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SEED's bountiful garden, the result of a $7 million federal Technology Innovation Challenge Grant, will lay fallow as of May 31, 2005. The past six years of SEED has taught us a great deal about building statewide and regional learning communities. In general, we found that a common statewide focus supported by different regional entities created an unusually strong infrastructure, which in turn produced powerful results for Maine teachers and students. Specifically, SEED:
• Increased the capacity of teachers to effectively use the Maine Learning Results in their design of classroom instruction and assessment;
• Increased teachers’ capacity as teacher leaders and opened up new opportunities for career advancement; and
• Measurably increased student achievement of targeted Learning Results among teachers who worked closely together while teaching the same unit of study.
These results were cultivated by a number of dedicated people committed to SEED's mission of teachers teaching teachers and High-Quality Teaching and Learning with Technology. Each of the six SEED regions had a coordinator responsible for raising project visibility and awareness, and for planning and implementing regional activities. SEED is especially thankful to the Regional Coordinators who worked incredibly hard to make SEED flourish: Deborah Barrows of the Mid-Coast, Gwen Christman of the University of New England, Rod Doody of the Central Aroostook Council on Education, Betty Jordan from the Washington County Consortium, Sheila Lovett of the Rural Schools Partnership and Ann Pike form the Western Maine Partnership. SEED also owes a special debt to its Technology Facilitator, the now-infamous Mike Nolette!, to its evaluators, Doris
Ray and Ron Senne, to its administrative assistant Nancy Whitaker, and to the Center for Educational Services Executive Director, Bob Shafto, without whom none of this would have been possible.
The amazing Technology Learning Leaders served a variety of roles, and benefited the project greatly while also benefiting greatly from their work. TLLs received a great deal of professional development to prepare them for their role and provided extensive professional development to their colleagues (including leading the MLTI teacher training sessions). Our evaluation indicated that these leaders developed the most skills and capabilities as a result of their participation. Many of them reported their SEED/TLL experience transformed their lives. And SEED is deeply grateful to these people for the time, energy, expertise and enthusiasm they gave, which made the garden what it was.
This statewide/regional infrastructure provided teachers a wealth of opportunities and variety of means to participate in professional development activities, and to hear the same message in many ways and at increasingly deeper levels of meaning. At both levels, teachers found validation, connection, release from isolation, skill/ knowledge development, recognition and celebration. From the bottom of its roots, SEED thanks the Developers, Adaptors and Adoptors who contributed their ideas and skills to its harvest, and to all of the educators in Maine who have supported SEED.
YOU ALL ROCK! See you when the garden blooms again.
SEED Evaluation |
Curriculum Materials |
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