Amazing Members!
Living Historian Paul Dudley spent a day educating and entertaining the students at Aroostook County's New Sweden and Woodland Schools. Ernie Easter's Grades 7 & 8 students are studying the Civil War, and Dudley's presentation expanded their knowledge of this critical era in United States history. |  |
Congratulations to Shalimar Poulin, the Maine Art Education Association's Maine Art Educator of the Year 2009-2010. Shalimar has been teaching art at Gardiner Area High School since 2003. She went to school in Connecticut, graduated summa cum laude with a major in painting and a minor in graphic design, and did graduate studies at the Tyler School of Art. She is an active MAEA board member dedicating many hours to the organization.
The Presidential Award for Excellence in Mathematics and Science Teaching is awarded annually to the best pre-college-level science and mathematics teachers from across the country. This year Shawn Towle of Falmouth was a recipient in Math and Maria Palopoli of Brunswick was honored in Science.
Winners of this Presidential honor receive a $10,000 award from the National Science Foundation to be used at their discretion. They also receive an expenses-paid trip to Washington, D.C. for an awards ceremony and celebratory events, including visits with members of Congress and science agency leaders.
The winners are selected by a panel of distinguished scientists, mathematicians, and educators following an initial selection process done at the state level. Each year the award alternates between mathematics and science teachers teaching Kindergarten through 6th grade, and those teaching 7th through 12th grades.
The Association of Computer Technology of Maine (ACTEM) handed out its 2010 awards in October. Bob Asselin of RSU 14 Windham was honored as the Technology Leader of the Year for implementing and managing the district's Moodle system; helping Windham High to deploy its 1-1 Netbook operation; and, for his passion and leadership in technology.
Karen Abbott, a first-grade teacher in Cape Elizabeth, was recognized as the Technology Educator of the Year for organizing, planning and implementing two large technology grants in her school. Once the Smartboard Technology was in place she offered demonstrations and tutorials to help her peers make use of their new instructional opportunities. FMI on ACTEM go to http://www.actem.org/Pages/index.
Steven Selva of the University of Maine at Fort Kent in Fort Kent, Maine received a $2,000 Learning & Leadership Grant from the NEA Foundation to travel to Great Smoky Mountains National Park to study the declining population of calicioid lichens and fungi.
The data gathered will be incorporated into a manuscript that he will submit to the journal of the American Bryological and Lichenological Society. Findings will also be shared with Dr. Selva's immediate colleagues and students.
