Hello, I’m Janiece Spitzmueller.
I am an attorney, public speaker, and educator who has taught all levels of education from pre-school through college. I have developed education materials for children, training procedures for employees, continuing legal education programs for an international roster of attorneys, and have published several law-related and education articles and materials. I began my teaching after studying child development in college with concentrations in psychology and sociology. My summer jobs as a teenager had influenced my choice of college major. As a young teacher, I was thrilled to return to the school where I had my first summer job! The powers that be, however, discouraged me from challenging children based on their readiness (in keeping with my training) because to do so would threaten the school's federal funding.
Moderating a New York State Bar Association human rights continuing legal education program in Tokyo, Japan.
Law School and Legal Career
Eventually, I became a government lawyer and civic leader. I worked for family court judges, presided over hearings of suspended special education students, and served on the Youth and Education committee of my local community board. Each of those experiences gave me unique insights into time constraints, stresses and preoccupations of parents trying to keep their children safe and educated while preparing them for the future. Throughout my rewarding legal career, I continued teaching, volunteered my time to help special education students become financially literate. I also began working with orphaned and abandon children in Africa where I see to their education.
Left: Organizing a silent auction for the New York County Lawyers Association where I served as a board member.
Human Rights and Education
My interest in professionally pursuing human rights began at Palais des Nations in Geneva, Switzerland while studying global affairs with a concentration in governance in Africa. I left the practice of law to found a digital media company with an emphasis on human rights and education. The company produces a human rights show, parent education programs. It also produced the documentary, Four Scholars From Rehema, a short about the education of orphans growing up in Nairobi, Kenya, East Africa.
Right: With New York City Mayor Mike Bloomberg while serving on the Youth and Education committee of my local community board.
A message from my Kenyan family at Rehema Home, Nairobi. I. first visited in 2004 as a volunteer missionary. The children are wholesome, very well cared for and a lot of fun. They bring me absolute joy. The campus is a concentration of pure love.
In this video, Percina, co-founder of Kurandza, in Mozambique, is thanking me for my years of support. Here is an interpretation of her message, “Hello, Janiece I'm here to say thank you so much for supporting us from 2017 until now. Your support of a girl makes a big difference for her. Thank you so much. Bye!”
A clip from my presentation on “Educating Child Refugees and the African 2030 Agenda” at the United Nations Headquarters in New York City.
I studied human rights with a subfield in education at Columbia University. That experience prompted me use my half a century of serving over 25,000 parents, over 10,000 children, over 25,000 teaching hours, as well as my quarter of a century serving my community as a government lawyer and a civic leader to develop The SICA Method™️. The Method is ideal for parents of 7-12 year-olds. This cohort of children are at a crossroads: they learn to feel either competent or inferior. The SICA Method™️ is designed to minimize achievement gaps, avoid learning loss, and motivate children to take ownership in their education. This builds their self-confidence and self-esteem while providing them with the tools to realizing their dreams and find joy in almost any situation. In addition, these crucial years provide a window of opportunity for parents to positively influence their children’s sense of identity, self-esteem and individuality before peer pressure kicks in at full throttle.
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