Home / News & Publications / Michigan Catholic News / 2009 / Teacher honored for being a technology leader
Teacher honored for being a technology leader
by Kristin Lukowksi of The Michigan Catholic
Published August 21, 2009
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Kristin Lukowski | The Michigan Catholic
Larry Baker is a government and English teacher at Mercy High School, Farmington Hills. |
Farmington Hills - Updating Web sites, posting blogs and listening to podcasts might seem to be the territory of a computer guru or software developer - or even the average teen. But for Larry Baker, it's just another day in the classroom.
Baker, who teaches English and government at Mercy High School, Farmington Hills, was selected to join the Apple Distinguished Educator Class of 2009 Program, one of 52 educators from around the country and two from Michigan. Apple Distinguished Educators attended a summer institute in Orlando this past July, in a professional development program in partnership with Apple and Full Sail University.
"I really like the opportunities that it gives us," he said of the technology. "I believe I was chosen based on the variety of things I was experimenting with."
An Apple representative said although it doesn't make its list of Apple Distinguished Educators public, to the best of its knowledge there are no other Catholic school educators in Michigan.
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Kristin Lukowski | The Michigan Catholic
Larry Baker relies heavily on computers and online information for his government and English classes, and has made his government classes bookless. |
Baker, who has been at Mercy for 34 years, uses technology especially in his American government class; in fact, he no longer uses a textbook. Instead, he pulls information from online, which is one thing he stressed as part of filling out what he called the elaborate Apple Educator application process.
In addition to bringing technology into the classroom, the bookless curriculum has a couple of other benefits: it saves paper, as journals and assignments are all done on the computer, and it allows information to be up-to-the-minute, as textbooks go out of date with elections and passing of new laws.
"It's pretty easy to swap that stuff in and out of a bookless class," he said.
Among the other projects he's worked on in class was a Wikipedia online encyclopedia project, on which students collaborated and built resources for their classmates, and a civil rights/civil liberties project, for which each student simulated a role in the lawmaking progress, from lobbyist to president. The Web sites of all 87 students were interlinked, so they could visit all their classmates' sites with a few clicks.
This year, he hopes to make his Advanced Placement Government class bookless, too. With government, there are myriad resources online with articles and recordings, and he'll add his own lectures and resources, too.
Although Baker acknowledged that, at age 55, he's a bit older than the typical tech-savvy teacher, "I'm very pleased to defy that stereotype," he said. He's always been interested in personal computing, he said, and over the past couple of years thrown himself into using it with education.
He keeps in touch with his students through his class Web site and e-mail, through which he's used to answering homework questions, he said. And being available through technology works both ways: "They would not think anything of having something due on Sunday," he said of his students.
Having students post all their work online, and even have discussions online, frees up some class time for more leaning: "It didn't have to happen in class to be worthwhile," he said. Also, having an online assignment calendar keeps the students from falling behind if they have to miss class.
Baker said it did take a bit of adjustment for the students, too, as even though they're the digital generation, they're still used to textbooks and paper homework. "Doing anything technically with the students, we assume they're wizards, but there's an adjustment with students, too," he said.
Although Baker said he doesn't use technology just to use it, instead tying to find a real benefit to either him or his students, he said the students will surely use their technology skills in other areas of life, too. Because technology changes so fast, he worries more about learning one aspect he knows will be around for a while more than trying to keep up with new developments.
"It's very stimulating - I've kind of found a second life with the technology," he said.
Through the Apple program, he learned about Apple products helped develop materials, and learned now applications can be used in the classroom. He'd gotten to know many of the teachers beforehand through their own networking site, Apple Learning Initiative.
When Baker is not teaching, he enjoys cycling, recently losing 70 pounds through that hobby. He also formerly coached girls' basketball, and was named to the Catholic League Hall of Fame before he retired from coaching in 1996. He also likes music, films and spending time with his family.
Baker's blog, Larry's Opinion Drive-Thru, is at http://larryrthoughts.blogspot.com; he also runs a site with a collection of links, tools and tips at http://webwarrior.weebly.com with graphic designer Rick Strobl.
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