YEP-MEA Inspire Spring 2017

YEPMEA

inspire.

Young Education Professionals of the Maine Education Association

End The Year Strong

o T A ME

Don’t Stress!

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Spring 2017 Vol. 1 • Number 2

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YEPMEA Young Education Professionals of the Maine Education Association

You’re Invited...

As a young education professional of the Maine Education Association you are welcome to attend a variety of professional development and social events designed specifically with you in mind.

YEP-MEA events are not typical “sit and get” events. YEP-MEA works to engage early career educators in professional development activies that will help them in their work.

Professional development is important to you, and it’s important to the MEA which is why YEP-MEA exists-to give you a chance to learn and grow in your profession in an environment that is unique to you.

Keep up with new opportunities by heading to our website and checking your email!

Learn more at: www.yepmea.org

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Join our Facebook group: Facebook.com/groups/yepmea

Editor’s Note Stay Strong!

With each day that grows longer, the sun shining brighter I’m finding it increasingly more difficult to concentrate. It’s even more difficult to be inside, especially after this winter. I mean-did you ever think it was going to stop snowing?! I felt like I was living inside a snow globe that someone just kept shaking. Anyway—while you’re likely dreaming of summer, there is still a school year to finish, and there is no reason you can’t finish the year strong.

This special issue, just for early career educators is full of fresh ideas and resources to help you in the last few months of school. To keep kids engaged, why not try teaching them with comic strips? They’re easy to make and fun to use.

Learn how on page…

Looking for ways to get your students excited about writing, when they’re thinking about swimming? Check out some proven ways in our Write to Excite article on page….

And…ever wonder exactly what the MEA is doing to help students? Check out some quick reasons being an MEA member is valuable on page.

There’s more inside—scroll through and check it out. The MEA continues to focus on providing you what you need to better help you in your work. If there’s anything you think could help you, don’t hesitate to reach out and ask. This is your Association and everyone at MEA works for you—be sure to take advantage that.

Questions? Story Ideas?

Email me at editor@maineea.org

Giovanna Bechard Editor editor@maineea.org

Inside This Issue:

2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 12 13 14

YEP-MEA: You’re Invited Editor’s Note - Stay Strong!

MEA President’s Message - Snakes on the Steps Copyright from Wrong All Because of You & the MEA Wrtie to Excite Comic Curriculum National Board Certification Changes I’ll Make How Much?

The Hot List Using Improv in Education What’s Up Doc? Editorial Staff

Managing Editor - Robert Walker, Executive Director Editor - Giovanna Bechard, Communications Director Layout/Ad Manager - Shawn Berry Communications Assistant

MEA Leadership

President - Lois Kilby-Chesley Vice President - Grace Leavitt Treasurer - Denise Simoneau NEA Director - Michael Thurston

Board of Directors Bo Zabierek Suzen Polk-Hoffses Jesse Hargrove Beth French Ken Williams Jill Watson Aaron Greene Jim Thornton Samantha Garnett Sias Terry Martin Bob McCully Amanda Cooper Deborah Butler John Messier Neil Greenberg Crystal Ward Gerry French

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LOIS KILBY-CHESLEY PRESIDENT

SNAKES ON THE STEPS I started my teaching career in Special Education K-12 in a rural school in Colorado – total enrolment 90 kids - having graduated from UMaine with a major in child development and minors in psychology and special ed. I had completed student teaching with an experienced mentor, felt confident in my knowledge of curriculum, and was ready to take on the world.

Preparing for the new year, I reviewed the IEPs, put up bulletin boards, stocked the classroom with books and materials, and wrote lesson plans. I was pretty sure it would all go as planned. Because of the school’s location most of my colleagues were young and new to the classroom as well, though of course there were some veteran teachers who had settled in the community, and had an historical perspective. We all expected the only the best.

Lois Kilby-Chesley MEA President

Excitement overwhelmed me on that first day. The buses pulled into the schoolyard, and the kids came into my classroom. A familial group of older brother, middle sister and two younger brothers. A pair of brothers who could have been a textbook example – they had grown up in isolation on a ranch and had developed their own language. A young man who had been tested to the hilt both locally and by specialists in hospitals and the nearest university, but for whom no diagnosis could explain his inability to read at 15. And my oldest, who had sustained a brain injury when he was hit by a car.

Before long my oldest student, who was only a couple of years younger than me, had a seizure. I did not know what to do. No one had prepared me with the medical information or with the protocol of how to respond and care for him. He convulsed on the schoolroom floor while all I could do was watch.

Do you have a question for Lois? Send it in an e-mail to lkilby-chesley@ maineea.org 4 Maine Educator • April 2017

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Maine Educator • December 2015 February 2017

A few days later, while opening the outside door to our classroom for ventilation, a large snake was sleeping on the step. As I disturbed it, it began to shake its tail. Prepared for that surprise? Hardly.

The kids explained it was a Bull snake one of the largest (and most common) constrictors in the area that vibrate their tails like a rattlesnake. Phew!

Later, as things really did begin to go as planned, I realized that for all the education we get in college, and in life, we really don’t know what may confront us in our classrooms. Admitting to not knowing what each day would be like, and being able to laugh about it, probably kept me from throwing up my hands and giving up entirely.

Because in that rural school I had colleagues on whom I could depend, and to whom I could talk candidly about my new life in the school and on the plains of Colorado, with their help I was able to build a repertoire of responses to the unexpected.

I may not have had a mentor assigned to me, but I found just talking to my colleagues was helpful.

When we go into classrooms and shut the door our jobs become isolated and lonely. Having a support system on which you can depend is essential.

That’s why I am so excited that the Young Education Professionals (YEP)—MEA is available to you. Having friends to bounce thoughts off, having a shoulder on which to lean after a tiring day, or having someone to cry with on the worst of the worst days lets you know you aren’t alone. Plus it’s always nice to have new friends who really, truly understand the realities of being a young teacher at the beginning of what will turn out to be the most rewarding career on this planet!

Thank you for all you do, and for what you will do for our students far into the future.

In Unity,

Lois Kilby-Chesley MEA President

News You Can Use

from Wrong With school district budgets strained, educators may be tempted to make photocopies of a chapter of a book and give it to students instead of buying the book. The temptation though, if acted on, would be illegal. The laws surrounding copyright, especially in the face of both budget issues and new technology used in the classroom are especially important to understand.

As educators use more and more technology in the classroom—finding videos, web articles, blogs and vlogs to share with students—legal experts say everyone who uses anything that is not their own needs to understand what’s called fair use (see box for details). The following are some common copyright questions answered from the National Education Association’s, The Copyright Primer for Librarians and Educators by Janis Bruwelheide.

Can a teacher download images from a fee-based service and share them with colleagues?

No, not without checking to see if the company the photos were purchased through allows for the sharing. The same is true for someone who chooses to collect materials online and gather them into a new body of work with a new title. This is a derivative work and requires permission from any bloggers/authors who originated the work. Check with the authors first. Usually you will receive permission for the compilation for non-profit use.

Can I or my students use music in a presentation?

e?

Us What is Fair

ts to use rs and studen to a c u d e s are met. w Fair use allo ing four factors w llo fo e th if ork copyrighted w

haracter of the c d n a e s o rp u is of 1. The p ther such use e h w g in d lu c fit use, in r is for nonpro o re tu a n l ia rc comme rposes educational pu work e copyrighted th f o re tu a n e the portion f o 2. Th ty li a ti n ta s t and sub as 3. The amoun yrighted work p o c e th to n o used in relati tial a whole upon the poten e s u e th f o t c yrighted work 4. The effe p o c e th f, o e valu market for, or

repared by the p l a ri te a m f o rotection ting entirely to copyright p t Works consis c je b u s t o n ent are inated.

U.S. Governm d and dissem e s u ly e e fr e b and can

yright.gov

Source: www.cop

Yes, just don’t let the music out of the classroom.

When it comes to music or movies educators and students are in the clear if the material is both obtained legally and used for educational purposes.

But remember, the classroom rule—any presentation with music must not be placed online, like Vimeo or YouTube; that may require special permission.

What about photocopies? Can I make copies of workbooks or standardized tests to prepare my students for exams?

No. Things like workbooks and standardized tests are “consumables,” and are not considered fair use.

The same is true for photocopies of entire books or entire chapters in mass quantity—it is not allowed.

You are however allowed to make multiple copies for classroom use if the material is for one course, is no longer than a short poem or essay (2,500 words or less) or an excerpt from any work that is no longer than 10% of the entire document. The same educator is allowed to copy materials for one course during one class term nine times per year. Copying is not allowed to avoid the purchase of more materials.

Instead of sharing the material in its entirety, think about creating a link on your presentation for the information.

October 2014 • www.maineea.org

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Advocacy

All because of you & and the Maine Education Association Eyeglasses for students who could never see the board Warm winter coats and boots

An incredible education New underwear

300,000 meals for hungry Mainers Books to build an athome library

MEA members impact the lives of Maine students in ways well beyond the classroom, taking care of their needs both at school and at home. The MEA is proud to support the mission of its members, to ensure every child has access to a great public school education. To do that, the MEA and its members continue to take care of students’ most basic needs and beyond.

Did you know the MEABT helped provide nearly 300 pairs free eyeglasses for students in need?

Did you know the MEA gave away nearly 20,000 free books to first graders in the last two years to foster a love for reading?

Did you know in the last five years the MEA, through its scholarship fund, provided $87,000 to students entering two- or four-year colleges? That’s in addition to the many scholarships local associations offer to students.

Did you know the MEA and its members were in part responsible for the single largest food drive in the history of the Good Shepherd Food Bank?

There are so many more things MEA members do each day that are not always celebrated but helpful to students across the state.

While MEA members take care of students so well, the MEA Partnership for Caring takes care of members and their families in need. To learn more about the Partnership for Caring, turn to page 29.

The MEA is proud to support you, your work, and your students.

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Maine Educator • October 2015

News You Can Use

Write to

Excite

Write here, and write now.

When it comes to engaging students in writing to meet standards there are some fundamentals that have proven to work, and work well for South Portland High School English teacher Leah Siviski, who is also the Writing Group Coordinator for the Southern Maine Writing Project. The Southern Maine Writing Project is a group of diverse educators who are passionate about building knowledge and transforming classroom practices across the curriculum to improve writing and learning for all students. As a member of the Writing Project, the Maine Educator asked Siviski to share writing strategies and her ideas on how to better excite students in everything from pre-writing to editing.

How do you get your students excited about formal writing?

Can you talk about pre-writing strategies to help students gather their thoughts and be prepared to formulate a good essay.

Well, I don’t know if I can ever get students truly excited about writing a formal essay, but I can give them the tools to be prepared and confident. Helping them structure an essay with graphic organizers, giving them examples of well-written essays, having specific due dates for each part of the essay (intro, body paragraphs, conclusion), and coaching them on how to revise their work are all strategies that I have used to help students feel more confident with their academic writing.

Often, the most difficult part of an essay for students is the first sentence. Sometimes, I’ll provide a prompt to students for their daily journal entry that somehow touches upon the essay topic. They’re so used to writing everyday that they don’t flinch at having to do this.

Then, when we start the essay, I’ll say, “Go back to your journal. Look!

You already have the makings of an introduction. Type up what you have and work from there.”

With so many standards both students and educators are expected to meet, do you have any advice to keep writing fun while still meeting the standards?

Ask students to write every day, even just for 5-10 minutes. Have some silly prompts, like incorporating three random words into a story (already-chewed bubblegum, an angry mob, and a misplaced engagement ring). Do group writing tasks (like writing a story in which each student contributes a line). Play word games. I personally learned to love language and writing through playing word games like Scrabble, Boggle, Balderdash, Taboo. Taking 10 minutes out of class to show students how much fun word play is can make them view English class (and reading and writing) in a more positive light.

Do you have any editing tips for students and for teachers when they’re both working and grading?

Focus, focus, focus. Marking every tiny grammar error or structural inconsistency will be discouraging for the student and tedious for the teacher. With each writing assignment, focus on just a handful of grammar rules and structure or organization targets. That will make students’ self- or peer-editing and teachers’ grading feel much more manageable.

Anything else about writing you want to share that is both fun and fundamental?

Write with your students and share your writing with your students.

You may not be able to do this every day, but if you model what focused writing looks like, what a first draft looks like, etc., that will help students feel more comfortable completing, editing, and sharing their own writing.

December 2015 • www.maineea.org

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Tech T@lk

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Maine Educator • October 2015

There are several important changes in place for teachers who are hoping to gain National Board Certification, existing NBCT and those who are still waiting to hear about their pending applications. The National Board for Professional Teaching Standards revised both the modules and time frame for those applying. In addition, there are several changes to the funding available to pay for certification and the stipend teachers can receive. This is the first revision to the process since 2001.

u News Yo

National Board Certification Changes

Can U se

What you need to know: Time Frame: Achieving National Board Certification can now occur over a period of THREE years. Candidates can still choose to complete the certification in one year (see below for exception). Registration Window: March 1, 2014–February 28, 2015 Components: There are now only FOUR components that you need to complete, instead of six. Three are portfolio entries submitted online and the final is a computer-based assessment, which is administered to you at a testing center.

Computer-based assessment • Component 1: Content Knowledge Assessment Portfolio entries • Component 2: Differentiation in Instruction • Component 3: Teaching Practice and Learning Environment • Component 4: Effective and Reflective Practitioner This year two components will be released for completion. The following year, one more component will be released and the third year the final component will be available to complete. After the third year, when all four sections are released, you can complete the entire certification in one year, if you choose or you can take the full three years.

Cost: Each component will now cost $475 instead of $2,500 for the complete certification. That’s a savings of $600. Candidates will have the option to pay for and submit each component separately.

Stipend: NBCT will now receive approximately $3,000 per year stipend for the life of their certificate.

Scholarship: In fiscal year 2014-15, the Maine Department of Education allocated $75,000 to a scholarship fund for those applying for NBCT. Money is available on a first come-first served basis and not to more than 30 teachers accepted into the program each year.

Apply here: http://tinyurl.com/nbctscholarship

FAQ’s Q: What if I applied for NBCT last year and didn’t pass each module? Do I have to wait for the new track to come out in order to reapply?

A: No. there is an overlap with the old and new schedule so people who previously applied and didn’t receive certification can redo the module and still gain certification without a delay. The certification process revisions take effect with new candidates beginning in 2014–15.

Q: I am already an NBCT, has the way I receive my stipend changed?

A: No. However, your Superintendent must notify the Department of Education by October 15, 2014 of your NBCT status by providing your name to the DOE so you can receive the stipend. The stipend comes from the State and is paid through the district.

The Department of Education is required to provide the salary supplement to each district no later than February 15th of each year.

In addition, local districts may augment the stipend or have other incentives, such as paid release days to support National Board candidates.

Q: I would like to become an NBCT, but the process seems difficult to handle without support. Can the MEA help?

A: Yes! The MEA offers, free to members, candidate support workshops designed to give you the information and encouragement that you need to complete the National Board Certification process. Connect with other Maine candidates as you engage in the National Board process, learn the difference between Teaching Standards and Content Standards and what “evidence” of accomplished teaching really means. Tips for establishing timelines, organizing the work, and accessing resources for candidate support will also be shared. Continue to check www.maineea.org for upcoming dates.

More questions? www.boardcertifiedteachers.org can help. Click on Get Started to see if you are eligible to apply and to learn more about the new components.

October 2014 • www.maineea.org

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cac y

o Adv

I’ll Make How Much?

How to maximize your salary scale

A salary or wage schedule paints the picture of the expected wage or salary progression an educator or educational support professional will achieve over the course of his or her career. The steps are a timetable of when you’ll receive raises and how much the raises will be. A properly constructed scale will help you earn more over the life of your career. A weak scale may well give you higher increases in certain years but its poor construction will mean you’ll earn less money over your entire career. As well, a cost of living increase needs to be bargained annually to keep the scale competitive. While it seems complicated, there are a few simple things to consider to determine if your scale is constructed to maximize your career earnings.

Number of Steps A strong salary schedule has the fewest possible steps to reach a professional or career rate, which is typically the top step. Fewer steps means you’ll reach the top rate sooner and maximize your career earnings. Of course, the beginning salary, the amount between steps and the adequacy of the professional or career rate all have an impact on career earnings. Take a look at the starting salary on your scale and count the number of steps to the top step. If it’s more than between 10 to 15 steps, it’s too long a schedule.

Salary schedules are meant to mirror an employee’s progression in mastering his or her job. For instance, studies show for teachers most “master” their craft in about seven to 10 years. Although “mastering” can be hard to define, a common definition used to determine “master” status is at what point in a teacher’s career they feel established and comfortable enough teaching to teach another teacher how to teach, which is generally 7 to 10 years.

More than 10 or 15 steps creates inequity, with unequal pay for equal work. Long schedules can also create tensions at bargaining time because the scale is not only being used for career progression but also as a de facto cost of living increase, pitting the incremental step costs against the general cost of living increases.

Horizontal Values For teachers, the salary schedule will also show you whether there’s an opportunity to earn more with advanced degrees and professional development. Since those amounts are usually listed horizontally on the scale, this is referred to as changing “lanes.” In Maine, generally, there are lanes for Bachelor’s,

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Maine Educator • October 2015

Master’s and CAS degrees. In addition, some salary scales allow lane movement for earning credits toward a degree, usually at 15or 30 credit increments. The more education you have, typically means the more you’ll be paid.

No Dead Zones A “dead zone” is when an employee remains at the same step and/or salary level for multiple years of experience. In most contracts, educators move a step per year of experience and that move corresponds with a wage increase built into the scale. When a contract contains a “dead zone” there may be many years where you gain a year of experience but do not receive a wage increase with that increased experience.

Dead Zone Contract Example (sample is from a real Maine Contract) Group 2- Food Service Specialist

Dead Zone

Years of Experience

Year One Year Two Year Three

1-5 6-10 11-15 16+ 21+

$12.31 $12.74 $12.91 $13.10 $13.28

$12.51 $13.04 $13.28 $13.54 $13.79

$12.73 $13.26 $13.51 $13.77 $14.03

Notice how in this contract, which is from a Maine school, employees are clumped into categories based on years of experience. For example, employees who have 6 years of experience earn the same amount as employees with 10 years of experience—that’s the dead zone. In this contract, food service specialists earn a cost of living increase each year (moving to the right each year of the contract), but only receive a step increase when they have enough experience to move to the next zone.

Avoid dead zones in your contract.

Advocacy

Career Earnings While increasing your pay at each step is important, you also want to consider how your scale can maximize your career earnings. In focusing on what you make over the course of your career, the starting salary and top salary are important, but equally as important is how you move from the starting salary to the top.

Otherwise, you may have a higher top salary when you finally get to the top than a neighboring district but earn far less over the duration of your career.

Starting June 30, 2007, Maine law requires teachers earn at least $30,000 per year. This, however, is low. The minimum salary would now be $34,361 if adjusted for inflation. You should look at salary schedules of surrounding districts to make sure your beginning salary is competitive and reflects the value of the profession.

When you look at your salary scale make sure your scale increases each year in a substantive way.

In teacher scales in Maine, an increase of 3% or a fixed increment of $1,200 to $1,500 between steps is considered a good annual increase. That increase, though, is just the step increase, you should also work to negotiate a cost of living percentage increase that increases all amounts on the scale to keep up with inflation. Otherwise, like the minimum salary example above, the purchasing power of a particular step on the scale decreases over time. For example, if your step increase is $1,200 per year, this amount is for your increased professional ability due to having another

year of professional experience. A cost of living increase should also be negotiated so the step you move to doesn’t lose value over time due to inflation. So if Step 6 on a scale is $38,600 in the first year and cost of living is 2%, Step 6 would need to increase to $39,372 or the teacher moving from Step 5 to Step 6 in the second year would feel like they were making less in terms of purchasing power than a teacher on Step 6 in the prior year.

For support staff, who are paid hourly, wages differ significantly based on the classification, but an increase of 3% or a fixed increment of $.40 to $.80 an hour between steps is considered good. The cost of living increase as explained above applies for support staff scales as well.

Regardless of profession, a good salary scale will contain increases in pay between each step that builds by the same amount, equivalent to about 4% of the base pay, or percentage at each step as you move up the scale in order to maximize your career earnings.

Good Salary Scale Example MA

0

$ 37,454.40

$ 39,454.40

1

$ 39,820.00

$ 41,820.00

2

$ 41,213.70

$ 43,283.70

3

$ 42,656.18

$ 44,798.63

4

$ 44,149.15

$ 46,366.58

5

$ 45,694.37

$ 47,989.41

6

$ 47,293.67

$ 49,669.04

7

$ 48,948.95

$ 51,407.46

8

$ 50,662.16

$ 53,206.72

9

$ 52,435.34

$ 55,068.96

10

$ 54,270.58

$ 56,996.37

11

$ 56,170.05

$ 58,991.24

12

$ 58,136.00

$ 61,055.93

13

$ 60,170.76

$ 63,192.89

14

$ 62,276.74

$ 65,404.64

15

$ 64,456.43

$ 67,693.80

3.5% increase

{

Number of Steps kept to a minimum

{

BA

Percentage change is the same regardless of step

{

No Dead Zone, pay increases year to year

LEVEL

3.5% increase October 2015 • www.maineea.org

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News You Can Use

The H t List

Discover these educator recommended tools and be inspired to reimagine your day

Hokki Stools The Hokki Stools are consistently given rave reviews for their ergonomic design that allows students to keep moving, while sitting still. Teachers who have Hokki Stools rave about their impact on student learning saying, “It’s that whole mindbody connection, if our body is in motion our mind is in motion.

Kids who can move while they work are more likely to focus on their work and be engaged in what they’re doing.” There are several sizes of stools with prices starting around $110 per stool.

Cocoon Grid It Organizer If you’re tired of getting cords, flash drives and the like lost in your bag from home to school teachers recommend the Cocoon, which is about the size of a sheet of paper. One online teacher reviewer said: “For a while, I tried to assign items to various pockets to try to keep them organized, but that never worked very well. I'd forget what went where and spend way too much time digging around for something.

That changed once I got the Cocoon.” Cost: starting at $15.

OSMO Osmo is an iPad accessory that claims to foster “social intelligence and creative thinking by opening up the iPad to the endless possibilities of physical play.” Osmo was rated TIME Magazine’s Best Invention of 2014. It uses the camera on the iPad as a way to track motion for different games.

There are currently four apps available for Osmo, which include Masterpiece, Words, Tangram, and Newton. Cost: Starting at $78.

AmazonBasics 4 Port USB 3.0 Hub Need more USB ports? MEA’s Technical Coordinator recommends using a USB 3.0 Hub—it’s the newest standard in connection and allows you to download and transfer data more quickly from an external hard drive or flash drive. You can also use the additional ports for charging your devices. Cost: $17.

Soft Grip Brushes These brushes help students understand where to grab the brush, and teachers rave about their ablity to reinforce fine motor skills in younger students. You can find the brushes on fabercastell.com. Cost: $4.99/4-pack

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Maine Educator • April 2016

Ever wonder why in movies like Speed it always seems like the man and woman who are about to die in some horrific way manage to 1) survive and 2) fall madly in love in the end, even though they had no idea who each other were just a few hours before? The bus won’t stop, it’s crashing into things, lives hang in the balance and Keanu Reeves notices how beautiful Sandra Bullock is behind the wheel.

Really?

Hollywood drama aside, intense situations, or extended periods of time together in unique environments bring people closer, and make them more willing to share and work together.

It’s the kind of environment teachers and improv gurus Dan Ryder (Mt. Blue RSU EA) and Jeff Bailey (Western Foothills EA) work to create in their classrooms to better engage their students. “There is greatness in going through something together, so why not create an experience like that, and if it can be built around laughter and a little bit of discomfort then you can share something that may be uncomfortable because you’ve all had a common laugh,” said Ryder an English teacher at Mt Blue high school.

Ryder and Bailey are part of “The Teachers’ Lounge Mafia,” an improv group that shares how the art of improv can both lead to more effective communication, dynamic problem solving and overall enhanced student learning. Ryder and Baliey both believe educators should have an improvisation mindset, working off three basic ideas: accept, trust and communicate.

“The biggest chunk of communicating is listening. You have to be able to listen fully to what the other person is saying,” said Bailey.

“The improv mindset, when you watch people perform, they’re taking what they have and they’re working with it—you can have these moments where you say ‘I just have to accept what I have and let go of what I don’t,’” said Ryder.

And it’s in the moments of acceptance where the duo says you can learn as an educator and better teach students. Dozens of MEA members came together to understand the process at the Fall Conference, working to become better listeners and cultivate an understanding around the importance of removing the word ‘but’ from their vocabulary.

u News Yo

Using Improv in Education

Can U se

3 Principles of Improv Accept: the status quo so you may change it, build with what you have, let go of what you don’t Communicate: Listen with your whole self, 90% receiving, 10% reacting Trust: Yourself, others and the process.

“One of the most well-known ideas about improv is you ‘yes and everything.’ So, we would say our school is having difficulty dealing with proficiency-based education and there are a lot of ways to determine how to figure this out as opposed to ‘yeah but’— which is what we tend to do. The ‘but’ makes it seem like the first part is not important,” said Ryder.

together. The group then found their own creative ways to use a human machine with their students in the classroom, sharing these ideas: • You can use people as physical models to show the breakdown of a cell.

• You can build a de-grumping machine that at the end of the day students go through and they feel better.

• I’m starting an industrialization unit and using that machine would be great!

And since it’s improv, the possibilities are endless, and as Ryder and Bailey say, no answer is ever wrong.

With the acceptance mindset, members worked together, to among other things create a human machine that built green M&Ms. Each person who was part of the human machine had a role—things like shine and paint the candy. In the end, each realized by simply “going with it” they could work better December 2015 • www.maineea.org

137

Your Association

***NEW MEMBER BENEFIT***

What’s Up Doc? Visit a doctor online 24/7

Forget about making an appointment. Forget about wasting time in a waiting room. Now, thanks to your insurance with the MEABT, you can see a doctor on your schedule, from your own home.

This cold and flu season and beyond, you can go online and have a video visit with a board-certified doctor who is available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. The program is called LiveHealth Online.

“Within a few minutes I had the prescription. I was able to get to work on time. I was able to get my kids to school on time and I was able to not disrupt my day and have a great solution to my health care issue,” said Mandy, a LiveHealth Online user.

With LiveHealth Online, members can talk face-to-face with a doctor through their mobile device or a computer with a webcam.

They can use LiveHealth Online for common health concerns like colds, the flu, fevers, rashes, infections and allergies. It’s faster, easier and more convenient than a visit to an urgent care center or waiting to schedule an appointment with a doctor in person.

LiveHealth Online gives members: • Immediate access to their choice of doctors 24/7.

• Secure and private video visits with board-certified doctors.

• Prescriptions sent directly to your pharmacy, if needed. (Doctors cannot prescribe narcotics, like Oxycodone or lifestyle drugs like Viagra.)

Cost per visit: Equal to the co-pay for an office visit, usually $15 or $20, depending on your plan.

*Those on Medicare and those not on the MEABT plan pay $49 for the virtual visit.* Doctors can help with a variety of issues including: • Colds • Flu • Allergies • Sinus infections • Bronchitis • Diarrhea • Pinkeye and other eye infections • Urinary tract infections • Rashes

www.livehealthonline.com

Our online MSEd program provides: • A career-focused accredited education • Rolling admissions and monthly start dates • Continuing education and certification renewal opportunities • Supportive advisors who understand your needs • Maine SPED Law Course available online; approved

by DOE Visit sjcme.edu/educator or call 800-752-4723 for more information.

Please note: LiveHealth Online is not for emergencies. If you’re experiencing an emergency, call 911 immediately.

To learn more and to sign up for free now, log on to www.livehealthonline.com 14

Educating for life.

October 2015 • www.maineea.org

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