“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
This session shares a year-long, teacher-led anti-racist community of study where educators engaged in reflection, dialogue, and action to confront inequities in their practice. Participants will explore structures that support sustained learning and activism and leave with practical tools to build similar communities, fostering equitable classrooms where all students feel valued, supported, and meaningfully engaged in literacy learning.
Dr. Jiménez is faculty at Boston University Wheelock College of Education & Human Development and the director of Educating Critically. Her work focuses on the representations of marginalized communities in children and YA literature. In addition she supports teachers in bringing... Read More →
Melissa Guerrette, NBCT, is a 5th grade teacher at Oxford Elementary School in Oxford, Maine and a member of the Teach Maine Center Executive Team. She is the 2021 Oxford County Teacher of the Year, and in 2025 received the Claudette and John Brassil Distinguished Educator Award from... Read More →
Friday July 31, 2026 9:00am - 10:15am EDT Ayotte 104
How might we apply principles of human-centered, empathy-fueled design thinking to develop a more symbiotic relationship between outdoor education and educational technology? During this interactive sprint, participants will use a 5-phase design process to transform the indoor/outdoor dynamic of learning spaces by engaging the Compass Mindset (mentorship and self regulation) and the Canvas Mindset (creativity and multi-modal expression).
Outdoor Learning Facilitator & School Garden Coordinator, Community Regional Charter School
Selina Greene Warren is a dedicated Outdoor Learning Facilitator and School Garden Coordinator at Community Regional Charter School. She was named the 2023 Maine Agriculture in the Classroom Teacher of the Year and received the 2024 National Excellence in Teaching Agriculture Award... Read More →
Director of Design & Innovation, Community Regional Charter School
Dan Ryder is a veteran classroom educator and Director of Design & Innovation at Community Regional Charter School. He formerly served as Co-Founder and Education Director of the SUCCESS & INNOVATION CENTER at MT BLUE CAMPUS ), an empathy-fueled makerspace + mentoring space for... Read More →
Friday July 31, 2026 10:30am - 11:45am EDT Ayotte 104
