ACTEM News December 2013

Electronic Educator actem.org December 2013 1

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MAINEducation 2013

The 26th annual MAINEducation conference is in the books and from all reports was another very

successful one for ACTEM. This confer-ence 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

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 ses-sions featuring workshops on Vid-eoconferencing, a Crash Course on Google Apps for Education and iOS App development proved very popu-lar with attendees, . Friday’s conference started with

the opening keynote by Kevin Hon-eycutt. There were many positive comments from people about Kevin’s keynote but this one summed it up nicely, “The Friday keynote and Kev-in’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

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 ev-ery year. The amount of information

Looking 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, con-ference 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, Ra-

chel Guthrie for the conference

Connecting Technology Educators in MaineA Publication of the Association of Computer Technology Educators of Maine December 2013

Educator

(Continued on page 11)

A message from the P R E S I D E N T

Michael Richards, Wells-Ogunquit C.S.D.

(Cont’d on page 11)

INSIDE:

“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.” Ralph Waldo Emerson

Kern Kelley Teacher of the YearMaya Crosby Leader of Year page 4

MAINEd 2013 photos

pages 6-7

Jeff MaoHonored page 2

2 actem.org Electronic Educator December 2013

Maine DOE’s Jeff Mao Honored for Technology LeadershipFrom the Maine DOE Newsroom, 11/13/13

Jeff Mao, the Maine DOE’s learning technology policy director, was re-cently 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 tech-nology to make learning a customized, engaging and demanding endeavor. Mao has written a number of articles in sup-port 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 Tech-nology 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 pack-age for schools, which includes devices, professional development, service and

support over a four-year period. Ad-ditional states are considering joining or embarking on a similar mission.

Maine’s Sylvia Norton New AASL Executive DirectorFrom the Maine Association of School Libraries (MASL) press release

This past September, Maine’s Sylvia Norton was appointed the new Executive Director of the

American Association of School Librar-ians. 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 technol-ogy and school library programs. In that capacity, she was involved in a broad range of programs related to school li-braries, 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 Sci-ence degree from Simmons College and a Master of Public Administration from University of Maine (Orono). She com-pleted doctoral studies in Educational Leadership (University of Maine) and is currently pursuing a doctorate in Library

BOARD OF DIRECTORS Michael President Richards [email protected]

David Vice President Bridges [email protected]

Andrew Treasurer Wallace [email protected]

Deborah Recording Secretary, White Educator of the Year Co-Chair [email protected]

Gary ACTEM Executive Director Lanoie [email protected]

Mike SIG Technology Integrationist Arsenault [email protected]

Dennis NEISTE Treasurer Crowe [email protected]

Dennis Professional Development Kunces [email protected]

Rachel Electronic Educator Editor Guthrie [email protected]

Crystal MAINEducation Priest Conference Co-chair [email protected]

Jaime Educator of Year Co-Chair Steward [email protected]

Julie MAINEducation St. Hilaire Conference Co-Chair [email protected]

Association of ComputerTechnology Educators of

P.O. Box 187, Gorham, ME 04038toll free: 866-99-ACTEM

voice: 207-222-4353fax: 207-641-2556

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.

ACTEM

Maine

Jeff Mao with the Executive Director of SET-DA, Doug Levin after the awards dinner.


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 educa-tion (including a biennial national con-ference , biennial forum and electronic courses), publications (including a regu-lar 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

Wells High School purchased Chromebooks to be imple-mented in classrooms this fall.

In order to leverage Google Apps for Education, Cheryl Oakes, a Google Certi-fied 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 turn-ing 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 ver-sion. Normally, this kind of differentiation and custom-ization 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 stu-dents 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-Ogun-quit 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 [email protected]. More About Read&Write for GoogleRead&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 high-lighters, vocabulary builder tool, annota-tions 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 winnerIn 1996 MSLN began installing

1100 of these devices into school and libraries in Maine. The de-

vices were funded through a settle-ment 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 coun-try 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 MAINEdu-cation 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 an-swers will be entered into a drawing for a $25 LL Bean Gift Card.


{tech}Kern Kelley Technology Educator of the YearBy Sarah Harriman, English Teacher, Car-rabec High School

Nine thousand two hundred fifty seven miles separate New Zealand and Maine, a distance

that can seem insurmountable. How-ever, Kern Kelley’s career has not only spanned that distance physically, but many would say he has spanned that distance, and more, virtually. Best known at Nokomis High School for his “Tech Sherpa” student team, Kel-ley is also known statewide as a gradu-ate instructor at the University of Maine, and internationally as an educator and presenter. Kelley can now add ACTEM Technology Educator of the Year to his resume. Kelley has long been involved in using, promoting and innovating with technology in the classroom. Kelley states, “I make an extensive effort to be part of the classroom setting ….I believe it is crucial to keep touch with students and see their changing technological needs first hand.” To that end, Kelley’s students col-laborate on projects in a 21st century fashion, with one class beginning a project in Block 1, leaving notes for stu-dents in Block 2. Block 2 then works, and leaves notes for the next class, and so on throughout the day. When Block 1 stu-dents return the next morning, they pick up where the last class left off. Kelley then has a student showcase each spring where all middle schools students show off their tech projects. The showcase is streamed live and recorded, making Nokomis student work available online and throughout the world. Kelley’s student team, “The Tech Sherpas,” literally and figuratively guide teachers and students in the use

of internet technology and devices. The Sherpas are a group of students who want to work to integrate technology into education, specifically with Google. In fact, these students were able to pres-ent at the Google Teacher Academy at the Google offices in New York City. Kelley and his Sherpas “hit the world” each week on Google Hangouts. Additionally the Sherpas accompany him to other schools and conferences (including the ACTEM conference in October) where they guide and assist, and most importantly, learn. Kelley is a Google certified teacher and has his finger on the pulse of tech-nology. He has procured a 3D printer for his district, one of the first in the state. Many teachers have benefited from Kelley’s work with MLTI. Kelley attends conferences, not just as a presenter, but also “to find out the latest examples of best practices others are sharing.” In doing so, Kelley is not afraid to travel the world literally. He recently gave a keynote address at the Google Summit in Hampden, ME. He has also presented in many parts of the United States, London and Tokyo. “I highlight the best examples I find in the classrooms as I travel across the district and share those among teach-ers,” Kelley says. “I want the work we have done in my schools to help others in the area so they do not have to make the same mistakes we have. I think when we all share our efforts, everyone gains.” Nokomis gains from Kelley’s “thinking outside the box.” Many eyes now turn to the State of Maine and the technology program because of Kern Kelley and his work and influence. “The four walls of the school don’t matter,” Kelley says. “If you want to learn something, you just have to go do it.”

Maya CrosbyTechnology Leader of the YearBy Sarah Harriman, English Teacher, Car-rabec High School

An hour from Portland in the small town of Newcastle sits Lincoln Academy. Founded in

1801, the storied brick buildings over-looking the water do not give any indica-tion of the technical revolution happen-ing inside. As a private school serving the pub-lic, 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 Educa-tor, 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 de-ploy 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 im-provement.

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{tech}Page Lennig Technology Leader of the Year FinalistBy Sarah Harriman, English Teacher, Car-rabec High School

In 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 conversa-tions. 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 us-ing 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 con-vinced the Board of Trustees and the administration to purchase laptop carts for the classrooms. She worked one-on-one with teachers who were interested in bringing more technology to the classroom. She offered after school work-shops and put out a paper newsletter

every week to highlight uses of technol-ogy. 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. Dur-ing the first few years, 12-18 teachers attended; now, close to 45 teachers at-tend, 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 pla-teauing, 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 curricu-lum in order to better understand peda-gogical 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 cen-tral 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 sat-isfying 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, plan-ning, and executing everything tech-nological 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, peda-gogical 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 FinalistBy Sarah Harriman, English Teacher, Carrabec High School

One 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.

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MAINEducation 2013


the fun conferencePHOTOS BY JOHN BRANDT


A second grade teacher at Nar-ragansett 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 class-room and her teaching. She first fell in love with her interac-tive whiteboard, teaching whole group math, writing, literacy, science and social studies hands on, allowing students to ac-cess their individual multiple intelligenc-es. 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 visu-ally 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. “Les-sons 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.

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-Har-thorne 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 Durant-Harthorne’s class do. She has used Key-note 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 ar-eas.” This school year, Durant-Harthorne plans to make the student digital portfo-lios web based by accessing Edublog. Most recently, Durant-Harthorne has adopted the Mimio software. Mimio is now integral to education in her class-room, 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, Durant-Harthorne 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 gram-mar, 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-

Crosby is self-taught in technology, starting her career as a science teacher. She trained online and took online courses. She now transfers her “can-do” 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 practi-cal 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 work-ing 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

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.

Maya Crosby (from page 4)

Durante Hawthorne (from page 4)


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 projec-tors, Mimio software or accessing any number of instructional websites.Dennis Crowe summed up Durant-Har-thorne’s approach best. Due to funding, all classrooms in Gorham do not yet have ceiling mounted projectors. Durant-Har-thorne 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 ITBy Sarah Glatz, Technology Integration Specialist, RSU57ACTEM President, Michael Richards, posed the following question on the listserv earlier this fall…Is it time to stop filtering the Internet at school?

It 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 re-sponsible 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, commu-nicate 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 unem-ployed. 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 impres-sion 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, respon-sible, 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 un-likely to report something hurtful, inap-propriate, 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 foot-print, 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 education-al 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 LeadersFriday May 2, 2014, Newton Marriott2345 Commonwealth Ave. Newton, MA

ACTEM has partnered with Tech Forum again this year to offer our members

a discounted registra-tion 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…

Brought to you by the team behind Tech & Learning magazine and the TechLearn-ing.com web site, Tech Forum represents “Tech & Learning in action.” Now in its twelfth season, this high-powered, one-day 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 commu-nities of practice. - See more at: http://www.techlearning.com/events/techfo-rum/boston14/overview:-tech-forum-boston-2014 Who Should Attend…Are you the “responsible party” every-body else turns to when the technology breaks down? A presenter and organizer at other conferences and professional de-velopment 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 technol-ogy 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 Adminis-trators; Technology Directors; Technol-

ogy Coordinators; IT Managers; Librarians and Media Special-ists; Board of Educa-tion Members; Other

education staff involved in technology planning.


Karen MacDonald 2014 Maine Teacher of the Year

James Rier, Jr., Acting Commissioner (left) present the 2014 Maine Teacher of the Year award to Karen MacDonald of King Middle School, Portland.

Each 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, PortlandState Finalists:Mary Graziano Glynn Hartland Consolidated School, HartlandSuzen Polk-Hoffses Milbridge Elementary School, MilbridgeRegional Finalist:Susan Carpenter O’Brien Weatherbee School, HampdenChristiane Cullens MDI High School, Mount DesertCynthia Raymond Hall Dale Middle School, Farmingdale

Google in Education Vermont Summit

The Google in Vermont Summit is a fantastic two day event tak-ing 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 ‘pri-mary/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 Teach-ers 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 ‘Chrome-books playground’; A dedicated class-room with experts on hand where you can drop in at any time during the con-ference to try out Google Chromebooks.

Hapara WebinarSave the DateJanuary 15th, 2014 – 4:00PM

ACTEM and RISTE (Rhode Island’s state association) will be hosting a joint webinar featur-

ing a product by Hapara called Teacher Dashboard that adds functionality to Google Apps for Education. ACTEM is currently exploring the possibility of of-fering 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 ap-plications with all activity organized by class and by student. Hapara Teacher Dashboard can provide educators with greater visibility, better insight into indi-vidual 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 al-lows teachers to monitoring of students with Google ChromeBooks. Options include observing what a student is do-ing 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.

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 di-rection and branding of ISTE.

https://sites.google.com/a/appsevents.com/vermont-summit

PHOTOS BY JEFF KESSLER


book that drew praise from Kevin Hon-eycutt and throughout New England when it was shown to our other New England affiliates, the conference com-mittee 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 profes-sional 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 seek-ing 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 South-ern 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 de-velopment 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 ([email protected]) 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.

President’s Message(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, re-gional, 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 “hear-ing” 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.

MAINEducation(Continued from Cover)

Save the date now for the

ACTEM 2014Conference October 9-10, 2014Don’t Miss it!

NON PROFITU.S. Postage

PAIDPERMIT NO. 305

Portland ME

P.O. Box 187Gorham, ME 04038

actemAssociation of ComputerTechnology Educators of Maine

ISTE 2014 Housing ACTEM Block

As an ISTE Affiliate, ACTEM has reserved a block of rooms in our conference hotel - the Mar-

riott 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 conferenc-es. 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 in-dividually. All online room

reserva-tions require a valid credit card with an expira-tion 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 ar-rival 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 Log-in” 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 cancel-lation 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 guaran-tee the reservation with a credit card.

NOTE: Your hotel reservation will not be confirmed without providing credit card information.

Documents

ACTEM News December 2013