“Nourish to Flourish” is designed to give educators a rejuvenating break from their day-to-day demands. Through active, fun, and reflective activities, participants will reconnect with themselves and with their peers — building a toolkit for self-care, stress reduction, and sustained well-being. By the end of the workshop, educators will leave feeling energized, supported, and equipped with practical strategies they can bring into their classrooms and personal lives.
Readers of all ages use what they have learned about the world to make sense of new information. So, how do we build background knowledge from our classrooms? How do we build excitement about an upcoming topic? This session will explore different strategies educators can use in their own classrooms starting in the fall. Teachers will experience 4 or 5 strategies that can be adapted at any grade level and any subject. They will experience these strategies first hand, and then analyze the experience through a teacher lens. All of these activities will be active and engaging to build excitement about a topic. Finally, the educators will work together to develop a comprehensive list of ideas from their own experiences that will be recorded and shared with participants.
Jessica Harvey (she/her) is a 2nd grade classroom teacher at Elm Street School (RSU 16) in Mechanic Falls, ME and is the 2021 Androscoggin County Teacher of the Year. With a passion for outdoor learning, she co-founded her district's Get Everyone Outside Initiative (The G.E.O. Initiative... Read More →
Karen MacDonald (she/her) is a retired educator who spent 37 years in the Portland Public Schools teaching English Language Arts. In 2014 she was named Maine’s Teacher of the Year. Throughout her career, she worked to build an interdisciplinary model at King Middle School and... Read More →
Thursday July 30, 2026 11:00am - 12:15pm EDT Ayotte 104
If you are excited about nature based learning and are looking for ways to integrate it into your teaching practice, come to this session and gather inspiration from Becky Hallowell. This session will offer suggestions for using nature for teaching everything from grammar to renewable energy.
Becky Hallowell teaches fourth-grade students at Wiscasset Elementary School. She is the 2024 Lincoln County Teacher of the Year and the 2025 Maine Teacher of the Year. Hallowell embraces a pedagogy that honors nature and place-based learning, establishing connections between students... Read More →
Thursday July 30, 2026 1:30pm - 2:45pm EDT Ayotte 104
