JRCoE Alums Earn Teacher of the Year Honors
Rachel Morris was named 2021 McAlester Public Schools Teacher of the Year. Morris graduated from JRCoE in 2006 with a degree in special education.
Morris, who also won the award in 2016, said she enjoys working with talented people who care about student success and have overcome challenges presented by the COVID-19 pandemic.
Morris started her teaching career as a freshman English teacher for special education at Norman High School. She continued her education and earned a master's degree in 2008. She returned to Eufaula in 2011 and was hired at McAlester High School, where she has taught all levels of English for special education. Morris also took on advanced placement language and composition at the high school.
In 2019, Morris worked with other teachers statewide to develop and improve resources for academic standards in language arts.
Morris is also an improvement fellow for the Oklahoma State Department of Education, chairs the Foundations and English teams, and serves on the McAlester High School leadership team.
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The Norman Public School District honored Juan Renteria, fifth-grade teacher at Truman Elementary School, as the district’s 2021 Teacher of the Year. Renteria began his teaching career with NPS and has been with the district for six years.
Renteria earned his bachelor’s degree in elementary education from the Jeannine Rainbolt College of Education in 2015 and his master’s degree in 2018.
“Juan is an extraordinary educator,” Superintendent Nick Migliorino said. “His passion and energy for helping his students is inspiring. He often talks to his students about being bridge builders, which is fitting because he builds bridges for his students every day. He appreciates and values each student for who they are and helps them find their voice so that they can be successful and grow in his classroom. I could not be more proud to have Juan represent Norman Public Schools and all our wonderful teachers.”
A rising talent in the profession, Renteria has excelled as an educator since he began his teaching career six years ago. In 2016 he was named the Norman Public Schools Rookie Teacher of the Year, an award given annually to an exceptional first-year educator. He is also active at the district level, participating in the NPS Recruitment Cadre, where he helps the district seek out and recruit the best educators in the state to come to Norman. A member of the NPS Diversity and Enrichment Council, Renteria also is passionate about making sure all Norman Public Schools students have a voice and that they are welcomed, valued and appreciated for their unique backgrounds and experiences.
Renteria was selected through a competitive process, coordinated by the district’s Staff Development Committee. After being selected as the Teacher of the Year for Truman Elementary School, he submitted a comprehensive portfolio, participated in various interviews and a video that showcased his teaching skills and philosophy. He was one of five finalists for the award and was crowned during the district’s Celebration of Excellence event.
Morgan Dragg was named the Norman Public Schools Rookie Teacher of the Year for 2021. Dragg, who received her bachelor’s degree in early childhood education from JRCoE in 2020, teaches first grade at Monroe Elementary School.
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Amberly Jumper was named the Lower Elementary Teacher of the Year for Tulsa Virtual Academy in the Tulsa Public Schools. A 2017 graduate of the OU-Tulsa early childhood education program, Jumper is a second-grade teacher and has been teaching for four years. In her spare time, she enjoys carpentry, restoring old mopars, cooking and photography.
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Thessalonica Turnbull was named Teacher of the Year at Southern Hills Elementary in the Oklahoma City Public Schools. A 2017 graduate with a degree in elementary education, Turnbull said of the award in an online post, “One of the greatest feelings in the world is feeling the love from the students you work with every day. One of the greatest honors is to be recognized by those who want nothing less than the very best for those same students.”
Also earning honors as teacher of the year in OKCPS were Taylor Neal (Adelaide Lee Elementary) and Kendra Whitman (John Marshall Enterprise High). Neal is a 2016 graduate with a degree in elementary education, while Whitman graduated from OU in 2012 with a degree in history and was a TE Plus student in social studies education. Whitman was one of nine finalists for OKCPS Teacher of the Year.
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Ericka Van Deventer was named the 2020-2021 Teacher of the Year for the Rosa Parks Early Childhood Education Center.
“I have always loved school and kids from a young age, and working with children is all I have ever known," Van Deventer said. "As a child, I remember how excited I would get to go shopping for school supplies, checking off the list as we went, and then getting home and organizing them all in my new backpack. In high school, I was a part of Future Educators of America and worked part-time at a daycare. I loved seeing the world through young children’s eyes, and their excitement and wonder with new experiences. I continued working in childcare after high school, until an opportunity to work for Union Public Schools as a teacher assistant arrived. Once I began working alongside the incredibly talented certified teachers at Union and spending my days full time in the classroom, I knew I had found my place and my calling. With the encouragement from fellow teachers, I enrolled in college to begin my journey to make teaching my career.”
The biggest difference this year in teaching is the relationships with families, she said.
“I am used to parents being in my classroom all the time, walking their children into the building, staying and playing for a few minutes, and then seeing them again at the end of the day when they returned to pick up their child. This made building relationships and the continuity of the excitement of what is happening in the classroom carrying over to home very easy. This year with families no longer coming into the building, I have made it my goal to make sure those strong relationships are still there. I have found ways to virtually check in with each family personally throughout each week, sending pictures, positive praise reports, and stories of each of their children, as well as daily “Today We’s” with photos, student quotes, their work, and explanation of what happened in our class that day. Building that home/school connection is so important to me, especially being their child’s first school experience at Union, because it builds trust with us as educators, and gets families excited and on board with their child’s educational journey from day one.”
Van Deventer began her journey at Union in 2008 as a teacher assistant at Rosa Parks Early Childhood Education Center.
“I remember interviewing in the building while it was still under construction. I was thrilled to have the opportunity to work for an actual school, and didn’t realize how much that decision would truly change my life. I went to college part time from 2010-2017, working during the day in a 3-year old classroom at the ECEC and spending most evenings in a college classroom,” she said. “I loved bringing what I was learning about early childhood education into the classroom each day. I did almost all my internships at Union, as well as my student teaching. I knew when I graduated where I wanted to work. I became a certified teacher in 2017 after graduating college.”
Van Deventer graduated from Collinsville Public Schools in 2003. She received her Child Development Associate from Tulsa Technology Center in 2005, her Certificate of Mastery in Child Development in 2010 from Tulsa Community College; her associate’s degree in Early Childhood Education in 2015 from Tulsa Community College; and her bachelor’s degree in Early Childhood Education in 2017 from The University of Oklahoma.
She plans to pursue her master’s degree in within the next few years in educational leadership and administration.
Are you a JRCoE graduate who was honored as teacher of the year? Let us know! Email mschneider@ou.edu with your information.