Berry educator named 2019-20 Hoover Secondary Teacher of the Year

Melody Greene remembers receiving an email from her daughter’s new English teacher at Berry Middle School before this school year began.

Rebecca Besch wanted to introduce herself and the rest of her teaching team to parents and students and give them an overview of daily procedures at school.

“My daughter, Jackson, smiled as she read the email and looked at the picture,” Greene said in a letter she wrote about Besch. “The email calmed her nerves, and I had a good feeling about the upcoming year.”

On the second day of school, Besch left a voicemail for Greene.

“She introduced herself and talked about how excited she was to have Jackson this year, and I cried,” Greene said. “I could tell just by the tone of Mrs. Besch’s voice that she loved her calling as a teacher and did truly value relationships with parents and students.”

Within the first couple of weeks of school, Besch had made phone calls to every one of her students’ families, Berry Principal Chris Robbins said. It’s those kinds of efforts that helped Besch become the 2019-20 Secondary Teacher of the Year for Hoover City Schools.

Besch has been teaching for 20 years and is in her fourth year at Berry, where she teaches seventh-grade English language arts.

Prior to that, she taught at Our Lady of the Valley for three years, Little Oak Middle School in Slidell, Louisiana, for 12 years and Kentwood Elementary in Kentwood, Louisiana, for one year.

“Rebecca is one of the most talented teachers I’ve ever worked with in terms of her ability to create really positive first impressions and strong relationships with students,” Berry Principal Chris Robbins said. “She’s a relationship builder. This is evident when you walk in her classroom.”

Robbins said Besch thinks outside of the box and is not afraid to try new methods of instruction.

Besch obtained a grant for flexible seating arrangements in her classroom, including exercise balls, couches and coffee bar seating. She also uses light filters, which have a calming effect by diffusing the harsh glare of fluorescent lights and reducing flickering and eye strain.

“It definitely sets an atmosphere in her classroom where kids are comfortable to be themselves and try things they might not otherwise have tried,” Robbins said. “She pushes her kids as readers and writers to think outside the box.”

Dianna Minor, a literacy coach at Berry, said research has shown flexible seating environments help students feel empowered by having some degree of choice and control over their environment.

“It is also conducive to open collaboration, communication, creativity and critical thinking, which are all best practice in education,” Minor wrote in a nomination letter. “Because of her willingness to try something new to benefit the students, many teachers have followed her lead and have transformed their own classrooms to environments that are more student-centered.”

In over 20 years of teaching, Besch has obtained nine grants to put engaging resources in the hands of her students. She is the seventh-grade teacher representative on Berry’s Positive Behavior Intervention and Support team, has served as a mentor for several first-year teachers, hosted college students as observers and student teachers, and was selected to take part in the inaugural year of the A+ College Ready Training Academy to train fellow educators.

She implemented a “Think Tank” student study group that meets twice a week to give students a chance to seek extra help from peers or a teacher, serves as the yearbook advisor and as the advisor for a Student Support Services group of students who meet several times a week to discuss ways to act as ambassadors of kindness for fellow students and staff.

She is a technology guru who patiently assists fellow teachers with technical questions, and she collaborates well with special education and intervention teachers to help bridge kids’ learning gaps, Minor said.

“She has a strong compassion for her students and is constantly seeking ways to accelerate their learning and growth,” Minor said. “She has a genuine heart for diverse learners and truly wants them to become lifelong learners.”