from across the state are invited to join their colleagues and register for this event being held on Thursday, January 30 and Friday, January 31 at the Samoset Resort in Rockport.

This event is open to individuals and school teams interested in supporting and implementing a school health promotion and wellness program that will positively impact staff and students. The Winter Wellness Summit is designed to renew and refresh school personnel mid-year by providing access to information, resources, and experiences that will inspire and empower participants to take care of their personal health – and to create healthier, more supportive, and safer school environments for all within the school community.

When school and district employees have positive attitudes and feel healthy, it enhances their ability to do their jobs. This is true for all employees, including central office employees, nutrition and transportation staff, educators, health service providers, administrative assistants, school board members, and all others who perform the day-to-day essential functions that help a school to operate and successfully fulfill its mission.

This year’s agenda includes two educational and inspirational keynotes focused on healthy eating and cultivating relationships. A plenary session will be led by state leaders and health and wellness champions making connections to The Regulated Classroom© and the Wellness Policy. Additionally, there will be engaging workshop sessions on wellness practices for personal and professional growth, creating positive and healthier school environments, and worksite wellness program planning, as well as networking opportunities with colleagues and professionals from across Maine who value health promotion and wellness.

The cost of the two-day event:

$175/person for those registering now through January 3, 2025
$200/person for standard registration (after January 3, 2025)
Accommodations are not included in the registration, but a block of rooms has been secured at a conference rate.

Details, including those pertaining to registration and the agenda, can be found on the Winter Wellness Summit webpage.

WEBINAR: Teach Maine Center Presents “Practical Strategies for New Teacher Success”

Get ready for an inspiring and transformative experience! Educate Maine and the Maine Department of Education (DOE) are teaming up to launch the Teach Maine Center, a groundbreaking initiative designed to support and elevate the next generation of Maine educators.

To kick things off, we’re offering an exclusive free webinar (“Practical Strategies for New Teacher Success”) for novice teachers who are in their first three years of teaching and interested mentors, featuring Shanna Peeples, the 2015 National Teacher of the Year, on January 14, 2025, from 6:15 – 7:15 p.m.

This dynamic session will focus on:

Developing your teaching skills and confidence, as you navigate your early years in the classroom.
Setting realistic goals to ensure growth and success.
Practical, actionable strategies you can implement immediately in your classroom.
Reconnecting with your “why” — the powerful purpose that brought you to teaching in the first place.

Please mark your calendars for Tuesday, January 14 for this webinar via Zoom. This is a rare opportunity to learn from one of the country’s most-celebrated educators, share insights with fellow teachers, and build lasting connections with your peers!

You can register here and download a flyer about the event here. Please help us spread the word and take advantage of this invaluable event to grow, share, and thrive together.

Supporting Black, Indigenous, and Educators of Color: The Maine DOE BIPOC Educators Network

The Maine Department of Education (DOE) is excited to promote the BIPOC Educators Network, an independent network the Maine DOE has established, dedicated to empowering and supporting Black, Indigenous, and other educators of color across the state. This network complements the work of The Third Place, which actively fosters inclusive spaces for connection and professional development through efforts like SHIFT Maine by Maine Initiatives.

On Tuesday, December 10, 2024, the BIPOC Educators Network is holding its next meeting virtually. This will provide another vital opportunity for BIPOC educators to connect, share experiences, and access tailored resources that promote professional growth and community building. This network plays an instrumental role in building a diverse and resilient workforce of educators committed to enhancing equity and excellence in Maine schools.

Educators who identify as Black, Indigenous, Latinx, or people of color are encouraged to get involved by completing the BIPOC educator information form with their career details, expectations, and interests. Please use this link to join the BIPOC Educators Network event on December 10.

This collaboration highlights the Maine Department of Education’s commitment to fostering a supportive educational environment for educators of all backgrounds. It celebrates and elevates the unique contributions of Black, Indigenous, and other educators of color, while reinforcing the Maine DOE’s dedication to educational equity and excellence. By supporting educators who reflect the diverse identities and experiences of their students, this initiative advances the Maine DOE’s mission to ensure equitable opportunities for all Maine learners.

Please contact Ayesha Hall, Maine DOE Director of Strategic Partnerships, at ayesha.hall@maine.gov for more information.

Literacy Learning Grant Opportunity Open to Pre-K through Grade 3 Maine School Teams

In the summer of 2024, the Maine Department of Education (DOE) offered educators free access to professional literacy learning through Steps to Literacy modules from the AIM Institute for Learning & Research. Nearly 650 educators completed more than 20,000 hours of professional learning in the science of reading, phonological awareness, phonics, decoding, spelling, language expression, writing, emerging literacy, vocabulary, dyslexia, and English language learning.

In response to overwhelmingly positive feedback from summer participants, and as a result of the Maine DOE’s continued dedication to supporting high-quality, evidence-based literacy instruction in Maine schools, the Maine DOE is pleased to now be offering a new grant program for schoolwide implementation of this effort. This opportunity is designed for school teams who will be provided access to three AIM literacy modules and who will participate in virtual community of practice sessions for six months. That work will help to support literacy leadership and the implementation of the Steps to Literacy best practices in classrooms.

At the completion of this project, each participating school will receive $5,000 for further schoolwide capacity building and implementation of evidence-based literacy practices.

To be eligible for this grant, schools must register a minimum of three staff members, including at least one general education teacher, one special education teacher, and one literacy leader (a specialist, administrator, or lead teacher). This project will prioritize applications from pre-K through grade 3 school teams. A school administrative unit (SAU) with multiple elementary schools applying should complete a separate application for each school.

Special consideration will be given to schools serving populations of students with identified achievement gaps (i.e. those related to race, income, etc.) and with identified reading proficiency achievement gaps, including, but not limited to, special education in a reading-specific learning disability, reading achievement gaps for economically-disadvantaged students, and racial and ethnic populations.

Interested applicants from schools with fewer than three school staff members should please contact Dee Saucier at danielle.m.saucier@maine.gov to discuss options. Future opportunities will be available for educator teams in grades 4-12.

Applications are due Friday, December 20, 2024.

AIM Pathways™ is a unique, interactive digital teacher training platform, designed to deliver research and evidence-based content in the science of reading. Each Steps to Literacy module provides teachers with engaging learning opportunities organized in a “learn, practice, apply” introductory cycle and contains teaching techniques, videos, and printable resources from the comprehensive AIM Pathways courses to develop participants’ understanding and application of new techniques into classroom practice.

The modules offered as a part of this grant project include:

Module 1: Overview of the Science of Reading (nine contact hours)
Module 2: Phonological Awareness (seven contact hours)
Module 3: Decoding & Spelling (seven contact hours)

To learn more about this literacy module project, you may attend a virtual informational meeting at 3:30 p.m. on December 10, 2024 by registering here. This session will be recorded. Please use this link to complete the Project application.

For additional information, please contact Dee Saucier at danielle.m.saucier@maine.gov.

Maine Curriculum Leaders Association Offers Professional Learning Opportunities for Educators

The Maine Curriculum Leaders Association (MCLA) is offering two professional learning opportunities in early 2025: Differentiation for Leaders and Crucial Conversations. You can find more information about these opportunities below:

Differentiation for Leaders

Participate in this online learning opportunity to sustain differentiation within your school district. These meetings will take place virtually for four sessions with Cheryl Dobbertin, a leader in professional development, proficiency-based learning, and differentiation.

Descriptions of each session are as follows:

January 15: Differentiation that Makes a Difference – What is high-quality differentiated instruction This session will explore a comprehensive model of differentiated instruction and include discussions about common misconceptions.
February 12: Structures that Support Sustainable Differentiation – This session will help leaders to understand the communication, professional development, and coaching plans necessary to implement quality differentiated instructional plans.
March 12: Barriers to Quality Differentiation – This session will dive into the sometimes-invisible barriers that keep differentiated instruction from becoming a way of life in a school and/or district.
April 2: Integrating Differentiated Instruction into Other Structures – How does differentiation work for students who need intervention or enrichment? How might it be part of your Multi-Tiered Systems of Support (MTSS) plan or Social Emotional Learning work? This session will review how differentiation can fit into all plans and structures when it’s well understood, helping leaders to create classrooms that allow all learners to thrive.

The cost for Differentiation for Leaders is $200 for MCLA members and $300 for non-members.

Register here.

The Maine Curriculum Leaders Association will reach out to those who register to determine the best time for sessions for the majority of registrants. For more information, please contact MCLA at director@mainecla.org.

Crucial Conversations

A Crucial Conversation is a discussion between two or more people where the stakes are high, opinions vary, and emotions run strong. When conversations turn crucial, people tend to follow one of two ineffective paths: They either speak directly and abrasively to get the results they want but harm relationships, or they remain silent with the hope of preserving relationships only to sacrifice results. Crucial Conversations® for Mastering Dialogue gives people the skills to step into disagreement—rather than over or around it—and turn disagreement into dialogue for improved relationships and results.

“The health of any relationship, team, or organization can be measured by the lag between identifying and discussing problems,” Joseph Grenny, coauthor of Crucial Conversations said.

Crucial Conversations® for Mastering Dialogue teaches nine powerful skillsets grounded in decades of social science research. The course helps learners develop these vital skills through instruction, application, practice, group discussion, and self-reflection all based on educational scenarios. This opportunity will include 12 hours of professional development, a digital copy of the learner guide, model cards, cue cards, and a digital copy of the book Crucial Conversations.

MCLA Executive Director Deb McIntyre will lead the training sessions and has previously delivered this professional development. Sessions are scheduled from 12:30-2:30 p.m. via Zoom on the following dates:

January 28
February 4
February 11
February 25
March 4
March 11

This course is appropriate for all school district leaders and is more powerful if you have a team that attends. The cost is $400 for MCLA members and $500 for non-members.

Register here.

To provide this excellent learning opportunity, MCLA must have at least 25 participants to run this offering. For more information, please contact MCLA at director@mainecla.org.

RESCHEDULED: Integrating Literacy through Background Knowledge Workshop with Josie Cameron

The Interdisciplinary Instruction team at the Maine Department of Education’s (DOE) Office of Teaching and Learning is excited to present a half-day workshop with educator and author Josie Cameron.

The Integrating Literacy through Background Knowledge workshop has been rescheduled for April 7, 8:00 a.m. to noon, at the Wells Conference Center at the University of Maine at Orono.

A 2020 study published in Reading Psychology found that preexisting knowledge is “foundational to increasing competency in reading” and that teaching from a foundation of what students already know is key to advancing their learning.

In this workshop, participants will explore, discuss, and engage with:

The role of preexisting or background knowledge in literacy development.
How background knowledge supports comprehension and meaning making.
How background knowledge facilitates the transfer of new information.
Practical strategies for incorporating background knowledge into classroom instruction.

This workshop is free to all Maine educators. In-person spots are limited and will be filled on a first-come, first-served basis. Participants can also join virtually via Zoom. This session will be recorded and shared with educators following the event, and four contact hours will be available to participants. To register for this event, please use this registration link.

If you have any questions about this workshop, please contact Kathy Bertini at Kathy.Bertini@maine.gov or Heather Martin at Heather.Martin@maine.gov.

This workshop is the third of four workshops presented by the Maine DOE Interdisciplinary Team on the topic of Integrating Literacy through Applied Learning. All events are available in-person and virtually.

Registration Open for 2025 Maine Council for English Language Arts Conference

The Maine Council for English Language Arts (MCELA) has announced its 2025 annual conference, which will take place on Friday, March 21 at the Holiday Inn by the Bay in Portland.

With the theme “Cultivating Possibilities in Ecosystems of Learning”, this year’s conference will explore how English language arts educators can nurture possibilities for themselves and their students through dynamic, evolving classroom environments.

This year’s theme emphasizes four essential “seeds” of growth: social responsibility, leadership, empowerment, and collaboration. The MCELA believes these are vital for fostering a thriving learning ecosystem. Through these core values, the conference will support educators in cultivating the skills and mindsets that empower students to become engaged learners and active community members.

Acclaimed author and educator Kate Roberts will deliver the keynote address, sharing insights from her latest work, The Heart of Fiction. Known for her books The Novel Approach and Falling in Love with Close Reading, Roberts brings a fresh perspective on literacy and student engagement. Her keynote promises to inspire attendees with practical strategies to cultivate meaningful connections with their students, transforming reading into an empowering tool for personal and academic growth.

Following last year’s conference, which welcomed more than 350 educators and featured 40 workshops by Maine educators, this year’s event will offer an equally-engaging lineup. Educators can look forward to a wide range of sessions that address how to build classroom ecosystems that value inclusion, creativity, and student-centered learning—while honoring the conference’s focus on responsibility, leadership, empowerment, and collaboration.

A special pre-conference event, “Poetry Night at Portland Stage,” will be held on Thursday, March 20 in partnership with Portland Stage. It will feature a reading by Somali-born poet Abdi Ali, whose work delves into themes of resilience and identity. Attendees who purchase a ticket for this event will also receive a bonus ticket following the poetry reading to Portland Stage’s production of “Madeleines,” an evocative play exploring memory and identity. For more information on “Madeleines”, please visit Portland Stage’s website.

A special conference room rate is available for those staying at the Holiday Inn by the Bay, and early registration is encouraged, as space is limited. Portland’s vibrant cultural and culinary scene makes it an ideal location for educators to connect, learn, and relax together.

For more information about registration, hotel accommodations, and session details, please visit the MCELA website or contact MCELA at maine.ela@gmail.com.

Virtual Text Study: Spotlight on Young Children – Challenging Behaviors

Join specialists from the Maine Department of Education (DOE) Office of Teaching and Learning’s Early Learning Team for a free, web-based professional development opportunity designed for early childhood educators working with children in pre-K through grade 2.

This series will utilize the 2024 National Association for the Education of Young Children (NAEYC) publication Spotlight on Young Children: Challenging Behavior, edited by Charis L. Wahman and Janice K. Lee. (“Children engage in challenging behavior for many different reasons: preventing and responding to that behavior begins with understanding why it occurs” [Wahman, C. & Lee, J. 2024].) Participants will read the chapters independently between sessions.

The book includes curated articles from NAEYC’s Young Children and Teaching Young Children magazines, offering insights and strategies from a variety of early childhood education professionals. The text is organized around the Pyramid Model, with strategies grouped into three levels: preventative, targeted, and intensive and individualized. Throughout the book, there is an emphasis on creating relationally-safe and culturally-responsive environments. Reflective questions and self-care practices are woven into the content, making it an ideal resource for both new and veteran early childhood educators.

The text study will begin on Wednesday, January 22, 2025, from 3:30-4:30 p.m. and will continue the following Wednesdays:

January 29
February 5
February 12
February 26
March 5

Registration is open through December 10, 2024, with space limited to 25 participants on a first-come, first-served basis. Those who register will receive a free copy of the book and earn up to 12 contact hours upon completion of the text study.

We encourage early registration to secure a spot! You may register here.

For more information, please reach out to Maine DOE Pre-K Consultant Sue Gallant at sue.gallant@maine.gov.