Middle school educator named teacher of the year

CINTHIA RITCHIE

May 23, 2008 at 9:05AM AKST

Seward Middle School’s Laura Beck was named BP 2008 Kenai Peninsula Teacher of the Year on May 12.

Thirty-six area educators were nominated for the award. Beck was among the top six Teacher of Excellence finalists.

The 13-year-old program recognizes exceptional Alaska teachers in four regions around the state. More than 350 nominations overall were received this year, according for BP program coordinator Tammie Anderson.

Most were from parents, students or fellow teachers. Nominated teachers were sent a questionnaire regarding teaching methods and philosophies, and a seven-member selection committee narrowed down the candidates.

“It’s a tough choice,” Anderson said. “They pick six teachers and sometimes one of those will stand out for a variety of reasons.”

Beck did just that.

“It came across in the write-up how much she loves her profession and loves those kids,” she said. “It turns out that she’s just a little more exceptional.”

Teacher, coach and choir director
Beck has been at Seward Middle School for 11 years, where she teaches eighth-grade language arts and history, directs choir and coaches volleyball and track. According to principal Trevan Walker, she rarely leaves school before 5 p.m.

“She puts in countless hours for activities and all the special projects, coaching and neat things she does for the kids,” he said.

Walker feels that Beck has an innate knack for keeping subjects alive and making sure children are engaged. But her biggest gift, he said, is the genuine interest she takes in each student.

“Her kids know that she’s singularly interested in making them better people,” he said.

“As a result, they love her. Because they know she loves them.”

Teaching in her blood
Beck believes that teaching is in her blood. Her single-parent mother taught special education for 30 years in Montana, and Beck remembers waiting in her classroom for a ride home after school.

“That’s when I knew I wanted to be part of the world of education,” she said.

After graduating from University of Montana, she spent a year teaching in Metlakatla, near Ketchikan, where she met her husband, John. A year later they moved to the Naknek area of Bristol Bay. Three children and six years later, they decided to move to a warmer location.

“We didn’t have jobs, didn’t know of any jobs, just picked up our things and moved,” she said.

They eventually ended up in Seward in 1994. Her husband took a teaching position at AVTEC while Beck looked for jobs at the elementary school.

“When I first heard about the middle school position, I said, ‘No way,’” she said. “I put in my paperwork and thought, they aren’t going to hire me, all my experience was in elementary education.”

They did, and she said it was the best choice she’s ever made. She believes in giving every student a chance to make a mistake, whether that mistake was social or academic. Without mistakes, she said, there is no learning.

Also, failing is not an option in her classroom.

“I have an open-door policy that says if you fail, you walk right back in the next day with your shoulders back,” she said. “You don’t lose anything except the fact that you’ve learned.”

Some of the students arrive at school emotionally beat up, and Becks offers them a safe haven, a place where they can make mistakes and try again.

“You can’t give up,” she said. “I could easily walk out the door and not worry about them at all. But I’m pushing them to be the best people they can be.”

Earlier this year, Beck lost her mother.

“She was my sounding board,” she said. “I would call her up and say, ‘I’ve got this kid and I don’t know what to do.’”

She now calls her daughter Anna-Leah, a first-year teacher in Hooper Bay. It’s nice, she said, to keep the family teaching tradition alive.

Last spring, Beck was awarded the Wal-Mart/Sam’s Club Teacher of the Year Award, which, like the BP Teacher of the Year Award, also relies on community nominations.
“I love my job,” she said. “Every day when I walk in the classroom something new catches my attention. Every day is a reward.”

Cinthia Ritchie can be reached at (907) 342-2428 or toll free at (800) 770-9830, ext. 428.

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