July 20

The start of a new school year is right around the corner and I am as excited about it as I was my first year of teaching over 20 years ago! I often reflect on my first job in education. I was hired as a high school business teacher in Pinetop-Lakeside, Arizona, at Blue Ridge High School.

I didn't realize then how lucky I was to begin my career in education at that wonderful school. I was surrounded by optimistic, positive, and fun-loving people who wanted to do what was best for students every single day. My principal, Mr. Bortin, was not only my boss, but my mentor and coach, and in later years, I'm happy to say my friend. 

When I first applied to Lake as an administrator, I emailed Mr. Bortin and asked him what he thought about my new endeavor. He said I was crazy to go into administration, but that he saw leadership skills in me so many years ago and knew I would do a great job. His confidence in me allowed me to believe in myself because as a classroom teacher of 11 years and a program administrator for seven, making the move to a school administrator can be daunting. 

So now here I sit in my office, ready to begin my seventh year at Lake Elementary, with as much enthusiasm, eagerness, and energy as I had on my first day of teaching. 

Welcome back to our returning students and welcome to our new kindergartners. May you have a wonderful year and come to school every day with enthusiasm and eagerness to learn. I can't wait to see you all on August 8!

Here I Go Again

It's Mrs. Baker again, attending an annual conference that never fails to energize me, challenges me to "think outside the box" of education and to encourage others to be innovative in their teaching and leadership. Yet again, I've been inspired to get back to blogging so we can tell our school's story. No need to go back and read previous blog posts, in a nutshell, my philosophy (as shared by many who have inspired me), if we don't tell our school's story, no one else will, or even worse, it will be the wrong story.

Today's inspiration came from author, principal, innovator, George Couros. My take-away (I had many, mind you, but want to try to stay on point) is that we (educators) need to effectively model technology and its many opportunities it may provide our young people. How has technology impacted our students at Lake, you might be asking?

Did you know that our 5th grade class has pen pals in India this year? Yep, they do! Imagine the opportunity this provides to our students - using a real-life experience to apply writing standards as well as effectively using technology to communicate with others around the world. Many of us may have also had pen pals when we were growing up. I can remember the excitement of getting those letters in the mail and reading what my pen pal had to share. Today's students can move beyond the letter and use FaceTime, Skype, Google Hangout, or other applications to actually converse with their pen pals in real time. What a great opportunity to learn about other cultures firsthand!

Did you know that area schools contact our school to observe ELA curriculum, which includes an online component? They heard we were early adopters and want to see how we're implementing it in our classrooms because they've heard we're doing great things. How awesome is that!! Imagine being really good at something and people want to come watch you do it? That's happening at Lake Elementary!

Did you know that a student emailed me to ask to speak with me regarding a topic that she was concerned about? What a great, responsible way to communicate and advocate for oneself. Again, teaching students the responsible way to use the technology that is all around us should not be lost in our day-to-day teaching.

Did you know that every one of our students and/or classes adopted an elder or family during the holiday season? What does that have to do with technology? On the outset, nothing, yet I should have "tweeted" that awesome community service that everyone of our students participated in as it just might have inspired someone else to do the same. You never know how your good deed might turn into another good deed, yet if no one knows what good deeds we are doing.....see my point? Technology provides us with the opportunity to share the good in the world, to share the good in schools, which sadly, does not often make the headlines.

So here I go again (isn't that a Whitesnake song, oh golly, showing my age, but that is an awesome song!), sharing our story, our Lake story, and all the great things that happen at our school every single day....what's happening at your school?