Berry Teacher in the Running for State Teacher of the Year

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by Lexi Beard, Jag Rag staff writer

Every Super Bowl has its Most Valuable Player. Every Oscars Awards show gives out Best Actor and Best Actress awards. In Alabama’s schools, one educator is named Teacher of the Year, and one of Berry’s own is in the running.

Mrs. Becca Besch, who teaches language arts on Team 7-3 was recently named Berry Middle School’s Teacher of the Year. Mrs. Besch then went one to win Teacher of the Year for the entire Hoover school district. Currently, she is working on her portfolio to compete against fifteen other teachers across the state to see who will ultimately be named Alabama’s Teacher of the Year for the 2019-2020 school year.

This is not the first time that Mrs. Besch, who has been teaching for more than twenty years, has received recognition for her work in the classroom. Prior to coming to Alabama, she was named a district Teacher of the Year in Louisiana.

Mrs. Besch said she has received a great deal of support while working on her portfolio, and it's not just from the faculty and staff of Berry. It's also from the kids who walk into her classroom every day.

“Without my students, I wouldn’t be here,” says Ms. Besch. “I am learning from my students every day”.

Mrs. Besch said the key to her teaching is always trying new things and coming up with new ways to teach her students.

“Always try something new,” she said. “I try not to teach the same things every year.”

With her new and profound ways of teaching and learning, she will surely have lots of great things to put in her portfolio. She will be giving her portfolio to the district in the coming months. So until then, Berry will cheer her on till the very end.

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