Educator Connecting Technology Educators in Maine
A Publication of the Association of Computer Technology Educators of Maine December 2013
A message from the
PRESIDENT
Michael Richards, Wells-Ogunquit C.S.D.
“The purpose of life is not to be happy. It is to be useful, to be honorable, to be compassionate, to have it make some difference that you have lived and lived well.”
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Ralph Waldo Emerson
ooking back on the 2013 MAINEd Conference presented by ACTEM, I would have to say that we had one heck of a great conference. At least to me, all of the aspects of the conference were top rate. The program looked sharp, conference presenters were on their game, the keynotes gave us a lot to think about, and the energy of people to make a difference was so strong! To me this is a great recipe for success for a conference. This conference could not be pulled together by just one person and it definitely took a team to make it happen. Crystal Priest and Julie St. Hilaire did a great job organizing the conference, Rachel Guthrie for the conference (Continued on page 11)
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the opening keynote by Kevin Honeycutt. There were many positive comments from people about Kevin’s keynote but this one summed it up nicely, “The Friday keynote and Kevin’s other session were AMAZING!” Friday also featured over 75 one-hour workshops on a wide variety of topics. Many attendees commented that they wanted to attend multiple workshops in each time block. The following word cloud was created from the conference survey responses when attendees were asked “What you like most about this year’s
to all attendees. This years program included the addition of three full-day session on Thursday. Thursday’s conference featured 31 half-day in addition to the full-day workshop sessions. The full-day sessions featuring workshops on Videoconferencing, a Crash Course on Google Apps for Education and iOS App development proved very popular with attendees, . Friday’s conference started with
conference?” Some other comments from survey responders about what you like most about MAINEducation 2013 included: • The sessions were well balanced and supported schools regardless of which MLTI solution they chose. • This is my 20th year of attending in a row and I like how the conference has grown and look forward to it every year. The amount of information
he 26th annual MAINEducation conference is in the books and from all reports was another very successful one for ACTEM. This conference was the first under the leadership our new conference co-chairs – Crystal Priest and Julie St. Hilaire. Hats off to Crystal & Julie for their many hours of work in producing another excellent professional development experience for Maine educators. Crystal, Julie and the conference committee put together a tremendous program with something of interest
Kelley Teacher of the Year INSIDE: Kern Maya Crosby Leader of Year t
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MAINEd 2013 photos pages 6-7
Electronic Educator
Jeff Mao Honored page 2
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actem Maine Association of Computer Technology Educators of
P.O. Box 187, Gorham, ME 04038 toll free: 866-99-ACTEM voice: 207-222-4353 fax: 207-641-2556
BOARD OF DIRECTORS Michael President Richards mrichme@gmail.com David Vice President Bridges dbridges@sad68.org Andrew Treasurer Wallace atw@spsd.org Deborah Recording Secretary, White Educator of the Year Co-Chair flickatomte@gmail.com
Gary ACTEM Executive Director Lanoie glanoie@actem.org
Mike SIG Technology Integrationist Arsenault mike_arsenault@yarmouthschools.org
Dennis NEISTE Treasurer Crowe dennisc@gorhamschools.org
Dennis Professional Development Kunces dennis.kunces@gmail.com Rachel Electronic Educator Editor Guthrie rguthrie@smccme.edu Crystal MAINEducation Priest Conference Co-chair cpriest@sad4.org Jaime Educator of Year Co-Chair Steward jsteward@carrabec.org Julie MAINEducation St. Hilaire Conference Co-Chair jagsgirl@gmail.com
ACTEM
Upcoming Business Meetings December 9, 2013, March 10, 2014 & May 12, 2014 Meetings run from 9 am to noon on Monday mornings in Room 103A/B, first floor, Cross Office Building, Augusta. Remote sites are available for these meetings. Check the ACTEM website for meeting details. 2
Maine DOE’s Jeff Mao Honored for Technology Leadership
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From the Maine DOE Newsroom, 11/13/13 eff Mao, the Maine DOE’s learning technology policy director, was recently named leader of the year at the State Educational Technology Directors Association (SETDA) Leadership Summit banquet. This annual award recognizes an active SETDA member who has exhibited outstanding leadership in integrating technology to improve student learning, collaborated with peers through SETDA initiatives to affect positive change for the organization, and engaged within the broad education communities to ensure the effective integration of technology in learning to improve student achievement. Mao served two terms as board chair of SETDA, beginning in 2010, and remains an active member. During his time as chair, Mao developed a new strategic plan for SETDA, released three major reports and launched the State Education Policy Center – a state-by-state compilation of policies and practices now available in a searchable database. Mao’s leadership of the Maine Learning Technology Initiative (MLTI) at the Maine DOE has influenced schools worldwide. Maine schools have led the way for more than a decade when it comes to harnessing the power of technology to make learning a customized, engaging and demanding endeavor. Mao has written a number of articles in support of education technology and testified before the U.S. Senate Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation. Mao has also been instrumental in the expansion of MLTI by inviting other states to move toward a similar model. Vermont has joined as one of the lead states in the Multi-State Learning Technology Initiative that Mao helped make possible. He took the lead and envisioned a recent Maine request for proposals process to encompass any other state that had an interest in a comprehensive package for schools, which includes devices, professional development, service and
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Jeff Mao with the Executive Director of SETDA, Doug Levin after the awards dinner. support over a four-year period. Additional states are considering joining or embarking on a similar mission.
Maine’s Sylvia Norton New AASL Executive Director
From the Maine Association of School Libraries (MASL) press release his past September, Maine’s Sylvia Norton was appointed the new Executive Director of the American Association of School Librarians. Sylvia brings strong state and local experience to the Association. From March 2002 to September 2010, she was the School Library, Technology Planning and E-rate Coordinator, Maine Department of Education, where she planned, developed and advocated for statewide programs and professional development to enhance teaching and learning through instructional technology and school library programs. In that capacity, she was involved in a broad range of programs related to school libraries, from technology implementation to school library construction and to the development of standards.. Sylvia Norton has a BA in English from University of Maine (Orono), a Master of Library and Information Science degree from Simmons College and a Master of Public Administration from University of Maine (Orono). She completed doctoral studies in Educational Leadership (University of Maine) and is currently pursuing a doctorate in Library
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and Information Studies (Florida State University). AASL is a division of the American Library Association. AASL’s mission is to advocate excellence, facilitate change, and develop leaders in the school library field. AASL provides continuing education (including a biennial national conference , biennial forum and electronic courses), publications (including a regular journal, Knowledge Quest, and an online research journal, School Library Research, as well as books and other resources), advocacy, research, service awards and a wide array of leadership opportunities.
Wells High School offering Accessibility to Students using Chromebooks
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ells High School purchased Chromebooks to be implemented in classrooms this fall. In order to leverage Google Apps for Education, Cheryl Oakes, a Google Certified Teacher, teamed up with the Social Studies Team to run training for all freshmen about using the Chrome Store and picking out extensions and apps that would best help them. On the first day Cheryl shared Read&Write for Google by Texthelp. “With the text-to-speech option available in Google Docs, PDFs, and ePub books, you and your students can easily listen to the assignments in seconds. A huge benefit for students is being able to listen to their essays and written assignments before turning their work in. This is the first stop for students being able to edit their own work! Read&Write for Google even works on webpages, so when your students are researching and reading articles they have instant access to an audio version. Normally, this kind of differentiation and customization was only available when a student was work-
ing one-on-one with an adult. Now by using Read&Write for Google, we put the learning and the tools into the hands of our students. Not only is this a great resource for students with IEP’s but it can help ALL readers to improve their fluency, comprehension, and writing. You don’t need a Google Certified Teacher to introduce this to your students or staff. Check out the free videos on the Texthelp website. You can do this too!” Cheryl Oakes is a Google Certified Teacher and Special Education Teacher at Wells High School in Wells-Ogunquit Community School District Texthelp has partnered with ACTEM to offer a 25% discount to its members on district pricing of Read&Write Google until the end of 2013. For additional information, please contact Jessica Coulombe at 888-248-0652 ext.3313 or j.coulombe@texthelp.com. More About Read&Write for Google Read&Write for GoogleTM offers unprecedented accessibility for Google Docs, Web, PDFs, ePubs, and Kes files within Google Drive on PCs, Macs, or Chromebooks. Users benefit from access to powerful support features, such as read aloud, word prediction, text and picture dictionaries, study skills highlighters, vocabulary builder tool, annotations and navigational tools. To learn more about how Read&Write for Google, download a 30-day premium trial go to http://www.texthelp.com/trial. Our freemium features include text-to-speech and the translator for reading on the web and in Google Docs.
SEPTEMBER
Trivia winner
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n 1996 MSLN began installing 1100 of these devices into school and libraries in Maine. The devices were funded through a settlement because of overcharges by the telephone company of that time and provided a 56K Internet connection to all K-12 schools and libraries in the State of Maine. This program was the first of it’s kind in the country to include all K-12 schools and public libraries. What is the device pictuted in the September issue? Correct answer: FRAD (Frame Relay Access Device) The September Trivia question winner is Randy Swift of RSU 52.
December Trivia Question
Since 1997 ACTEM has been the organizer of the annual MAINEducation conference. In the very early years the conference, then known as Maine Computes, was run by the DOE. In 1987 the DOE transferred the Maine Computes conference to an educational organization based out of Auburn. That organization evolved the conference to what is currently known as MAINEducation and then transferred it to ACTEM in 1997.
What was the name of that Auburn educational organization? Submit your answer at www.actem. org by January 1st. All correct answers will be entered into a drawing for a $25 LL Bean Gift Card.
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{tech} Kern Kelley Technology Educator of the Year
Maya Crosby Technology Leader of the Year
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of internet technology and devices. The Sherpas are a group of students who want to work to integrate technology into education, specifically with Google. By Sarah Harriman, English Teacher, CarIn fact, these students were able to presrabec High School ent at the Google Teacher Academy at ine thousand two hundred the Google offices in New York City. fifty seven miles separate New Kelley and his Sherpas “hit the Zealand and Maine, a distance world” each week on Google Hangouts. that can seem insurmountable. HowAdditionally the Sherpas accompany ever, Kern Kelley’s career has not only him to other schools and conferences spanned that distance physically, but (including the ACTEM conference in many would say he has spanned that October) where they guide and assist, distance, and more, virtually. and most importantly, learn. Best known at Nokomis High School Kelley is a Google certified teacher for his “Tech Sherpa” student team, Kel- and has his finger on the pulse of techley is also known statewide as a gradunology. He has procured a 3D printer for ate instructor at the University of Maine, his district, one of the first in the state. and internationally as an educator and Many teachers have benefited from presenter. Kelley can now add ACTEM Kelley’s work with MLTI. Kelley attends Technology Educator of the Year to his conferences, not just as a presenter, but resume. also “to find out the latest examples of Kelley has long been involved in best practices others are sharing.” using, promoting and innovating with In doing so, Kelley is not afraid to technology in the classroom. Kelley travel the world literally. He recently states, “I make an extensive effort to be gave a keynote address at the Google part of the classroom setting ….I believe Summit in Hampden, ME. He has also it is crucial to keep touch with students presented in many parts of the United and see their changing technological States, London and Tokyo. needs first hand.” “I highlight the best examples I find To that end, Kelley’s students colin the classrooms as I travel across the laborate on projects in a 21st century district and share those among teachfashion, with one class beginning a ers,” Kelley says. “I want the work we project in Block 1, leaving notes for stuhave done in my schools to help others dents in Block 2. Block 2 then works, and in the area so they do not have to make leaves notes for the next class, and so on the same mistakes we have. I think when throughout the day. When Block 1 stuwe all share our efforts, everyone gains.” dents return the next morning, they pick Nokomis gains from Kelley’s up where the last class left off. Kelley “thinking outside the box.” Many eyes then has a student showcase each spring now turn to the State of Maine and the where all middle schools students show technology program because of Kern off their tech projects. The showcase is Kelley and his work and influence. streamed live and recorded, making “The four walls of the school don’t Nokomis student work available online matter,” Kelley says. “If you want to and throughout the world. learn something, you just have to go do Kelley’s student team, “The Tech it.” Sherpas,” literally and figuratively guide teachers and students in the use
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By Sarah Harriman, English Teacher, Carrabec High School n hour from Portland in the small town of Newcastle sits Lincoln Academy. Founded in 1801, the storied brick buildings overlooking the water do not give any indication of the technical revolution happening inside. As a private school serving the public, Lincoln Academy (LA) has a unique position. Funded in part by tuition monies paid by sending towns, LA has never enjoyed the full-on school budget of public high schools. Therefore, when LA desired to start a one-to-one program for technology, the school had to look elsewhere for funds. A private donation allowed LA to purchase Netbooks, but the money was not enough to buy into the MLTI program. The school now had one-to-one computers, but no support from MLTI. Enter Maya Crosby, this year’s ACTEM leader of the year. As the Digital Studies Coordinator/Technology Educator, Crosby lead the way to plan, build and manage an initiative. She partnered with local computer service businesses, learning how to build an image and deploy it. She started a student tech team to support the program and used open source software to maximize the budget. “We learned by trial and error,” Crosby says, “[but] we have definitely used those experiences to improve our program over the years.” Although one-to-one benefits were later coming to LA than other schools, it has changed the school significantly. Just the expectation that all students would turn in typed papers was a giant improvement.
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Page Lennig Technology Leader of the Year Finalist
By Sarah Harriman, English Teacher, Carrabec High School n 1999, Page Lennig was a math and physics teacher at Waynflete School. She found technology an interesting way to help make everyday, menial tasks automated. Computers were a way to help free up time in order to have time to focus on deep questions and conversations. As technology became increasingly prevalent at Waynflete, Lennig lobbied the school administration to create the job of Technology Director with the goals of planning for infrastructure, computer purchasing, tech support and faculty development. Lennig became that first director. Even though the administration believed in Lennig’s visions, getting Waynflete teachers on board with changing their classroom wasn’t so easy. Educators were hesitant to jump in to using technology too quickly--they feared the online world, the loss of face-to-face communication, the amount of time it would take to learn, and the uncertainty that the whole “computer thing” might just be a fad. With a small budget, Lennig convinced the Board of Trustees and the administration to purchase laptop carts for the classrooms. She worked one-onone with teachers who were interested in bringing more technology to the classroom. She offered after school workshops and put out a paper newsletter
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every week to highlight uses of technology. In 2005, Lennig started “Tech Camp,” three days of technology workshops for faculty in June after students left, with a stipend for teachers for attending. During the first few years, 12-18 teachers attended; now, close to 45 teachers attend, with six or seven teacher volunteers leading sessions of their own. In 2010, just when Lennig was feeling like the school’s technology use was plateauing, Lennig started the “Technology & Learning Cohort” (TLC). The group was made of 10 teachers from Pre-K through 12 whose goals were to read about technological research, play with new tools, and experiment with curriculum in order to better understand pedagogical implications for classrooms. The teachers then used technologies to create their own Personal Learning Network (PLC) to further their learning, create connections with other educators across the world and engage productively with online communities. Finally, TLC participants were asked to take risks in their teaching, experiment with classroom practice, collaborate with colleagues, and be willing to explore, challenge, question, and potentially revise current methodologies. In just two years, TLC jump-started innovative teaching. Gone were the days of reluctant educators. Now TLC is central in discussions of moving the school to a one-to-one program. Not limited to Waynflete, Lennig has spread her technological expertise to Maine and New England. In 2010, Lennig and the TLC group
traveled to New Hampshire to attend EdCamp Keene, an “unconference” bringing together anyone and everyone interested in transforming education through technology. After a long, but satisfying day, and Lennig and TLC decided to organize an EdCamp Maine. In 2011 and 2012, over 100 educators from Maine, New Hampshire and Massachusetts gathered to share, learn and collaborate with other educators engaged in the same process of learning and teaching. In one way or another, Lennig has been responsible for envisioning, planning, and executing everything technological at Waynflete for 15 years. She has focused on making technology less threatening to the veterans and accessible to the neophytes. She works with every grade level to institute cultural, pedagogical and institutional changes. From a weird room that is now two bathrooms and a closet to a newer facility pre-wired for technology, Lennig has provided quiet leadership. And has lead Waynflete into the 21st century.
Jacqueline Durant-Harthorne Technology Educator of the Year Finalist
By Sarah Harriman, English Teacher, Carrabec High School ne does not usually see “Bloom’s Taxonomy” and “IPad” in the same sentence. However, when dealing with ACTEM’s 2013 finalist for Educator of the Year, expect the unexpected. (continued on page 8)
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PHOTOS BY JOHN BRANDT
the fun conference Electronic Educator
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Maya Crosby (from page 4) Crosby is self-taught in technology, starting her career as a science teacher. She trained online and took online courses. She now transfers her “cando” attitude to students. In 2010 she established a student tech team, and she and the students have learned together how to repair a variety of devices and saved the school a significant amount of money. In addition, the students on the tech team have learned valuable practical skills that they can (and have) taken to college and beyond. In some cases, these skills have helped to land them a coveted internship or work study job. Crosby’s technology reach extends beyond the school. Her tech team has visited local K-2 classrooms annually for the past few years, and are now working on a partnership with the elder care community to set up videoconferencing systems to keep elders in their homes. Crosby also shares her knowledge with her fellow educators. She has two small children, but still finds time in the summer to prepare for and lead new tech rollouts. Since the deployment of Google Apps and PowerSchool, she works with teachers on designing and implementing digital classrooms. Not limited to “formal” training sessions, Crosby’s support happens any time, any place--walking the halls, during free periods, online chatting from home, even texting while on a field trip. “I follow a variety of technology in education venues,” Crosby says, “so that I can share relevant tools with my colleagues.” Those venues include VoiceThread, EasyBib, Visual Thesaurus, Lore and Google Books. She works with teachers on how to use PowerTeacher as an assessment and communications tool. Thanks to Crosby, the front office staff now uses Google Calendar and Google Docs to save paper and manage internal school communication more effectively. And she also manages the school blog, the school’s social media sites, and does much of the production work on the general school website. Her innovation extends to the 8
classes she teaches; through her digital media class, students prepare the yearbook and much of media for school events. This year, the class will be expanded to include digital film, and will be team taught by Crosby and the film teacher. LA is expanding the digital studies curriculum to offer Exploring Computer Science, and introductory course based on the resources provided by the Association of Computer Science, which Crosby will teach. Crosby’s supervisor Nick Azzaretti compares her to a quote by George Bernard Shaw: “Some see things and say ‘why?’ [Crosby] dreams of things that aren’t and says ‘why not?’” And then she makes them happen.
Durante Hawthorne (from page 4) A second grade teacher at Narragansett Elementary, nine years ago, Jacqueline Durant-Harthorne volunteered to give up her overhead projector and replace it with a digital projector. Little did she realize how that simple decision would change everything about her classroom and her teaching. She first fell in love with her interactive whiteboard, teaching whole group math, writing, literacy, science and social studies hands on, allowing students to access their individual multiple intelligences. Durant-Harthorne, or “Mrs. DH,” as she is lovingly called by her 2nd graders, soon added sounds, music, animations and graphics to keep her students visually and ideologically engaged in the lessons. “Using the interactive whiteboard for writing instruction allow me to save the writing process steps as we move through our daily lessons,” says Durant-Harthorne. “This then enables me to show my students our … progress throughout the week.” For science and social studies, Durant-Harthorne uses the interactive whiteboard like a virtual field trip. “Lessons on weather became reality to second graders when they see first hand what a hurricane or tornado is as compared to me solely reading a book,” she states.
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Not too much time passed before Durant-Harthorne added SKYPE to her classroom repertoire. Students across the district practice reading fluency “face to face” through SKYPE using the same text. Older middle school students have become mentors for her second graders without leaving the classroom. SKYPE is also an important tool for Durant-Harthorne to connect with other educators in Maine and beyond, sharing materials and ideas. Not many second graders know the term “digital portfolio,” but those in DurantHarthorne’s class do. She has used Keynote to showcase students’ work for their parents, teachers and administrators. One impressed parent commented that her child “smoothly found her page and easily navigated each file to show work samples of several different content areas.” This school year, Durant-Harthorne plans to make the student digital portfolios web based by accessing Edublog. Most recently, Durant-Harthorne has adopted the Mimio software. Mimio is now integral to education in her classroom, and is also in use throughout the day, by both the teacher and the students. She is currently working on her Mimio Certified Trainer Certification. Since school budgets are tight, DurantHarthorne put her creativity to work to obtain additional resources for her classroom; she applied for and received grant money to purchase seven iPads. Her students can now use apps and web based materials to meet common core requirements across the curriculum. The iPads are also a motivating factor for student learning, utilizing interactive books and animated math fluency sites. “Children are able to visit interactive web sites …. to practice common core grammar, phonics, spelling, leveled text and math skills,” Durant-Harthorne says. Children and parents are also encouraged to access this collection of interactive sites from home for further enrichment. This year, Durant-Harthorne will introduce Twitter into her classroom, allowing students to participate in a more global aspect of communication. In addition to working tirelessly to inte-
grate technology into her classroom, she has taken a leadership role in supporting other teachers in the building. She offers assistance to anyone who needs help or ideas, running classroom digital projectors, Mimio software or accessing any number of instructional websites. Dennis Crowe summed up Durant-Harthorne’s approach best. Due to funding, all classrooms in Gorham do not yet have ceiling mounted projectors. Durant-Harthorne deliberately chose a room without a mounted projector. “I was unhappy,” says Crowe, “but [Durant-Harthorne] said ‘This is fine. I want to model that tech can be used without a mounted projector.’ She is always the advocate, always the innovator.”
As I See IT
By Sarah Glatz, Technology Integration Specialist, RSU57 ACTEM President, Michael Richards, posed the following question on the listserv earlier this fall…Is it time to stop filtering the Internet at school?
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t is time to stop Internet blocking in schools. In fact, we’re late. Students cannot practice critical 20th century skills, nor can they learn to be safe and responsible online, if we continue to restrict their use of this vital resource. If our students are to succeed in the workplace, they will need to be prepared by having full access to the Internet at school, where they can be guided and supervised. Virtually every company and entrepreneur has to be knowledgeable in the use of the Internet, and Social Media in particular. Savvy social media users build robust personal learning networks, successfully market themselves and their businesses, collaborate globally, communicate effectively across cultures, and are experts in public relations. These skills are not just for journalists or marketing executives, but are needed by employees, the self-employed, and even the unemployed. It is difficult, if not impossible, to get a job today, without the skills to adequately market oneself online. Blocking social media and other
Internet sites is also a safety hazard as it encourages young people to find a work-around, to experiment with new online outlets, and to hide their Internet use. Blocking gives students the impression that using social media is bad. This negative impression hinders the flow of communication about Internet safety and privacy between adults and children. We need to teach students to be safe, responsible, and ethical online by being online with them. An even greater danger created by blocking sites is a that a child who is not allowed to be on a particular site, is unlikely to report something hurtful, inappropriate, or even dangerous happening there. My Twitter feed is a never-ending stream of information about things I’m interested in: instructional technology, hiking, storytelling, and so on. I could have just as easily filled it up with gossip and frivolity. Understanding the impact of one’s online image, or digital footprint, can be the difference in a student’s educational and professional success, be it positive or negative, for many years to come. Students need our help making these choices. We need to be teaching them how to use the Internet, and social media safely and responsibly, as learning tools, to gather fascinating and educational content for themselves, and to make positive global connections. We cannot do that by blocking them from the hub of global communication.
Tech Forum Boston: Insight and Innovation for Technology Leaders
Friday May 2, 2014, Newton Marriott 2345 Commonwealth Ave. Newton, MA CTEM has partnered with Tech Forum again this year to offer our members a discounted registration fee of $185 per person. A discount code and instructions will be posted on ACTEM’s website at a later date when it becomes available. What is the Tech Forum…
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Brought to you by the team behind Tech & Learning magazine and the TechLearning.com web site, Tech Forum represents “Tech & Learning in action.” Now in its twelfth season, this high-powered, oneday event provides K-12 decision makers with thought-provoking content on the hottest topics of the day in education technology. An engaging and intimate setting, expert presentations, and plenty of networking opportunities ensure that participants leave with practical tools and key contacts for continued rich communities of practice. - See more at: http:// www.techlearning.com/events/techforum/boston14/overview:-tech-forumboston-2014 Who Should Attend… Are you the “responsible party” everybody else turns to when the technology breaks down? A presenter and organizer at other conferences and professional development days? The one who’s expected to be the expert on everything related to educational technology? If so, then Tech Forum is for YOU. You’re the expert, the supervisor, the mentor — but who mentors you? Take advantage of this unique opportunity to learn with and from fellow ed tech leaders. Tech & Learning’s Tech Forum conference brings together visionaries of all sorts -- from district-level CIOs and administrators to building-level technology specialists to mentor teachers and professional development providers -- for an amazing day of networking and growth. Come share your challenges and successes. Or just come to listen. Either way, Tech Forum offers you a rare chance to relax and connect with others who share your passion for technology as a tool to transform teaching and learning. Each event is carefully designed for: District and Building-Level Administrators; Technology Directors; Technology Coordinators; IT Managers; Librarians and Media Specialists; Board of Education Members; Other education staff involved in technology planning.
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Karen MacDonald 2014 Maine Teacher of the Year
https://sites.google.com/a/ appsevents.com/vermont-summit
Google in Education Vermont Summit
T James Rier, Jr., Acting Commissioner (left) present the 2014 Maine Teacher of the Year award to Karen MacDonald of King Middle School, Portland.
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ach year ACTEM is one of the supporters of the Maine Teacher of the Year program. At the 2014 Awards Ceremony and Banquet held on Nov. 15, 2013 at UNUM in Portland, ACTEM presented Karen MacDonald of King Middle School in Portland with an iPad Mini and Apple TV. ACTEM also presented the Regional and State Finalist with a gift certificate to the ACTEM 2014 conference next October. The 2014 Teacher of the Year and Finalists Maine Teacher of the Year: Karen MacDonald King Middle School, Portland State Finalists: Mary Graziano Glynn Hartland Consolidated School, Hartland Suzen Polk-Hoffses Milbridge Elementary School, Milbridge Regional Finalist: Susan Carpenter O’Brien Weatherbee School, Hampden Christiane Cullens MDI High School, Mount Desert Cynthia Raymond Hall Dale Middle School, Farmingdale 10
he Google in Vermont Summit is a fantastic two day event taking place in Oxbow Union High School on Saturday March 29th and March 30th 2014. The Summit is focused on helping you get the most out of Google Apps for Education in both ‘primary/secondary schools’ and ‘Higher Education’ environments. Sessions will be provided by some of the worlds leading Google apps experts including Google staff and Google Certified Teachers and trainers. There will be sessions for teachers/ lecturers, school administrators and school IT managers. We guarantee you will leave the summit with knowledge that you can take away to your school and start using straight away. In addition we will have a ‘Chromebooks playground’; A dedicated classroom with experts on hand where you can drop in at any time during the conference to try out Google Chromebooks.
Michael Richards, Gary Lanoie & Dennis Crowe represented ACTEM at the NEISTE board meeting in Killington, VT. CEO of ISTE, Brian Lewis (3rd from left) filled us in on the new direction and branding of ISTE.
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Hapara Webinar Save the Date
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January 15th, 2014 – 4:00PM CTEM and RISTE (Rhode Island’s state association) will be hosting a joint webinar featuring a product by Hapara called Teacher Dashboard that adds functionality to Google Apps for Education. ACTEM is currently exploring the possibility of offering Hapara to Maine schools through it’s purchasing consortium. Hapara is a management platform for Google Apps for Education. Teacher Dashboard provides an instructional management layer on top of Google Apps, giving educators a snap-shot view of student work in most Google applications with all activity organized by class and by student. Hapara Teacher Dashboard can provide educators with greater visibility, better insight into individual progress, and the ability to make a deeper impact on student achievement, all the while, giving teachers back one of the most important things necessary for quality education - time. Another product Remote Control allows teachers to monitoring of students with Google ChromeBooks. Options include observing what a student is doing online, opening and closing tabs on individual student devices or the entire class, and even sending priority message to individuals and/or the class. Mark the date on your calendar now (Jan. 15, 2014 at 4:00 PM) to hear more about these tools.
PHOTOS BY JEFF KESSLER
Conference ACTEM 2014 October 9-10, 2014 Save the date now for the
Don’t Miss it!
President’s Message (Continued from Cover)
book that drew praise from Kevin Honeycutt and throughout New England when it was shown to our other New England affiliates, the conference committee for selecting great sessions, Gary Lanoie for tying the loose ends together and working with the vendors and the attendees, Jaime Steward and Deb White for putting together a great presentation for our Leader and Educator of the Years with the other finalists. Congratulations to Kern Kelly and Maya Crosby for being the Award winners that we recognized at the Conference, Kevin Honeycutt and Dan Russell for putting together great keynote addresses that has given me new ways to think about what I do each day for children, and the ACTEM board for providing extra muscle leading up to the conference and during the two days. Thank you one and all! One last note about the conference, this was the last year of MAINEd. Before people think that ACTEM will no longer put together this conference, all we are doing is re-naming the event. Next year the conference will be known as the ACTEM Conference. Too many people just refer to our conference as the ACTEM Conference, so last summer the board decided to change the name to accurately reflect how people know the conference. We are trying to extend the professional development reach of ACTEM, it is not too late to contribute to the 2013-14 Professional Development Survey. The survey can be found at http://goo.gl/ ryRiLg. One of the reasons we are seeking additional input is because ACTEM will be offering a showcase during the February vacation week for educators (NO NEED FOR A SUBSTITUTE). We
are looking at are February 18th in Southern Maine and February 19th in Northern Maine. We even thought of a snow date of February 20th (hopefully we won’t need it). More information about the showcase will be coming out soon as ACTEM continues to look for ways to provide more of a value add to your membership! Recently, I had the chance to visit the Vermont version of our Conference and came away with some interesting takeaways that ACTEM can benefit from today, tomorrow, and in the future. One of the big takeaways is a different way to reach out to the technical staff who work very hard keeping equipment up and running. ACTEM will be working with different areas of the state for Pizza Nights. The goal is to allow the technical staff to come together eat some pizza and discuss different ways they tackle issues. There are other takeaways that I will be discussing with the members of our board trying to make ACTEM stronger and provide a different way of giving you a value add to your membership. Another takeaway in making a difference for you is to seek your input on webinars that you might find useful. The New England version of ACTEM, known as NEISTE, has partnered with Blackboard to set up professional development experiences that can be New England wide, http://www.neiste.org/ professional-development/register, or just within ACTEM. If you have ideas of what you would like to see provided or be interested in running a webinar please contact me (mrichme@gmail.com) so I that can further your interest. There are a wide range of topics that people can promote but I would rather serve your interests! I feel like we all work hard try-
ing to meet the goals that Ralph Waldo Emerson put out with the statement at the beginning of my notes. Our job is to continue to think about how technology helps us be compassionate, honorable, useful, and make a difference in what we do each day. The power lives inside of you and now is the chance to promote it even more.
MAINEducation (Continued from Cover)
shared is amazing and the quality and variety of the presentations are great. • The variety of workshops--there were hard choices to make as almost all sessions had multiple things that I would have like to have attended. • The printed program! I’ve been to well over 100 conferences: local, regional, national, and international, and this is by far the best I’ve ever seen. • Thursday is the best day because you actually get to use what you are learning instead of just “hearing” or see a quick demo. • The keynote speaker was fantastic. His message spanned the teaching, caring, technology-connection very well! • The vendor area was really diverse and full of interesting materials, people, and discussions. One of the final survey questions was: “Overall, based on your total experience at the conference, will you attend or recommend someone else attend next year’s conference?” 96.9% said “Yes.” Save the date now for the ACTEM 2014 Conference on October. 9-10, 2014.
Electronic Educator
actem.org December 2013
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actem Maine
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PERMIT NO. 305 Portland ME
Association of Computer Technology Educators of
P.O. Box 187 Gorham, ME 04038
ISTE 2014 Housing ACTEM Block
A
s an ISTE Affiliate, ACTEM has reserved a block of rooms in our conference hotel - the Marriott Marquis, 265 Peachtree Center Ave. in downtown Atlanta at the rate of $189 per night.
NOTE: The ISTE Conference has shifted to a Saturday-Tuesday pattern versus the historical Sunday-Wednesday pattern. The conference closes officially on 7/1 at 4:00 with the Closing Keynote Speaker. Board member Dennis Crowe stayed
at this hotel at two previous conferences. Dennis states, “Nice hotel! Located downtown with easy walk to a lot of stuff. You will have to ride the shuttle to get to the conference center, but it’s a short ride.” Please follow the directions below. Your affiliate login will only show the hotel/s assigned to your block and takes each reservation individually. All online room reservations require a valid credit card with an expiration date of July 2014 or later to process the reservation. The credit card is required as a guarantee and may be charged one night’s room and tax deposit in advance of your arrival date.
1. Click on ISTE 2014 https://www. isteconference.org/2014 2. Click on “”Attend” then “Housing” 3. Scroll down to select your “Affiliate Name” from the “Special Affiliate Login” dropdown box to make reservations at your pre-assigned group’s designated hotel/s. 4. Enter the arrival and departure dates you wish to book. Click “Search” to check your hotel sub-block availability. 5. Select your hotel and confirm your room type. You will need to check the box confirming you agree to the cancellation policy. 6. Upon providing name, address, email address and any special room request, click “Next” to proceed. You will need to click on the “Pay Now” button on the right hand side to guarantee the reservation with a credit card. NOTE: Your hotel reservation will not be confirmed without providing credit card information.