Director's Corner

The Regional Teacher Development Center is a very exciting place to be right now. We welcome you aboard!

Participating in shaping a new service organization such as this one from the ground up is really quite a profound experience. What makes it so exceptional is the fact that we, along with your help, have the opportunity to make the RTDC a major resource for teachers and other educators in western and central Maine.

Current Programs and Services

We already have two quality programs underway. You can read about them under Mentoring and Induction and Alternative Certification on this website.

And we are also working with the UMF Office of Educational Outreach to address some other needs we have heard voiced by many of you:

They are now offering on the UMF campus several courses that are part of USM’s Master’s in Special Education degree. You can now complete at least 18 credits of that program at UMF.
UMF will begin conversations with USM in March to bring part of their Master’s in Education Leadership (Teaching in a Global Society) program to the UMF campus. We will keep you posted on their progress.
UMF now offers 500-level graduate credit for many courses that are available only to teachers in central and western Maine classrooms.

Survey

All of these new developments were supported by your RTDC; the data used to move these initiatives forward came directly from a survey many of you completed for the RTDC in its early weeks of operation. If you have not already done so and are willing to complete one of the surveys to help us design programs that specifically meet your needs, contact valerie.soucie@maine.edu, and she will send you a copy of the survey. (Put “Survey” in the subject line.)

Talk to Us

Another way to get involved is to contact me, or one of the other RTDC staff members, and let us know what you would really like to see available in this region. Is it more courses or seminars on specific topics? Is it consultation at your school site on a specific topic? Interesting guest speakers? Information on current research that can augment your knowledge and skills? Whatever it is, let us know. We want to focus on issues, topics, and ideas that will be most useful to you.

Join the Hot Topics Conversations

In addition, check out the Hot Topics section on this website. One of the most productive uses of all of our time can be to share ideas with our peers. Help us get those kinds of discussions going by participating in our Hot Topics conversations on-line.

What else? Let us know, and we’ll see if we can support you. Help us grow and become the service you most want to see in this region.

Thanks for your thoughts.
Pam Wilson
RTDC Director 778-7186 pwilson@maine.edu