Maleah:
Ok. So, what classes do you teach?
Ms. Beyries
I only teach 8th Grade English.
Maleah
Ok. What’s your favorite part about teaching that class?
Ms. Beyries
I love reading novels and teaching novels.
Maleah
Have you ever taught any other grades besides 8th grade?
Ms. Beyries
Yes, I taught 7th Grade English, 7th Grade Science, and 2nd Grade.
Maleah
What’s your favorite grade to teach?
Ms. Beyries
8th grade.
Maleah
Why do you like that grade?
Ms. Beyries
Because they’re just old enough where you can treat them almost like high schoolers but they don’t have to be babied and have their hands held through everything. Some do –don’t get me wrong– but, it’s just that age where they’re almost acting like adults but not quite so you can still have fun with them too.
Maleah
Yeah. Do you enjoy teaching English?
Ms. Beyries
I do.
Maleah
Have you ever taught any of the other classes besides English?
Ms. Beyries
Yeah, I taught seventh-grade science. So, and then of course, in second grade you teach all the subjects.
Maleah
Do you like science or English more?
Ms. Beyries
Oh English, I was not prepared to teach science.
Maleah
Why did you become a teacher?
Ms. Beyries
It’s actually very interesting. I actually didn’t graduate with my bachelor’s degree until 2014. So, I was much older in my thirties, and I hadn’t really decided what I wanted to do with my life. So I got married and had kids young, and then decided, as they were going through school, that I wanted to also help kids through school as I was helping my own children.
Maleah
Did you initially think you were going to be a teacher when you went to school?
Ms. Beyries
When I went directly out of high school, I thought I was going to be a dental hygienist. And so I got my certificate in dental assisting, decided I really hated looking at people’s teeth, and decided that wasn’t for me. So then I got my certificate, passed on my state boards, and then decided it just wasn’t for me. So then I just kind of hopped from job to job, just to help take care of my family until I decided really what I wanted to do.
Maleah
Why did you want to be a dental health dentist?
Ms. Beyries
That was at my parents’ urging. So I listened to my parents a lot about what they thought I should do, instead of really diving deep, and thinking about what I wanted to do.
Maleah
Yeah. So if you weren’t a teacher, what would you be?
Ms. Beyries
Probably a crime scene analyst?
Maleah
Oh, what makes you say that?
Ms. Beyries
I love watching crime scenes. Like true, I guess true-life murders and things like that. I love watching how they solve crimes. Forensics actually interests me and I’ve actually passed that on to my youngest son. So he’s actually studying forensics right now and it’s just always been very interesting to me, especially like the behavior analyst units where they use psychology and psychiatry to try to figure out who the serial killers are.
Maleah
So, I know you just came to BASIS Peoria when you started teaching 8th-grade English. Did you teach it at any of the schools besides a BASIS school?
Ms. Beyries
Yeah, this is my third school. I’ve only taught at charter schools. So I taught at Canyon Pointe Academy when I taught second grade. And then I spent the next seven years at Arizona Conservatory for arts and academics.
Maleah
What made you choose to teach at BASIS?
Ms. Beyries
Honestly, the caliber of students, I like their drive for education. I like the fact that they’re very well-behaved. They make teaching easy.
Maleah
Where did you go to college?
Ms. Beyries
I went to North Central University which is a private university. It’s an online university and then I got my master’s at Grand Canyon University, which is also a private Christian college.
Maleah
What is your favorite part about the college experience?
Ms. Beyries
That’s hard to say because of both my bachelor’s and my master’s degree. I did it all online, which I liked– it was perfect for me as a mom and a full-time worker. It just made it easier for me to attend school and get my degrees.
Maleah
So, you’re a mom? Do your kids go to a BASIS school or somewhere else?
Ms. Beyries
They do not. My two older ones are out of high school. They’re in college. They’re college-age. My daughter is halfway through getting her degree in teaching. My son has yet to figure out what he wants to do with his life, but my youngest son goes to Arizona State University Digital Preparatory. He has jumped ahead in several classes. So putting him in online school is a lot easier because he can move at his own pace and move up when he needs to.
Maleah
Did you ever live anywhere other than Arizona?
Ms. Beyries
I did. I lived in California. In my freshman year of high school, my dad was transferred to the Bay Area up in California in Northern California; I spent about 12 years there and then moved back to Arizona.
Maleah
Did you like it better than Arizona?
Ms. Beyries
I mean, I like the beach. I like that. It’s not so hot but it was way too expensive to live there.
Maleah
So, do any of your family members live in Arizona?
Ms. Beyries
All of them except my sister, my older sister.
Maleah
OK. What is your favorite book?
Ms. Beyries
Ivanhoe.
Maleah
What’s that book about?
Ms. Beyries
It’s set in medieval times which is one of my favorite time periods to read about. I love knights in shining armor. I just love that time period, like the Arthurian time periods. You know, it’s just my favorite time period. I actually read that in high school. In my senior year of high school, we could take regular, 12th-grade English, or we could take British literature; I took British literature and I just fell in love with it.
Maleah
What is your favorite part of English to teach?
Ms. Beyries
I love teaching novels and I love teaching writing.
Maleah
Why do you enjoy it? Teaching English?
Ms. Beyries
I love teaching English because I am an avid reader. And if there’s one thing that I can get students to do, it’s to read for fun. I think that –I don’t know about the kids here at school– you have to read so much for your academics that oftentimes reading for pleasure and enjoyment is pushed away. I know that my husband didn’t; he hated reading, and now as an adult, I’ve got him into reading. He listens to a lot of audible books and listens to them in the car on the way to and from work. He reads a whole lot more than he ever did as a kid.
Maleah
So, other than reading, what are some of your hobbies?
Ms. Beyries
Let’s see, uh, playing with my pig. I like teaching him new tricks.
Maleah
You have a pig.
Ms. Beyries
I do I have a pet pig. Yeah, his name is Kronk. He is about 125 pounds. He’s an indoor-outdoor pig, which means he lives basically the same way a dog does, he has a dog door, and he goes outside, does his business, and comes back in. Pigs are really lazy but they’re also really, really intelligent. They also have the mentality of a three-year-old. So sometimes they would throw tantrums and it’s fun; but he has been taught to shake hands and turn in a circle– a lot of pigs have learned to play the piano. They’re just fun because they’re so intelligent.
Maleah
Do you have any other pets?
Ms. Beyries
I do. I have two dogs and 6 cats.
Maleah
6 cats wow. What made you want to have all those pets.
Ms. Beyries
My daughter and I are bleeding hearts for strays. So we take in a lot of strays when we find them and then if we can’t find them a home, we don’t like to give them to shelters so we keep them home.
Maleah
So, my sister said I had to ask this question but what is your favorite flower?
Ms. Beyries
My favorite flower is the sunflower.
Maleah
Why?
Ms. Beyries
You know that saying about a pineapple, like stand tall and wear a crown. Have you ever seen sunflowers, in the wild? I think they grow on these really large stocks. They’re like really massively big and, they turn towards the sun, so they’re a very cheery flower. So that’s why I like them.
Maleah
Is there something that you wish that we taught at BASIS that isn’t already taught?
Ms. Beyries
I think the younger students could use the typing class and shortcuts on the computer because when I get typed essays, I notice that oftentimes they don’t use the space bar between sentences, so they’re kind of pushed together. Those are just some basic elements that they’re missing when they are typing their essays, and that drives me crazy.
Maleah
What other classes if you were able to, would you want to teach at BASIS?
Ms. Beyries
Personally, I actually contemplated asking them to let me teach a novels class where all we do is read novels and analyze them. I didn’t because it’s my first year and I didn’t want to get my head in too deep, but I would teach a novels class where all we did was read.
Maleah
What was your favorite class in high school?
Ms. Beyries
My dance class. Yeah. I was actually on the dance team. In high school, in California, they’re called drill teams, and they dance during football season with the marching band and then the second part of the year is dance competition season.
Maleah
What was your least favorite class?
Ms. Beyries
Math. always struggled in math. I had to work very hard.
Maleah
What is your favorite food?
Ms. Beyries
Mexican food. Any type of Mexican food.
Maleah
Why do you like Mexican food?
Ms. Beyries
I could eat it every day, like chips and salsa and chimichangas. It doesn’t matter, I can eat it all. Like my husband can’t have Mexican food two days in a row. So, for me, I can totally eat it multiple days in a row because there are so many different things that you can eat, and I just love it, but I grew up in Arizona so I grew up on Mexican food, you know, and, that’s all my parents. If it wasn’t Mexican food, it was Italian food.
Maleah
Okay, last question, what advice would you give your eighth-grade students going into high school next year?
Ms. Beyries
Oh, my goodness. Actually, I did give them some advice because a lot of them have been coming to me and asking me to sign slips so that they can all go to the same high school: Mountain Ridge. I told them to stick together and have each other’s back.
Maleah
Well, thank you.
Ms. Beyries
You’re very welcome.
