Episode 257: Powerful Internship Program Bringing Best of the Best to JSD

Anthony Godfrey:
Hello and welcome to the Supercast. I'm your host, Superintendent Anthony Godfrey. They are the best of the best coming right out of college, many of them heading right into Jordan School District classrooms. Who are they? Well, you're about to find out.

On this episode of the Supercast, we sit down with some very talented interns who are well on their way to full-time jobs as teachers, thanks to a partnership between Jordan School District and local universities. It's a pretty cool program with some pretty cool people.

We're here talking with Jane Olsen today about our intern program in Jordan School District. Introduce yourself and talk to us a little bit about the future intern programs we have going.

Jane Olsen:
So I'm Jane Olsen. I'm in Human Resources and I'm a Talent Acquisition and Licensing Specialist. So our intern–

Anthony Godfrey:
Talent Acquisition and Licensing Specialist. I'm trying to see if that makes a good acronym. TALP? No, it doesn't really work.

Jane Olsen:
No, it doesn’t really work.

Anthony Godfrey:
Alright. And tell us about acquiring talent in Jordan District.

Jane Olsen:
So one of the ways that we acquire talent is through our intern program. So we have three partnership universities, BYU, UVU, and U of U and we house anywhere between 22 to 13 interns per year. We have a really high retention rate on those because it's a really wonderful opportunity to have a great realistic job preview from start to finish as a teacher instead of a really short preview when you're doing a student teaching experience of about 12 weeks.

Anthony Godfrey:
Most people are used to student teaching as the concept for how you learn to be a teacher. Many people may have when they were in school had a student teacher. So can you describe what the traditional student-teacher program looks like? Which we still have a lot of student teachers in our district. And then what the intern program looks like and how that's different.

Jane Olsen:
So for an intern, it is actually full year teaching. The biggest difference for them is they actually have a dedicated intern facilitator that they work with all year long. So from start to finish, from classroom setup, even when the summer they'll be preparing their curriculum. But student teaching, on the other hand, it's more concentrated. You have a gradual release of about 12 weeks and you're only in charge of the classroom for about two weeks. So in terms of ownership and accountability for that classroom, it's much higher at an intern level.

Anthony Godfrey:
The intern with a lot of support is the teacher for the year.

Jane Olsen:
Yes.

Anthony Godfrey:
And the student teacher starts out with observations, does a few lessons, and as you said, for about two weeks takes over the class.

Jane Olsen:
Yeah. So as it determines a realistic job preview, you're not really getting the full experience of setting up your classroom, setting up the rules, setting up an entire year worth of curriculum, and making sure that you're following through on the planning. Student teachers, they have an opportunity, just a small window of opportunity to see what that looks like. The parent interaction is obviously going to be lower as well because in two weeks you're not going to have as many interactions with parents than you would over the course of a school year.

Anthony Godfrey:
You get the full experience, you're part of a team, you interact with your peers, and so it's really exciting that we have this many opportunities in the district, and it's been growing lately.

Jane Olsen:
Yes, it has. So this year we actually hired 13 of our 18 interns at our teacher transfer fair. So that's a huge retention rate for us. 72% of our interns turned into full-time teachers for us the following year. So we're really excited about having them come in. This year we have 18 interns as well, but one will be at a secondary school, which is the first time I've seen that since I've been here.

Anthony Godfrey:
You and I have worked together for a long time, and you've seen the patterns over time. Tell me this year, how many teachers did we hire for, like last summer, last spring?

Jane Olsen:
We hired about 450 teachers last year.

Anthony Godfrey:
That just gives everybody a little bit of perspective. And you heard from Jane on a previous podcast when we talked about our new teacher induction and celebrated the first of many to come where we welcome our new teachers and this is another way of welcoming new teachers. By the time they've been an intern for a year, they know what it means to be a teacher, and they know what it means to work for Jordan's School District and the level of support we try to provide.

Jane Olsen:
Yeah, and I love the idea in terms of an internship. It's a growth-related opportunity. Instead of just seeing this small fraction of time, you're actually seeing the growth of your students. You're seeing the growth in yourself participating in PLCs. You're seeing the growth opportunities within the district and how the district operates and what we offer in terms of professional development.

The interns that I've talked to highlight that Jordan's School District is all about support and growth, and this is a really great way for them to continue to grow in their professional opportunities with a lot of support. I can't imagine going into Human Resources and actually having someone dedicated to me for the first year. That would have made me such a better professional quicker than what I've been able to get to at this point.

Anthony Godfrey:
I love what you say about getting the rewards of seeing student outcomes over the year. That's something I hadn't thought of. If you're student teaching, you still get the reward, you still get that relationship with students, but not nearly as much as you would by spending the whole year as their teacher. It provides consistency for the students in their class throughout the year so they don't have a student teacher come and go, but they have someone all year long.

Jane Olsen:
All year long, yes.

Anthony Godfrey:
The student teaching experience is still a very positive one. This is another way of approaching that. It provides some different experiences and a different level of support.

Jane Olsen:
Just in comparison, last year we had about 240 student teachers that are coming in and out of our classrooms from a variety of universities. There are more partnerships related to student teaching than there are to interns, so there's a different level of support that comes in for the interns. We're going to see a student teacher for a snapshot, but we really cultivate the relationships with our interns.

Anthony Godfrey:
For those of you who are wondering how we pay for this or how all of this works, if you're thinking about doing it, what you would be paid, talk to us about the compensation. There's been a change from the legislature as well as student teachers are compensated.

Jane Olsen:
What I understand in terms of the legislation at this point is that we will be able to pay student teachers about $6,000 for their experience. In the past, it's been an unpaid, which has made it a real burden on a lot of those that are entering the field of education to be able to engage in that, because 12 weeks going unpaid in this kind of economy can be really difficult. But on the flip side with the interns, the interns actually receive what we call half of their base salary, and then we pay them the full teacher salary supplement. So it averages out to be about $33,000 as of this year. We don't know what that'll look like exactly next year, but we're hopeful.

And then some of the universities receive travel stipends due to the distance from their home location. So it can become quite the great compensation package that you're actually getting paid to come and travel to Jordan School District and have the great experience. And then you're already on a step two next year, so you're already kind of a lane ahead of what you would be if you would have just graduated as a student teacher.

Anthony Godfrey:
So the half pay that allows us to then pay for the support with the rest of that salary?

Jane Olsen:
Yep, it pays for the intern facilitator.

Anthony Godfrey:
Exactly. And then, you know, the state has doubled in the last year the pay that they paid directly to teachers.

Jane Olsen:
Correct.

Anthony Godfrey:
And an intern qualifies for that, and that's what bumps it up to the $33,000.

Jane Olsen:
Yep, so that's $8,400 that they get paid from the legislature.

Anthony Godfrey:
Right. That's great. Tell me about the schools that we partner with and how that looks for each school. I've talked with interns from all of these programs in the past, but describe the differences and how someone would get involved if this is something that they think they might want to do.

Jane Olsen:
Yeah, so if you're considering a career in education, the three partnership universities that we have with interns is BYU, UVU, so Utah Valley University, and then University of Utah. Each program has its own little unique nuances. For example, the University of Utah is the Urban Institute for Teacher Education. So their experience is going to be more tailored to our Title I schools, which is the school that we're partnering with is Oquirrh Elementary. BYU has five partnership schools. We have Black Ridge, Columbia, Daybreak, Midas Creek, and Mountain Point. One of those schools is a DLI school. So if you're looking for that experience with Spanish, we do have Mountain Point. And then with UVU, we have our two schools, Butterfield Canyon and Eastlake. Eastlake is also a DLI school, but it's a Chinese DLI school.

So depending on what your area of expertise is, you could potentially be selected for any one of those school locations. The max that we would have at any one location when it comes to interns is three. So that would be the max ratio for you to the intern facilitator. So you have somebody that's really only working with two to three of you at a time, really dedicated time, and they have no other responsibilities, which is unique to Jordan. So they don't have anything that's going to pull them away or out of the classroom, or they're not teaching another class next door. They're dedicated to your growth and development.

Anthony Godfrey:
And in some districts, they have administrative responsibilities, almost like an assistant principal. But here, they really are simply focused on helping those two or three candidates become great teachers.

Jane Olsen:
Yeah, and they do become great teachers. I can tell you that after the teacher transfer fair, one of the pieces of feedback for any of the administrators who interviewed our interns is they were so impressed with the quality of those interns from any one of the programs. They were excited to work with them, and one school even hired three of them.

Anthony Godfrey:
Wow.

Jane Olsen:
So we definitely have great interns that are coming out of these programs.

Anthony Godfrey:
I love that we have that pipeline. And training teachers, giving them great support means that thousands of student lives are better because they have a great teacher that really has a head start on instruction and classroom management and everything else it takes to be a great teacher.

Jane Olsen:
Exactly. All of us can remember a teacher that impacted us in such a significant way. My math teacher actually teaches at Elk Ridge that I had in ninth grade, and I can tell you that that was the first time that I felt like I was really good at math. So we have some amazing teachers in Jordan.

Anthony Godfrey:
Stay with us. When we come back, we'll hear more about these interns and hear from them directly about how excited they are to be teaching students in the coming year.

Break:
Are you looking for a job right now? Looking to work in a fun and supportive environment with great pay and a rewarding career? Jordan School District is hiring. We're currently filling full and part-time positions. You can work and make a difference in young lives and education as a classroom assistant or a substitute teacher. Apply to work in one of our school cafeterias where our lunch staff serves up big smiles with great food every day. We're also looking to hire custodians and bus drivers. In Jordan School District we like to say people come for the job and enjoy the adventure. Apply today at employment.jordandistrict.org.

Anthony Godfrey:
We're here with three of our BYU interns to talk with them a little bit about what made them want to be teachers, and what they're looking forward to in the coming year. So tell me your name and where you're from and a little bit about what made you want to be a teacher.

Brandon Jensen:
My name is Brandon Jensen. I'm from San Diego, California. First off, I just hated my desk job that I first had. But also, when I turned 16 and first could work, I started working with kids. I'd go to school all day and I worked with kids for three hours and I'd get home and I wasn't tired. I was excited because I knew I'd made a difference. I knew I was a positive impact on these people. Then when I got into the program at BYU and was able to come into the schools, I could see that I was making a difference, that I was connecting with these kids, and that they were excited to learn and excited to learn from me because they could tell that I cared. That was immediately, I was like, "I'm all in. This is it. This is what I want to do."

Anthony Godfrey:
Your desk job did not offer that to you?

Brandon Jensen:
No.

Anthony Godfrey:
What was your desk job?

Brandon Jensen:
I started as a computer science major. I worked with data entry, which is just like I look at a PDF and I look at an Excel sheet and I make sure they say the same thing and it's just draining all day. I'm still doing that until I start teaching, but it's like I can do teaching all day and still have the energy to go do that because that drains my energy at the end of the night.

Anthony Godfrey:
It's a little more predictable than teaching will be, I think.

Brandon Jensen:
Probably.

Anthony Godfrey:
But also less engaging by a long shot. Tell me where you're from and about your interest in teaching.

Kara Cooper:
Yeah, of course. My name is Kara Cooper. I'm from Draper, Utah. I've grown up in Utah my whole life. I love to be outside. I love to do things with my family. I have a pretty big family. Yeah, my interest in teaching started honestly in high school. I have lots of family members who are teachers and I am someone who's genuinely curious about the world. I love learning. I love helping kids see how the world works around them and be curious and imaginative.

I had really awesome teachers all throughout my education and they just inspired me to be a teacher. So that was really important for me. Just seeing how much they loved me and cared about me really helped me even though I had loving and caring parents. I was with my teachers most of the day, so it was amazing to see that.

Anthony Godfrey:
Sounds like you have a lot to choose from, but tell me, are there a couple of teachers that really stand out that made an impact on you?

Kara Cooper:
Yeah. It was honestly probably my first-grade teacher. Her name is Mrs. McNamara. She really helped me to just see that I am smart and she believed in me and believed in my potential. That really helped me a lot just to know that I can do hard things, that I'm not bad at certain subjects, that I can do them. It's kind of like a TED Talk we were listening to by Rita Pearson. She was just saying that it's not minus 18, it's plus two. You can't, you didn't fail completely, but you can keep going and trying. I love that about her.

Anthony Godfrey:
Awesome. And who are the family members that are teachers?

Kara Cooper:
My mom, she's a secondary education teacher. She teaches English in high school. Then my grandpa, he actually taught fourth grade for about 20 years.

Anthony Godfrey:
Very cool. And how about you?

Jenna Montejo:
I'm Jenna and I'm from Portland, Oregon. I feel like I always bring back my love of teaching and wanting to be a teacher back to an experience I had while living in Chicago. I was working a lot with the Hispanic community in Chicago. I was teaching English and there was just a specific little girl that I was teaching English to. She had just immigrated from Mexico. They were just in this tiny apartment and they'd come from a whole, I mean they'd had a ranch with animals. Just seeing her trying to adjust and wondering what supports does she have, like who's advocating for this little girl at her school, like what's going on there.

So I feel like that really kick started this desire in me of, specifically I feel like I'm a TESOL minor and just very, I don't know, very passionate about student minorities and advocating for them and being there for them. So I feel like that really is kind of where I come from and what I'm most excited for with teaching. What I'm most passionate about, what inspires me I guess with that.

Anthony Godfrey:
And tell us what a TESOL minor means.

Jenna Montejo:
It's Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages.

Anthony Godfrey:
Okay, great. Well, that will come in handy for sure. We have three classes of lucky students right now. I can see that already. Tell me what grade level and school have you been assigned to?

Brandon Jensen:
I'm teaching fifth grade at Black Ridge Elementary School.

Anthony Godfrey:
And is fifth grade something that– I guess you'll find out whether fifth grade is where you want to be at right?

Brandon Jensen:
Yeah, one of my practicum, which is we spend four weeks right, I was with sixth grade at Blackridge and it was awesome. Just working with the facilitator there and meeting the principal and meeting all the other teachers, it was just a phenomenal experience.

Anthony Godfrey:
Sixth graders know they're about to hit the middle school so there's a little bit of different mentality.

Brandon Jensen:
Little bit of sass.

Anthony Godfrey:
Fifth graders, you know, might be down 20% on that. So that's good, that's great. How about you?

Kara Cooper:
Yeah, I'll be teaching fourth grade at Midas Creek Elementary. That's in Riverton.

Anthony Godfrey:
Okay, awesome.

Kara Cooper:
I also had experience with fourth grade in practicum.

Anthony Godfrey:
Fourth grade's a big academic year, big.

Kara Cooper:
Yes.

Anthony Godfrey:
They really move forward on math and some big subjects. So fantastic, that's great.

Jenna Montejo:
I will be teaching second grade at Columbia Elementary.

Anthony Godfrey:
Columbia Elementary, where your minor will come in very handy.

Jenna Montejo:
Yes, I'm very excited for that.

Anthony Godfrey:
Well, all three of you have a range of experiences ahead of you at very different schools with different grade levels. So I'm really excited for you and I'm very excited for the students who get to be in your class.

Thanks for joining us on another episode of the Supercast. Remember, education is the most important thing you will do today. We'll see you out there.