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Life Lessons: Overcoming Obstacles

Rhema Thompson

The inaugural class of Jacksonville’s teacher residency program had its final meeting of the year Thursday.

The group is part of the privately funded Jacksonville Teacher Residency program, designed to recruit and retain high-performing STEM professionals to teach in the district’s toughest schools. WJCT first met the class of professionals in June when days spent in classrooms and nights of lesson-planning seemed far and away. Now it’s a daily reality with real obstacles.

Meet Our Two Featured Teachers

Credit Rhema Thompson
George Teuber, Jacksonville Teaching Resident

Name: George Jeffrey Teuber

Age: 23

Hometown: Palm Bay, Fla.

Education: Currently, completing master’s degree in Medical Sciences at the University of South Florida.  Earned a Bachelor of Science in Biomedical Sciences and a Bachelor of Arts in Psychology from USF.

Education-related activities:  Served as rowing coach for the Stewart’s Foundation and a patient advocate at St. Joseph’s Hospital. He also served as a designated site leader for a project with USF students and community teenagers providing financial education and assistance to families in need in the Tampa Bay area.

Teaching philosophy: “To teach, one must mold the delivery of material to the individual student.”

Credit Rhema Thompson

 

Name: Tiffany Ciara Allen

Age: 23

Hometown:  Portsmouth, Va.

Education: Received a Bachelor of Science in Architectural Engineering from North Carolina Agricultural and Technical State University.

Education-related activities: Served for several years as an instructor of 3rd through 8th grade students in the Summer Engineering Experience for Kids (SEEK) program.

Teaching philosophy: “Whether differences are associated with race, socio-economic status, religion, sexual orientation, or disabilities, everyone is entitled to unmerited reverence.”

About the Program

The Jacksonville Teacher Residency Program was developed by Duval County Public Schools in partnership with the University of North Florida and the Jacksonville Public Education Fund as one of several privately-funded Quality Education for All initiatives aimed at improving the district's education talent pool. The medical-residency style program is modeled after the Urban Teacher Residency United based out of Chicago, and is the first to launch in Florida. The program recruits high achieving undergraduate math and science majors and places them in high-need schools for a total of four years—one year as a resident with an assigned mentor and three years as a teacher in one of 36 targeted, underperforming schools.

Cost: $1.6 million approved and funded through QEA; $5.5 million in total proposed.

This story is part of American Graduate - a public media initiative made possible by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting to help local communities implement and identify solutions to address the high school dropout crisis.

You can follow Rhema Thompson on Twitter @RhemaThompson.

Rhema Thompson began her post at WJCT on a very cold day in January 2014 and left WJCT to join the team at The Florida Times Union in December 2014.