Career Technical and Agricultural Education (CATE) department teacher Jillian Gordon helps out sophomore Ietta Veeder on an assignment for Gordon’s Floral Design class on Sept. 21. Gordon was awarded the Frieda M. Thomas Teacher of Promise Award, an award given by the Clarke County Foundation of Excellence whose mission is to recognized student and teacher achievements in Clarke County School District. “I was really excited (when I found out). I didn’t really know how competitive it was and I didn’t really think that there would be a good chance that I would get it in all the district,” Gordon said. Photo by Bria Echols
Career Technical and Agricultural Education department teacher Jillian Gordon is a 2018 award winner for the Freida Thomas Teacher of Promise Award presented by the Clarke County Foundation of Excellence in Public Education organization.
Career Technical and Agricultural Education department teacher Jillian Gordon was an award recipient for the Freida M. Thomas Teacher of Promise award, an award given out by Clarke County Foundation of Excellence in Public Education. Gordon will receive the award at the Clarke County FFE award reception held on Oct. 6 at the Georgian Hall.
“It was funny because I submitted (an application) and we had this celebration for those were nominated. So we did this luncheon and I was kind of thinking about it. Then most of the summer, I forgot about it,” Gordon said. “Then we were sitting at our faculty meeting and the people from the foundation came and I was like, “Oh, OK maybe. I don’t know. I’ll listen.’ And they went through and then they said (I won), I was like “Oh, OK Yay!’”
The Freida M. Thomas Teacher of Promise Award is an award presented to early-career teachers with four or fewer years of teaching experience who are making a positive impact in their classroom.
“An ideal nominee would be one first that loves their job because that’s what shines in an application. If you love students and you love teaching, that’s what shines,” Foundation of Excellence in Public Education executive director CJ Amason said.
According to Amason, teachers are nominated by either a student, an administrator, a colleague or a parent for the FFE awards.
“Once they’re nominated it’s a completely online process. They respond to that. They make the criteria. They write essays. They fill out the personal background information sheet. They have letters of support. Other people write them letters of support,” Amason said.
According to the Clarke County FFE website, the application process requires two letters of support from nominators. For Gordon, one of them was FFA president and senior Jordan Butler.
“She is basically one of my biggest role models in life and I want to be like her. It’s kind of important to me because I do enjoy her class more than I enjoyed other classes I’ve been in,” Butler said. “It’s just was an honor to write for her because it just means I am writing about opportunities and talking about how she is as a teacher but as a role model and as a higher person that a student can talk to whatever they’re in between a rock hard place.”
Gordon believes that teaching style separated her from the other teachers who were nominated for the award.
“I think I have a really unique perspective with how I teach. I teach agriculture, I do have standards that I teach, but I also just have such a wide variety of things that we go into and just so many different ways that I can teach the material,” Gordon said. “I think just the subject area that I teach just makes it unique in itself and stand out.”
