Peg Becker

TH:Regarding the stress and burnout you observe among your colleagues: How do you combat that personally?
PB: I try to have a student teacher in my classroom. I think it helps me when I have to explain my practices to someone; that refreshes me and renews. Of course, they always bring in a ton of ideas. You know, sometimes I'll look at them and I'll laugh and I'd think, "I would not try that, but you know, if you think that will work, go ahead." Sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn't. They'll talk to you about why something didn't work. Sometimes they'll look at me and they'll say, "How did you know that?" It just comes with experience. Or sometimes you have a gut feeling that you know there's something about this child that's bothering them or something that's interfering with their learning and to pass that practice on.

Peg Becker Age: 48 Occupation: Teacher at Hoover Elementary School, Dubuque; president of Dubuque Education Association. Family: Her parents are Dave and Mary Kathryn Lassance. She and John Becker are the parents of four children: Mary (19), Hans (15) and twins Franz and Greta (7). Her siblings are Patty Veneziano and Paul, Ray and the late Tim Lassance. Hometown: Epworth, Iowa. Education: Master of arts, Clarke College, 1988. Bachelor of arts, Loras College, 1978. Professional associations: Dubuque Education Association, Iowa State Education Association, National Education Association. Community involvement: Secretary, Dubuque Community School Foundation; labor vice-chair, Dubuque Labor-Management Council. Former member, St. Anthony's Parish Council and past president, Loras College Alumni Board of Dubuque. Major awards: Loras College Leader in the Community, KWWL Gold Star Teacher, Northeast Iowa Community College Outstanding Educator, Dubuque Area Labor-Management Council (Member and Partnership awards). Hobbies: Reading and walking.

I've also been really involved with the mentoring program in the Dubuque Community Schools. I've always felt, when I first started teaching, there just wasn't enough support. I think we lost a lot of really good teachers after a couple of years, even three or four years from burnout. So I think our mentoring program has really helped. I helped Jeff Johll write that mentoring program and really got it off the ground. We've been nationally recognized by the Saturn Corp. for our mentoring program. It's something I really believed in strongly. I just got an e-mail from one of my favorite students, who I taught probably 15 years ago (as a sixth-grader). He's in law school right now. He went to teach for a couple of years and now he's applied for law school. A lot of the older kids will come back and visit you. They've grown up and changed so much. But it's just fun to keep in touch with them.

TH:You were a winner of KWWL's Gold Star Teacher Award and now you're on the selection committee. I understand that a school principal can veto the committee's choice.
PB:That has happened. I don't feel that that's a good part of the award, but that was something that the (sponsor) McElroy Trust wanted in there. So we're still ironing that out. There have been a few principals who have said, "This person and I haven't gotten along," so there's been some criticism. It doesn't mean that person won't be selected by the selection board. There have been teachers who have had that comment made and they still have been selected. It's something that we do look at as evidence. I think it's important that when you work in a building that you're a team player. As I said before, I think that the principal has the pulse of the building, so it's probably a good person to ask, but it's just one of the things that we evaluate as a selection committee.

TH: What other issues might be part of contract negotiations?
PB: One issue we've been battling for years now is high school teachers have five-day planning, but elementary people don't. I really feel strongly that's a social injustice.

TH:What is five-day planning?
PB:A planning period during the day that you can sit down and do lesson plans, you can run off papers, you can check papers, do you assessment. If you need to pull a child in and do one-on-one testing, that would be time.

TH:High school teachers get that and elementary teachers don't?
PB:Yeah. In our bargaining issue last year, we didn't put it quite in the contract, but we're working out with each building kind of an agreement that it would be something every building would strive for. It's not something we can actually negotiate, but we're working towards that type of thing.

TH:You mentioned teacher assessments. Who is really qualified, and who's really in a position, to assess the skills and ability and the competency of a classroom teacher?
PB:Well, the No. 1 person should be the principal. A good administrator is in and out of the classroom, and he or she knows the teachers. They usually are the first person to hear about things you're doing wrong. Some parents will come to you, but some will go behind the back door and go to a principal. Also, feedback from parents. When I talk to parents, they give me a lot of feedback. I always say no news is good news. My idea of a criticism is that you can either be real sensitive about it and take it as a negative or you can think of when people criticize you, there must be some reason they would like to see a change in you. So, take it for what it's worth and see what you can do in a different way to improve. Many times when people have criticized me or sometimes even my students will say, "Mrs. Becker, that's really stupid. Do you ever think of doing it this way?" Sometimes their ideas are a lot better because you kind of get into the same ruts all the time. Even parents. They're educating the most valuable thing in their life, so you can understand when a parent is upset if their child comes home and they're upset or angry about something the teacher said or did. I think you have a responsibility to those parents to listen to their criticism. Sometimes they'll come back and tell you that you're doing a great job, too. And those are really good things to hear, too. But I think from an assessment point of view, it should be the administrator. But also it should be the individual teacher. I want to know that I'm improving.