JCISD LEARNING SERVICES UPDATE
Welcome Back to School
MEET THE NEW ASSISTANT DIRECTOR OF LEARNING SERVICES AND INSTRUCTION
POP-UP FOR READING
The Jackson County Intermediate School District along with the Great Start Collaborative of Jackson County, and in partnership with Consumers Energy, hosted five POP-UP for Reading events for families to participate in together throughout the summer. Focused on literacy, these free events offered families fun and engaging learning opportunities that were then to be taken home and practiced in an effort to reduce summer slide.
The POP-UP for Reading events took place on Tuesday mornings at various schools throughout the county. At each POP-UP, approximately fifteen to twenty children, of ages birth to twelve years, participated alongside their caregivers. Each event was centered around a theme, such as Sticky Situations, Fun with Fairy Tales, and Bubbly Books. The POP-UP began with a book that was read aloud to the children and then was followed up by STEM activities, arts, and crafts, make your own books, and at a few locations, a snack was provided. All the families went home with a copy of the read-aloud book as well as a free book for every child. Parents left with many ideas and resources, such as a guide on reading aloud to children, lists of suggested book titles to read aloud, and other suggestions for literacy activities, in order to support a strong home literacy environment.
The feedback from the adults who attended the events with their children were overwhelmingly positive. A couple of the responses were, “Thank you for such a fun event. I love when the activities relate to the book,” and “Love this idea, my girls had fun!” The goal of Jackson County Intermediate School District and the Great Start Collaborative is that these events can be offered again next summer, with the possibility of holding additional POP-UPs and reaching more children and their families.
"Collaboration" was the word of the summer! We had great days of learning in our JC4 Math and ELA sessions. The participants spent their time creating and refining resources to take back to the classroom in the fall. We are excited to hear about the success of their efforts as they pilot their new learning in their classrooms this fall. Our teams will be back in November and January to share their efforts in the classroom and refine their instruction. We are excited to see the impact their efforts have on the students across Jackson County!
LEARNING SERVICES TEAM RETREAT
County Wide Directory
FYI: SCECH Overview Information
As the new year starts, it's always good to be aware of all of the opportunities educators have to earn SCECHs (Continuing Education Hours) towards their license renewal along with the necessary documentation and clarification of the types of SCECHs that can be earned and how they can apply to them.
The Jackson County SCECH Coordinator is Ronda VanStempvoort and she is responsible for processing two types of SCECHs earned by educators:
1. Professional Development SCECHSs - Educator attends PD at JCISD or sponsored by JCISD where SCECHs can be earned. SCECH forms will be made available on the day of each applicable Professional Development Course.
2. Non-Traditional SCECHs - School Committees, School Improvement Committees, Teacher Mentorships, etc. (All state rules and guidelines need to be followed.) Teachers are allowed to earn 75 of their 150 required SCECHs for renewal with "Non-Traditional" SCECHs. Below are links to current forms and documentation for "Non-Traditional " SCECHs. Districts and/or committee chairs need to send this information to Ronda 30 days after the end of the last session/meeting.
Districts can give the opportunity to their staff to earn SCECHs through "District Provided Professional Development". District Provided Professional Development is handled exclusively by district personnel. Below are the current links to the state site regarding DPPD.
In addition, below is the state MOECS contact information and links containing miscellaneous SCECH information:
Support desk for the Michigan Online Educator Certification System (MOECS):
E-mail: MOECSSupport@Michigan.gov
Telephone: 517-373-3310
Phone support is available Monday through Thursday from 8:05 am to noon and 1:05 pm to 4:55 pm.
- MOECS Login
- SCECH Overview
- MOECS - Finding your PIC
- District Provided Professional Development
- Educator Certificate Types
- Standard Certificate Renewal
- Professional Certificate Renewal
- Advanced Professional Education Certificate
- Out of State Applicants
- State-Wide Catalog of Professional Learning Programs
If you have any other questions you can contact Ronda VanStempvoort at ronda.vanstempvoort@jcisd.org.
ADDITIONAL LINKS
LEARNING SERVICES TEAM CONTACT INFORMATION
Director of Instruction and Learning Services
- Tovah Sheldon, tovah.sheldon@jcisd.org, (517) 990-3612
- Dan Luciani, dan.luciani@jcisd.org, (517) 768-5238
Data and Assessment
- Jennifer Fox, Jennifer.fox@jcisd.org, (517) 768-5212
- Deb Spencer (Support), deb.spencer@jcisd.org, (517) 768-5175
Early Childhood (Birth to Grade 3) / Great Start Collaborative / GSRP Preschool
- Jean Allison, jean.allison@jcisd.org, (517) 990-6710
- Wendy Bell, wendy.bell@jcisd.org, (517) 990-8046
- Christina Blackwell, christina.blackwell@jcisd.org, (517) 990-8015
- Catherine Brubaker, catherine.brubaker@jcisd.org
- Kelly Friedland, kelly.friedland@jcisd.org, (517) 990-3625
- Kelly Sheppard, kelly.sheppard@jcisd.org (517) 768-5281
- Deb Spencer (Support), deb.spencer@jcisd.org, (517) 768-5175
Literacy
- Melissa Bulgrien, melissa.bulgrien@jcisd.org, (517) 990-8077
- Maeghan McCormick, maeghan.mccormick@jcisd.org, (517) 768-5191
- Sandy White, sandra.white@jcisd.org, (517) 990-6718
- Tammy Minder (Support), tammy.minder@jcisd.org, (517) 768-5158
Mathematics / Science
- Heather Holshoe, heather.holshoe@jcisd.org, (517) 768-5151
- William Montgomery, william.montgomery@jcisd.org, (517) 990-6717
- Ronda VanStempvoort (Support, SCECHs), ronda.vanstempvoort@jcisd.org, (517) 768-5251
School Improvement
- Jessica Bucklin, jessica.bucklin@jcisd.org, (517) 768-5759
- Jennifer Fox, jennifer.fox@jcisd.org, (517) 768-5212
- Dan Luciani, dan.luciani@jcisd.org, (517) 768-5238
- Deb Spencer (Support), deb.spencer@jcisd.org, (517) 768-5175
Whole Child / School Health / Project AWARE / Attendance and Homeless Programs
- Janelle Buchler, janelle.buchler@jcisd.org, (517) 787-5903
- Kara Klotz, kara.klotz@jcisd.org, (517) 990-3623
- Ravenn Moore, ravenn.moore@jcisd.org, (517) 936-2836
- Caitlin Williams, caitlin.williams@jcisd.org, (517) 768-5264
- Tammy Minder (Support), tammy.minder@jcisd.org, (517) 768-5158