Internships Attract Displaced Workers to Teaching Careers : Education: Program allows qualifying candidates with college degrees to teach temporarily. To attain full credentials, the interns take classes at Cal Poly Pomona.

Last summer, Jim Potichelli quit his job as an environmental engineer, took a sizable pay cut and went back to school full time, this time as a teacher.

Engineering work just wasn’t satisfying, Potichelli said. He long had thought about being a teacher, and when he heard about the Teach for Pomona internship program, he knew he couldn’t pass up the opportunity.

Potichelli is one of 44 professionals who are taking an alternate route to becoming teachers through the new internship program, which is sponsored by the Pomona Unified School District in conjunction with Cal Poly Pomona.

The program puts the talents of displaced scientists, mathematicians and other victims of corporate downsizing to work in the classroom.

Traditionally, prospective teachers spend up to one year working as unpaid student teachers before teaching a class of their own. The internship program vastly speeds up the process for anyone who already holds a college degree: interns must pass an entrance exam and attend six weeks of intense instruction. Then they receive temporary credentials to teach.

This is the first year of the Pomona program, which began when the school district received a state grant and contracted out to Cal Poly Pomona to assist in recruitment and to guarantee classes for interns. Interns complete all their course work at Cal Poly Pomona.

Teacher internships have been around since the 1950s, but the cooperation between a university and a school district is unique, said Greta Nagel, director of Teach for Pomona and a Cal Poly professor.

The Pomona Unified School District hires 300 new teachers a year, but it still has a severe shortage of math, science and bilingual teachers, said William Graham, the school district’s director of teaching-related staff.

“We are sponsoring the intern program so we can handpick interns according to our needs,” he said. “And, of course, because we got the grant.”

Stephanie Saccoman, a teacher specialist for the Pomona Unified School District, said people who had other careers make some of the best teachers because they can draw on their life experiences.

“I know what the real world is all about and it’s messy,” Potichelli said. “Science is not all theory, and I hope to show my students some practical ways to relate it to their lives.”

Potichelli, 27, is teaching earth science to 11th-and 12th-grade Garey High School students; for this, he took a $4,000-a-year pay cut.

Teaching interns make the same entry-level salary of approximately $27,000 as do certified teachers. They are required to take one college class per quarter for two years and a full load during their summer break toward earning a teaching credential, Saccoman said.

Although some of the participants have never taught before, others have struggled to break into the field for years.

Youshi L. Berry taught at parochial schools, which do not require a teaching credential, in Watts and south Los Angeles for several years. Berry, 39, wanted to teach in public schools but couldn’t afford to make the transition.

“Who can afford to work (as a student teacher) for a year without pay?” she said.

Berry is currently teaching seventh-grade science at Fremont Junior High School and said teaching is more of a challenge than ever.

“The traditional methods of teaching don’t work anymore,” she said. “We have to show kids how science and math are going to be important in their lives. It has to be relevant.”

Damiana Aldana lost her English-as-a-second-language teaching position at Mt. San Antonio College because of budget cuts, but through the internship program, was able to stay in education.

Aldana is now teaching third- and fourth-graders primary Spanish at Washington Elementary School and said working with children is far more demanding than working with adults is.

“So far, it’s been really challenging,” she said. “Just trying to get them to form a line is a big deal.”

Saccoman said the district expects to retain 90% of its intern teachers because of help from credentialed volunteer teachers who act as mentors and coaches.

“The coaches really make a difference,” she said. “The interns also see each other at their weekly class, which is added support and feedback.”