Visit The Nonantum Resort in Kennebunkport and there’s a chance you’ll stay in an eco-designed, environment-friendly “green” guest room.
It will be a comfy and colorful room bursting with natural woods, materials, fabrics and artwork.
And it will be a room designed on a shoestring budget by a team of eighth-grade students from the Middle School of the Kennebunks.
Continue reading “Great view, plush pillows and a lean toward green”
Future Focus event puts eighth-grade girls from central Maine in contact with Iraqi counterpart, women working their dream jobs
By Charlie Hartman
“Do you like Justin Bieber?”
With a roll of her eyes, Maryann replied, “Oh, noooo!”
Shrieks rang out in response through Given Auditorium at Colby College as 250 eighth-grade girls talked to Maryann Naman in Kurdistan, Iraq, live via Skype. The girls, from four schools in central Maine, were at the morning keynote of Future Focus, an annual conference sponsored by the Waterville branch of the American Association of University Women (AAUW) and the Maine Learning Technology Initiative (MLTI).
Maine History Day brought 286 students from 24 middle and high schools to the University of Maine at Augusta on March 28.
Students showed off exhibits, performances, websites, documentaries and other projects exploring a broad variety of historical themes.
School staff members involved in the safe management of school grounds are encouraged to attend a four-hour workshop April 11 on Integrated Pest Management at Cape Elizabeth Middle School organized by the Maine Department of Agriculture.
Continue reading “Workshop offers tips on pest management for school grounds”
Educators from pre-kindergarten through the university level are invited to a one-day workshop on June 22 focused on “Teaching and Leading in Tough Times.”
Continue reading “Conference focuses on teaching in ‘tough times’”
College of the Atlantic in Bar Harbor is offering a number of one- and two-week graduate and continuing education courses in the sciences, arts and education this summer for K-12 teachers.
Continue reading “College of the Atlantic offers summer ed courses”
Interested in learning more about proficiency-based education and the efforts of a growing number of Maine schools to transition to a system that’s shaped around students, their needs, and the ways they learn best?
This week is a good week to find out more.
Continue reading “Learning about proficiency-based education”
AUGUSTA – The Legislature’s Education Committee agreed on Thursday to pursue discussions about increasing school choice options for Maine students.
In a unanimous vote, the Legislature’s Education Committee passed LD 1858, An Act to Ensure Effective Teaching and School Leadership. The bill next goes before the full Legislature.
The bill requires that school districts adopt fair and constructive performance evaluations for teachers and principals in alignment with criteria to be developed by the Department of Education in collaboration with Maine educators through a formalized Maine Educator Effectiveness Council.
The bill also takes steps to make sure our teachers are better prepared for the classroom by making improvements to teacher preparation programs and by strengthening requirements that our elementary-level teachers have math and literacy content knowledge as part of their certification.
The process that led to yesterday’s Education Committee vote illustrated how the legislative process and involvement of stakeholders can improve the quality of a proposal like this.
As a result of concerns raised during last week’s public hearing on the legislation by the Maine Education Association and others, we suggested additional language to protect teachers from evaluations made in bad faith and strengthened the provisions that assure our educators many seats at the table when it comes to developing criteria for teacher and principal evaluations. The MEA told the committee the amendment addressed their concerns.
I’m excited not only by the potential for this legislation to improve education for our students, but by how well our legislative process worked.
The Legislature’s Education Committee voted unanimously Wednesday afternoon in favor of LD 1858, a bill that would require schools to adopt teacher and principal evaluation systems.
Continue reading “Bowen lauds Ed Committee vote on teacher effectiveness”
