New Cohort of UA Little Rock Teaching Residents Join Jacksonville North Pulaski School District
After a successful first year of a new teacher residency program, a second cohort of teacher residents from the University of Arkansas at Little Rock have joined Jacksonville North Pulaski School District (JNPSD) to learn how to become day-one ready teachers.
“The residency program has been an invaluable opportunity for professional growth for our educators as well as our teacher interns,” JNPSD Superintendent Jeremy Owoh said. “It provides hands-on experience and mentorship that are critical for developing effective pedagogical skills. I highly recommend the residency program to any superintendent or principal looking to enhance their educator’s professional capacity and increase their educator pipeline to the District, and I am happy to welcome this second cohort of teaching residents to JNPSD.”
The seven new residents are working in Bayou Meto Elementary, Bobby G. Lester Elementary, and Murrell Taylor Elementary schools for the 2024-25 school year.
The new teacher residents include Fallon Armstrong, mentored by teacher Amanda Lercher; Trula Bell, mentored by teacher Regina Eubanks; Averee Betts, mentored by teacher Wanda Eskridge; Trinity Gilstrap, mentored by teacher Ashley Polen; Maggee Powell, mentored by teacher Kimberly Williams; Layla Schwab, mentored by teacher Sarah Henderson; and Janelle Solis, mentored by teacher Danielle Pelletier. Dr. Terri Guy serves as the UA Little Rock site coordinator for JNPSD.
“The Trojan Teacher Residents in Jacksonville are working in three different schools, providing high impact math tutoring to small groups of students,” said Dr. Rachel Eells, Windgate Endowed Director of the School of Education at UA Little Rock. “Our partnership with Jacksonville has allowed us to shift to respond to their district’s needs, and these residents applied for the role, knowing that this was the particular need for this year. We are pleased to be able to partner for experiences that accomplish multiple goals.”
Last year, the first participants of the teacher residency program worked in Jacksonville at Murrell Taylor Elementary and Jacksonville Middle School. In lieu of traditional student teaching, residents spent the entire academic year in the same classroom with an experienced teacher mentor, learning all the tricks of the trade to be successful educators.
“Ever since I was a little girl, I loved and enjoyed being around kids. I enjoyed it so much I would set up my room as a ‘classroom’ and play teacher with my family and friends,” said Averee Betts, a senior elementary education major from Benton who is teaching fourth-grade math. “I am very thankful for this opportunity and to be a part of the Jacksonville School District. This residency also is very hands-on and helps prepare me by having the opportunity to teach and be the teacher of the classroom.”
The teacher residency program is supported by a grant from Forward Arkansas, which is helping UA Little Rock address Arkansas’s teacher shortage by working to increase the number and diversity of teacher candidates entering the field.
Maggee Powell, a senior elementary education major from Benton, originally planned to go into healthcare, but quickly realized that it wasn’t for her.
“I had a realization that my true passion is with kids, that being in a classroom is where I saw myself,” Powell said, adding that participating in the residency program has allowed her to grow as a teacher.
“Being in an internship with a support system is truly so important,” Powell said. “I feel supported by my colleagues and my fellow classmates. Murrell Taylor has shown me a true support system, and I am forever thankful. I have grown to love Murrell Taylor and the people at it. They have welcomed me like I was already family.”
Trinity Gilstrap, a senior middle childhood education major concentrating in science from Cabot, is teaching fifth-grade science and writing at Bayou Meto Elementary. She credits her fourth-grade teacher Mr. West for inspiring her to become a teacher, but thanks her teacher mentor Ashley Polen for showing her how to be a good teacher.
“Being a part of this teacher residency program is helping me prepare to be a day-one ready teacher because I’m gaining confidence in teaching,” Gilstrap said. “I’m seeing all aspects of what a teacher really does and how to handle a classroom. So, when it comes time for me to teach, I’ll know what to do and how to do things!”
