Teachers and other K-12 school personnel looking to enhance their skills and knowledge around serving students and creating healthy schools and communities are invited to a pair of summer conferences hosted by the 91导航 College of Education and Human Development.
Registration is now open for the annual U91导航 Summer Educators Institute, which will be held June 24-26 at Shibles Hall and other locations around the U91导航 campus. 91导航 educators are also invited to the , which will be June 29-July 2 at various locations on campus.
The theme of this year鈥檚 U91导航 Summer Educators Institute is 鈥淭hriving Together,鈥 and one of the goals will be for school- or district-based teams to work collaboratively on projects to improve some aspect of their school community. During morning sessions, participants will be able to choose interactive workshops based on their interests 鈥 including middle-level, literacy, multilingual education and more 鈥 as well as their career level 鈥 early-career, mid-career and school/district leadership. In the afternoons, facilitators will be available to assist teams with process, resources and guidance on their projects.
The institute鈥檚 keynote will be delivered by Jayne Downey and Jennifer Luebeck from the (CRRE) at Montana State University. Downey, CRRE director and professor of educational psychology at Montana State, has been an active leader and researcher in rural education for over 25 years. Her research and scholarship are focused on preparing teachers and counselors for rural schools and communities, and improving outcomes for rural students. Luebeck is a Montana State professor of mathematics education and CRRE faculty scholar. She leads the Advancing Support, Preparation and Innovation in Rural Education project and directs MentorMT, a statewide program matching novice rural teachers with experienced educators for individualized career support.
Registration for the institute is $600, but participants in U91导航鈥檚 Rural Thrive: The Rural Educator Resilience Project, a statewide professional development program for rural 91导航 teachers at different stages of their careers, will have the registration fee waived. In addition, lodging and travel reimbursement are available for teachers from rural schools or districts. The College of Education and Human Development has a limited number of sponsorships available to cover registration for educators from urban and suburban districts who want to attend the institute. For more information about the Summer Educators Institute, contact conference organizer and Rural Thrive mentor-teacher in residence Gert Nesin, gert.nesin@maine.edu.
The LfPL Symposium is a bi-annual convening of international stakeholders, including teachers, school leaders, policymakers and researchers focused on leadership and professional learning for K-12 education. The unique meeting design allows for deep and extended dialogue among participants who share common challenges, and helps to surface and advance ideas to improve education today and in the future. Faculty and students from the U91导航 College of Education and Human Development have attended previous LfPL conferences in Dublin (2022) and Santiago, Chile (2024), and several are planning to participate in this year鈥檚 symposium.
Rural Thrive is offering a limited number of sponsorships for rural educators to cover the cost of attending the LfPL Symposium, including the $400 registration fee, hotel and mileage reimbursement. For more information, contact LfPL conference organizer and U91导航 professor of education Janet Fairman, janet.fairman@maine.edu.
