Each July, hundreds of MEA members descend on the University of Southern Maine for our annual summer conference—MEA Summer Camp. This FREE event offers members the chance to connect with union colleagues from across the state while enhancing their skills as educators, leaders, and change-makers. At MEA Summer Camp, you can expect training sessions led by MEA members and experts that address the real challenges you face in your schools and classrooms, along with opportunities to engage more deeply in your union.
Featured Presenters:
→Mallory Cook, MEA Director of Training and Early Educator Engagement
Session: Understanding Challenging Behavior Through Root Cause Analysis
In this training, participants will identify a challenging behavior they are facing, determine what is within their control, and use a fishbone protocol to pinpoint the root cause. This process helps in identifying ethical interventions to achieve behavioral goals.
→Jessica Anderson, Executive Director of Count ME In
Session: Attendance IS Behavior
Participants will explore tools and resources to make attendance improvement efforts more effective through tiered strategies for supporting student attendance that fit into an MTSS framework.
→Mallory Murphy, Tritown EA
Session: Positive Behavioral Interventions and Supports (PBIS) Classroom Practices 101
Participants will identify classroom practices that are research-based and will give educators ways to proactively strengthen their Tier 1 PBIS instruction.
→Kate Fields, Connecticut Education Association
Session: Developing Executive Functions in Students of All Ages
Executive functions help us plan, organize, strategize, focus, remember, manage time and space, and regulate emotions and impulses. Students with strong executive functioning perform better in school, have better attendance and behavior, and are more likely to achieve long-term goals they set for themselves. During this workshop, participants will receive tools and strategies to help educators systematically improve students’ executive functioning skills at all grade levels.
→Jim Clifford, Clifford and Clifford LLC
Session: Special Education Law 101: Understanding the Legal Foundations for Supporting Your Students
This will provide a foundational understanding of key special education laws—such as the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) and Section 504—and show how educators and school staff can advocate for students while staying aligned with federal and state mandates.
KEYNOTE:
Our Journey Through the Developing Nervous System as We Rewire Our Perceptions of Discipline
Dr. Lori Desautels, PhD
Explore how our nervous systems are impacted by adversity, trauma, and experiences of resiliency through deepened connections and sensory regulation. Behaviors are only signals or indicators that the brain and body are struggling in survival states of functioning. In our time together, we will explore how we get out in front of challenging behaviors through our procedures, routines, and transitions. We will also explore the differences between co-regulation and coercive regulation which is the foundation of discipline practices that move us through conflicts and power struggles while attending to our emotional, social, and physiological health.
Sessions for Everyone!
MEA Summer Camp offers something for every educator and school staff member. No matter your role, this conference is built to address the real challenges you face in schools, colleges, and universities. Below is a sample of this year’s offerings. REGISTER HERE: maineea.org/summerconference
→Supporting Desired Behaviors:
- Positive Behavioral Interventions and Supports (PBIS) Classroom Practices 101
- Understanding Challenging Behaviors Through Root Cause Analysis
- Attendance IS Behavior
- Developing Executive Functions in Students of All Ages
- Supporting Students and Staff Through Implementation of the Dangerous Behavior Prevention and Intervention Law
→Supporting Multilingual Learners and Newcomers:
- Supporting Multilingual Learners and Newcomers
- Fostering Connection and Social-Emotional Learning Through Storytelling: Maine DOE’s Mission to Support Our Newest Neighbors
- Accessing and Implementing Supports for Multilingual Learner
→Creating Inclusive Classrooms:
- Creating Inclusive and Affirming Environments
- Special Education Law 101: Understanding the Legal Foundations for Supporting Your Students
- Beyond Buzzwords: Real Strategies for Equity, Inclusion, and Cultural Responsiveness
- Building Welcoming and Affirming School Environments for LGBTQ+ Youth
What are members saying about summer camp?
“AMAZING information and I felt challenged to actually create lessons to engage students in learning about their own history as well as rethink their interactions with their marginalized peers.”
“Going to the MEA conference will build your teaching confidence by reassuring you that you are on the right path of committing to change. Not only is it powerful but shows you opportunities that will help with your everyday challenges and long-term goals for change.”
“It turns out that spending two days in the middle of the summer reconnecting with my fellow teachers and Ed techs was JUST what I needed! The speakers were inspiring, and the sessions were interesting! I plan on being there every summer moving forward.”
REGISTER HERE: Summer Conference
