Dunton selected as Maine Technology Educator of the Year

By Stuart Hedstrom 
Staff Writer
    CHARLESTON — In recognition of the numerous ways she incorporates technology into her third-grade classroom at SeDoMoCha Elementary in Dover-Foxcroft, teacher Jessica Dunton has been selected as the Maine Technology Educator of the Year by the Association of Computer Technology Educators of Maine (ACTEM). Dunton was recognized for this accomplishment during an Oct. 7 school board meeting at the Charleston Community Center, several days prior to being formally presented with the honor during the ACTEM annual conference in Augusta.
    “This award really is designed to seek educators who use technology for student learning,” Superintendent Robert Lucy said, saying Dunton has “really developed some meaningful learning opportunities” for students as well as faculty members.

    “As part of this recognition, SeDoMoCha gets a $1,000 technology award and Jessica gets some reward money as well,” Lucy said.
    “This is an award both for the school and for her, so we are excited as well,” Technology Director David Bridges said. He said Dunton uses digital learning tools, such as through the Khan Academy and SpellingCity programs, in her classroom and beyond the classroom by involving “her colleagues and parents.”
    Bridges said Dunton hosted an evening sessions for grade 3-6 parents to come to the school with their students and see the technology the pupils are using. “She just set them loose, that was the best part of the this,” he said. “The kids were engaged and showed their parents how to get on and use SpellingCity.”
    “That is just one example of the things Jess is responsible for, not only for her own students but that was for up to grade 6,” Bridges said. “Some of the resources she makes available to the public at large,” he said, saying Dunton has her own YouTube channel featuring some of her classroom lessons.
    “When I first came to this district five years ago I had no idea the path I would take,” Dunton said, saying she had a grade 6 social studies position at the middle school for a year after having taught in Japan before moving across the SeDoMoCha complex to the third grade. “I knew it was my dream job my first year teaching,” she said about having her own classroom.
    Dunton said early in her tenure she wanted to conduct some videoconferencing and this introduced her to a Tandberg system. “Then I started to see all the other possibilities I could do with it,” she said. The technology enabled Dunton’s students to go on “field trips” without leaving the classroom and they learned how to be good digital citizens, all of which have helped to “really empower the students.”
    “The tools change but the goal of reaching kids and doing good things for kids hasn’t changed,” Dunton said, saying she believes the technology resources in RSU 68 are unparalleled by other districts. She also thanked the school board and administrators for their support, saying, “It’s rare, it’s not something that every district has.”
    Showing her fellow teachers how to use new technology has also been rewarding for Dunton as she has seen her them learn new methods of instruction and then be able to incorporate these programs into their own classrooms.
    “I don’t see this award as an end goal, I see it as a step along the way,” Dunton said.
    During her report, SeDoMoCha Principal Julie Kimball congratulated Dunton on the educator of the year honor. “I have been fortunate to have worked with her for a number of years,” Kimball said. “It makes my job so much easier to know they are in with our kids every day,” she added about Dunton and the school’s other teachers.
    “She just has a tremendous way of connecting with so many of our kids,” Kimball said. “We just want someone to care for our kids so much and she is that type of educator.” The principal said about 80 attendees took part in Dunton’s evening session for Khan Academy and SpellingCity.
    Kimball also said that new middle school art teacher Bobbi Tardiff is another “one of our tremendous staff members” and she has created “a love of art that has really trickled to the middle school.” Kimball said Tardiff applied for and was awarded a $500 grant from Walmart to help fund additional art supplies.
    School Board Chair Rick Johnston asked Kimball about the switch from trimester to quarter grading periods at the middle school. “It seems to be OK at the moment,” Kimball said. She said the first quarter will close on Oct. 30 and she plans to have a report on the switch at the November board meeting.
    Special Services Director Sue Watson said she has had meetings with parents of students moving into RSU 68 and these conversations have indicated many are “really feeling right at home, and they have found a place that really accepts their kids.” Watson said these sentiments apply not only to students in special education programs but for all the pupils.
    She said currently there are 130 students district-wide taking part in special education, close to evenly divided with 42 at the elementary level, 41 in middle school and 47 attending Foxcroft Academy. Watson said with Foxcroft Academy “the flexibility to create individual plans is there” and this has helped a greater number of students be able to succeed.
    Assistant Principal Matthew Lokken presented the board with a report on behavioral data, which indicated trends such as reductions in office referrals and detentions over the last several years.
    Johnston said administrators and staff have “really made a vast improvement in the environment at our school.” He added, “Here’s our data to really support what we see happening at our school.”
    Lucy said just as important as discipline is reinforcing positive behavior, such as through student and staff role models. He mentioned staff have given out SOAR (safe, organized, accountable and respectful) tickets to students exhibiting these positive behaviors.
    The superintendent said Oct. 1 “is one of those benchmark days for schools” to look at enrollment statistics. He said the figure, for pre-kindergarten through grade 8, on Oct. 1 was 675, 21 more than a year prior and 48 more than in 2011 for an approximate 7 percent increase from three years ago.
    “I’m very pleased to see that,” he said. “As you know many districts are seeing a decline in enrollment, and we are going to keep a close eye on that.”