In Maine, how schools design and deliver curriculum is entirely a local decision. Maine DOE specialists provide professional learning support to implement standards, understand assessment, and use high-quality, effective practices.
The following resources may be helpful as a part of our commitment to supporting Maine's learning community.
Maine Literacy Listserv
Be certain to receive the latest updates and communications specific to Literacy in General and Special Education and the Maine Association for Improving Literacy (MAIL). Register for the Maine Literacy Listserv here.
Continuity of Learning for ELA
This page contains several links to digital resources and tools for supporting learning in a blended or virtual environment. https://www.maine.gov/doe/continuityoflearning/ela
To provide anytime, anywhere learning options and resources for educators, students, and their families, the Maine Department of Education, in collaboration with curriculum coordinators, Maine educational community organizations, museums, learning centers, and Maine educators, is creating a library of asynchronous learning modules that are aligned to Maine’s Learning Results. MOOSE is an acronym that stands for Maine Online Opportunities for Sustained Education. This website contains a learning library of assorted project-based learning experiences. Modules are self-paced and offer variety and choice in activities and topics.
Using MOOSE Modules
Click here to see how one school is using MOOSE modules to develop student advocacy projects aligned to the Common Core State Standards for English Language Arts.
Click here to access another version of the advocacy project aligned to Maine Learning Results for English Language Arts.
Instructional Resources
- 30 Conversations on Teaching & Learning with Kelly Gallagher & Penny Kittle 2020. In the spring of 2020, Gallagher and Kittle provided support for 30 days to explore the transition to virtual learning. This padlet contains all 30 recorded conversations.
- Achieve the Core. The authors of the Common Core State Standards (CCSS) for both English language arts (ELA) and math provide free resources for implementation.
- Engage New York. EngageNY.org is developed and maintained by the New York State Education Department (NYSED) to support the implementation of key aspects of the New York State Board of Regents Reform Agenda. This website supports Common Core and provides a full section on choosing texts, suggestions, and links for finding rich complex texts.
- Louisiana Believes. Louisiana Believes is built on the premise that all children can achieve high expectations for learning and that those closest to children – parents and teachers – know better than the government how to help students achieve those expectations.
- Literacy Design Collaborative. LDC is a national community of educators providing a teacher-designed and research-proven framework, online tools, and resources for creating literacy-rich assignments and courses across content areas.
- Read Aloud Project. Achieve the Core worked with educators across the United States to develop a bank of appropriately complex texts for reading aloud at the K-2 level that includes lessons.
- Basal Alignment Project. Achieve the Core worked with educators across the United States to develop a bank of text-dependent questions that accompany Common Core reading program text selections.
- Bridges Units. The International Literacy Association has developed units of study that include text sets to build student knowledge and vocabulary. These can be accessed by ILA members.
- Writing for Understanding Sequences. The Vermont Writing Collaborative has vetted a collection of content-based reading and writing tasks aligned to the Common Core State Standards. The lesson sequences were created by educators, are available in grades K-12 and integrate with a variety of subject areas including science, social studies, and math.
- Student Writing Samples. Annotated samples of student work present a range of examples of Common Core-aligned student work, drawn directly from K-12 classrooms across the country.
- Partnership for 21st Century Skills. This national organization advocates for 21st-century readiness for every student by supporting local, state and federal policies that support this approach for every school.
- Putting Reading First in Maine Video Series. The Department's Putting Reading First in Maine initiative offers a series of 17 video segments for professional development.
- ReadWriteThink. National Council of Teachers of English (NCTE) and the International Reading Association host a website with a plethora of resources for the English classroom. Find lesson plans, professional learning opportunities, and more.
- TextProject. This teacher development series aims to bring beginning and struggling readers to high levels of literacy through a variety of strategies and tools, particularly the texts used for reading instruction. Text Complexity and CCSS is a digital learning series from TextProject.
Research & Policy
- Writing Next: Effective Strategies to Improve Writing of Adolescents in Middle and High School (PDF). What comes after Reading First? Writing Next. This report includes 11 Key Elements of Writing Instruction.
- Writing: Ticket to Work…or a Ticket Out (PDF). Find useful information about workplace literacy in this report from the National Commission on Writing.
- Writing to Read: Evidence for How Writing Can Improve Reading (PDF). While reading and writing are closely connected, writing is an often-overlooked tool for improving reading skills and content learning. This study identifies three core instructional practices that have been shown to be effective in improving student reading.
Professional Organizations
- International Literacy Association. Supports literacy professionals through a wide range of resources, advocacy efforts, volunteerism, and professional development activities.
- National Council of Teachers of English (NCTE). Grades K-12 and college-level educators may join this professional organization serving teachers of English language arts and literacy.
- Maine Council for English Language Arts (MCELA). As the Maine affiliate of the NCTE, MCELA provides teachers of ELA with opportunities to reflect upon and improve their teaching practices.
Other Resources
- Literacy Links Newsletters. Literacy Links is the Maine DOE's bi-monthly electronic publication for educators that provides research-based information related to a number of aspects of literacy education.
- Model Course in Expository Reading & Writing. Wondering what to do in a senior English class? California State University has developed a high school senior year English course based on expository reading and writing. It is organized into modules, which can be downloaded online. Most of the assignments do not require the purchase of textbooks.
- Professional Development. The Maine DOE has developed three professional development modules to help educators understand and implement the CCSS for ELA/Literacy.