UCCI Teacher Spotlights

UCCI recently held its inaugural Certified UCCI Facilitator Training, and we’re very happy to announce that we certified our first nine UCCI facilitators! We are featuring them and their areas of expertise in this spotlight, but first, a little background about the program.

What:

The Certified UCCI Facilitator Program is a network of qualified individuals certified by UCCI to provide trainings and lead facilitation in the area of integrated A-G and Career Technical Education (CTE) course development—meaning these Certified UCCI Facilitators do the important work of providing educators with the training they need to create UCCI and “UCCI-style” integrated courses for individual schools, districts or county offices of education that have a need for this kind of work. These individuals are qualified to:

• Provide training to educational institutions on how to write an integrated course for A-G approval

• Lead teams in the work of UCCI course development

• Lead teams in the work of creating “UCCI-style” integrated courses

Why:

We created this program because we are a very small staff with a very limited budget facing increasing demand from individuals throughout California who have requested trainings for their faculty and administrative staff in creating integrated courses for A-G approval. Because there are more requests than we can ever hope to fulfill, our Certified UCCI Facilitator program is how we are working to meet this demand. To get connected with a Certified UCCI Facilitator, please email your request to HSArticulation@ucop.edu.

How:

Certified UCCI Facilitators meet each of the following criteria:

• they have successfully facilitated at three separate UCCI Institutes;

• they have demonstrated understanding of integrated curriculum as it applies to UCCI courses; and

• they have successfully completed a Certified UCCI Facilitator Training.

Who: 

Dr. Oghwa Ladner, an Integrated Math/ICT Teacher at Hillcrest High School (far left, back row)

Dr. Ladner is a math teacher who has served as a Teacher on Special Assignment (TOSA) in Secondary Mathematics and Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) in the Alvord Unified School District for eight years. Her teaching experience spans more than 15 years and all levels of K-16 education, from elementary school to community college. She has served as a Staff Development Specialist, Teacher, TOSA, BTSA Support Provider, Lesson Study Facilitator, and UCCI Institute Facilitator. Dr. Ladner currently teaches Integrated Math and Information and Communication Technologies at Hillcrest High School. She is proficient with all CTE sectors and subjects, though Mathematics is her primary area of expertise.

Tomas Ribota, a District In School Suspension Teacher at Manteca Unified School District (second from left, back row)

Tomas has been teaching both Social Sciences and ROP courses in Public Safety for the past 6 1/2 years, in San Joaquin County schools (he is dual credentialed in Single-Subject Social Science and CTE). Prior to becoming a teacher, Tomas served for 22 years in law enforcement working initially in a local police department before moving to the San Joaquin County District Attorney as a Criminal Investigator. He has spent a majority of his career in Investigations, primarily involving Gang Investigation. In his current role as the District In School Suspension Teacher with the Manteca Unified School District, he works with students on redirection from issues with attendance, classroom behaviors, life skills, and in study skills for their course work. Tomas is well versed in both CTE Public Safety and Social Science Curriculum and is equally comfortable working with English Language Arts (ELA), Foreign Languages (LOTE), Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) and other CTE Pathways.

Darrell Wildt, a Mathematics and Social Sciences Teacher at one.Lodi in San Joaquin County Office of Education (middle, back row)

Darrell Wildt is a classroom teacher (Math, History, Economics, and Government), curriculum writer, tech mentor, UCCI course writing team member and facilitator, California Writing Project teacher consultant, and a musician/songwriter—a dad who plays Rock-n-Roll! Over the last eleven years he has continuously sought to advance his content knowledge and teaching methods in order to improve student learning. Under the various hats that he wears, he has helped model and facilitate tech integration including 21st century skills in multiple content areas and has been an advocate for both thematic curriculum and an integration of CTE and academic standards. Lastly, he is also an ongoing teacher researcher on pedagogy that both foster resiliency and academic achievements. Darrell is also a California Common Core State Standards consultant for the Great Valley Writing Project chapter of the California Writing Project. His specific areas of interest are Integrated Curriculum and Course Development of Math, Social Studies, Art, ELA, and various CTE Industry Sectors and Pathways.

John Pellman, a Digital Media Teacher and Digital Media Academy Coordinator at Pleasant Grove High School (second from right, back row)

John Pellman is a teacher of digital media—video and animation. He is also the Coordinator of the Digital Media Academy, where he maintains a TV Studio at the school producing the school’s TV show PGTV, and chairs the school’s CTE department. He has been teaching full-time for 10 years. Before becoming a teacher, John worked in the theater, running a small non-profit theater company in Sacramento. In that capacity he wrote, directed, acted and produced plays. He also ran a children’s theater camp, taught theater to groups from kindergarten up to college. His specific area of interest is education and how media is a tool for educating kids.

Sheryl Ryder, the Executive Director of Career Development at Placer County Office of Education (far right, back row)

Sheryl is an administrator for county-run CTE programs and has made it a priority to help her instructors integrate Common Core practices into their CTE courses. As a CTE Consortium Leader, she collaborates with school districts toward integrated instruction across all disciplines to support career and college readiness. Sheryl taught Economics, Government and English for many years, before working in industry and earning a Business credential. She has been integrating career readiness into academic courses for a long time, and has taught ELA skills, Economics and Government concepts as the foundation for Business and Marketing courses. She was also the state-wide coordinator for Business Education Leadership Project for CDE for four years. Though her background includes the Business and Finance and Marketing, Sales, and Services sectors, and the Social Science and ELA subjects, she is comfortable facilitating across all disciplines and sectors.

Pier Sun Ho, the Associate Director for Learning, Teaching, and Pathway Development at ConnectEd (far left, front row)

Pier is a former Secondary Science Teacher who has also taught math, health science and engineering. Prior to teaching, Pier worked as Research Assistant in the Department of Immunology at the University of Michigan. She joined ConnectEd in 2006 to help support the development of career pathways across the state, an effort now known as Linked Learning. Mulitdisciplinary integrated, project-based curriculum has been her main focus, both design of example materials and delivery of professional development for teacher teams designing their own integrated units. Pier has done extensive Project Lead The Way (PLTW) Engineering Training, and has developed a CCSS ELA training series around the Literacy Design Collaborative (LDC) tools. Her area of interest in the academic core is science, particularly biology, and ELA, and she is interested in helping schools create courses that integrate with the Engineering and Health Science CTE Industry Sectors.

Rebecca Guerrero, a U.S. History and Psychology teacher at Rancho Cucamonga High School (second from left, front row)

Rebecca has nearly 14 years of experience in education and has served as a WASC Coordinator, course design team lead, and an Assistant Coordinator for freshman transition programs. Since 2012, she has been working in a variety of capacities with the UCCI program to support the development of integrated curriculum. Government is her all-time favorite subject (especially in an election year!), but she has been fascinated by all the things she has learned in a variety of subjects from English to Cyber Security while working with UCCI teams at various UCCI Institutes. She is comfortable facilitating teams writing any course. She has worked with teams in English, Math, History/Social Sciences and Science developing courses integrated with Cyber Security as well as with the CTE Industry Sectors: Engineering and Architecture; Energy, Environment, and Utilities; and the Public and Community Health.

Sherry Suisman at Sherry Suisman Consulting (second from right, front row)

Sherry Suisman is an Educational Consultant with over 13 years of teaching experience, including 10 years teaching English Composition and Reading at San Francisco State University and three years teaching Business Communications at Year Up Bay Area, where she also served as Academic Director. She is well-versed in the principles and practice of Linked Learning, having served as Senior Program Associate at Career Ladders Project from 2012–2015, providing technical assistance community colleges and other educational and workforce partners, directing and managing curriculum design projects, leading professional development trainings, and supporting schools and teams in cross-regional partnerships. Sherry is mostly interested in the Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) CTE Industry Sector, though she has worked with teams in Health Science and Medical Technology (Biotechnology/Bioscience); Hospitality, Tourism, and Recreation; Public Services; and other CTE Industry Sectors, and is open to supporting collaborations and curriculum development in any sector.

Jennifer Currie, an ELA Coordinator and ERWC Regional Contact for Learning and Leadership Services at San Diego County Office of Education (far right, front row)

Prior to her current role at the San Diego County Office of Education, Jennifer worked as an ELA curriculum specialist who facilitated a variety of teacher teams around best practices for ELA instruction and in the development of curriculum and assessments for the Sweetwater Union High School District. Jennifer has also been a Literacy Coach, High School Assistant Principal, BTSA Support Provider, Department Chair, Professional Learning Community (PLC) Lead, and an English Teacher who has taught middle and high school students. In her current role as a lead coordinator for ELA, she works closely with others to improve student access to high quality literacy instruction across the county. She provides professional learning to coaches and teachers, convenes networks of district and site-level ELA leaders, collaborates with university and community college partners, and works closely with schools and districts to support excellence in teaching and learning. Her subject matter preference is English, which lends itself to the full complement of CTE Industry Sectors. Jennifer has experience facilitating the development of a range of UCCI courses that integrate English with the CTE Industry Sectors: Health Science and Medical Technology, Public Services, and Information and Communication Technologies.

UCCI's first cohort of Certified UCCI Facilitators—they're not only talented, but fun as well!