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DKG Practice/Program

disciplines, and social and emotional
well-being. Professional sessions
have included topics related to
autism, math and science, digital
literacy, literacy, and experiential
learning. Personal sessions in
the past have included stress
management, women and investing,
self-care, and massage.

Challenges and Advice
One of the biggest challenges
is informing active educators about
the professional development Maine
SO provides. Each of our chapters
in the state organization is asked to
distribute information in its local
areas to schools, via newspapers, and
on their Facebook pages. However, Workshop attendees participate in a hands-on math activity.
a number of areas in the state do
not have DKG chapters. This is an
opportunity that needs to be targeted. In the fall of 2022, Maine SO started working with a marketing
person who will hopefully help promote the organization and the S-T-R-E-T-C-H workshop.
Another challenge is to have the right number and mix of breakout sessions for the number of
attendees. Choosing a keynote and deciding on the breakout sessions ultimately have an impact on the
number of registrations. Exit tickets have indicated that educators like “strong, practical take-aways.”
Active educators want to have resources they can take back and use immediately. Information about
the keynote and session offerings is included in the registration materials. For each breakout session,
participants make a first and second choice. Sometimes a breakout session is canceled because of low
registration for that session. It is difficult to project the number of people who will register and their
areas of interest when planning the event. Fortunately, the event has never been canceled due to a lack of
registrations.
Other state organizations interested in starting a similar professional development opportunity need
first to decide whether the focus of the workshop will be theme-based or broad-based. Maine SO decided
to go with broad-based offerings because this type of professional development should have a larger
draw of participants and because other organizations in the state offer more topic-based professional
development.
When choosing a date for a professional development opportunity, it is important to research the
professional development offerings of other organizations in the state to avoid conflicts with other
opportunities for educators whenever possible. Conflicts with other offerings can limit the number of
people who might attend.
Finding new DKG members can be challenging, especially when retired members feel they have lost
touch with those still actively working in education. One answer to the membership problem may be a
professional development opportunity such as the kind hosted by Maine SO. To see if new members are
being attracted by this initiative, it will be important to track new members and their reasons for joining
this professional organization.

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