WATERVILLE, March 2017 — Calling all Pre-K-12 Maine educators: registration is now open for Thomas College’s Center for Innovation in Education (CIE) Summer Institute: Weaving a Tapestry of Learning.
This three-day institute will take place at Thomas College in Waterville on June 27-29. Educators are encouraged to bring a team from their school. In addition to earning CEUs, participants will have the opportunity to earn graduate credit.
Participants of the institute will work with national and state experts Tim McNamara, Director of High Tech High in CA, and Brook Haycock, the Education Trust Docudrama expert, to develop a unit that engages students in important learning, emphasizing critical and creative thinking.
The Institute provides participants an opportunity to continue to build their understanding of proficiency-based learning as an effective means of helping students meet standards, while advancing their learning; develop a STEAM unit that fully integrates the principles of proficiency-based learning and implement it back at school; and, learn additional ways to integrate technology into their teaching that emphasizes critical thinking, 21st century literacy skills, and creative problem solving.
“This year’s theme, Weaving a Tapestry of Learning, identifies the growing need to make sense of all of the trends in current education and ultimately, to weave together a narrative and philosophical standpoint as educators as to what is truly necessary for our students to learn successfully,” says Thomas College assistant professor of education Dr. Katie Rybakova. “We need to go back to what we know best – teaching our students about how to navigate authentic, relevant issues based on our local, state, and global environment. At this Institute, we encourage participants to have conversations about what learning means to them and how we may begin incorporating these trends in a way that suits our students’ needs. Only through educational dialogue can we truly begin weaving a tapestry of learning.”
Registration is available online. Grants are also available to cover registration costs. Participation is limited to 120 people.
About the Center for Innovation in Education: Thomas College’s Center for Innovation in Education is re-envisioning teacher education that supports digital learning, STEAM, and Proficiency Based Learning in an adaptive environment that reflects a contemporary instructional approach.
In the fall of 2015, Thomas College finished construction of the Center for Innovation in Education, a state-of-the-art classroom and co-working space designed to give students the ideal environment to learn and practice the skills required of tomorrow’s educators.
Backed by an investment from The Lunder Foundation, the Center for Innovation in Education will add programs, technology, and training methods, with the specific goal of preparing teachers for technology-rich approaches.
For more information, please contact MacKenzie Riley at pr@thomas.edu or 207-859-1313.