Matt Baker builds connections at Mazon-Verona-Kinsman

Matt Baker thought he’d be a journalist, but a love for the classrooms of his youth was always in the back of his mind, so he changed his plans at the University of Illinois.

Immediately after earning his teaching degree, he found himself back at the beginning at Mazon-Verona-Kinsman Middle School, his alma mater. The school is home to about 140 fifth through eighth graders.

“It seemed like something I was supposed to do,” said Baker, who teaches seventh-grade history and English language arts and serves as head coach of boys basketball.

He grew up on a farm in rural Verona and attended Seneca High School, playing basketball in middle school and high school.

He lives in Morris with his wife, Stacey, and two sons. Seven-year-old Luke is a first grader and 4-year-old Nathan attends preschool. His wife is a guidance counselor and the head of student services at Oswego High School.

When he first joined the Mazon-Verona-Kinsman faculty in 2013, one of his former teachers was then the principal, Debbie Paulsen, and several former instructors suddenly became co-workers.

Baker picked up the mantle of imparting English language arts, his class incorporating lots of writing and reading, including numerous novels, along with honing comprehension skills and teaching the craft of writing, with his mantra, “Practice, practice, practice.”

“I try to keep it light, keep it loose,” he said of his approach to the classroom of 12- and 13-year-olds.

“I read with them, read to them a lot,” he said, noting some of the students didn’t grow up with bedtime stories.

He said he changes his voice here and there as he reads aloud, all to make the language sing.

“Some kids have never heard somebody read,” Baker said.

In his social studies course, he covers American history through the Civil War. And it falls to Baker to prepare students for the “notorious U.S. Constitution test they have to pass,” he said.

In “2023, I was fortunate to be selected to go to the Washington, D.C. teacher conference at the National Archives: Civics for All of US,“ he said of the weeklong July program he applied for and attended while his family went sightseeing in the U.S. capital. ”It was awesome. They took us around to different museums, [including] our own private employee-led time in the [National Archives] rotunda.”

The rotunda is home to the original Declaration of Independence, U.S. Constitution and Bill of Rights. Baker was one of about 20 teachers invited to the conference.

“Last year, I was able to reconnect with one of the employees at the National Archives,” Baker said. “He led an online webinar on the Bill of Rights with my students over Zoom. I met a lot of great people there. Their job is to work with educators, [making] a lot of resources available to teachers.”

Baker is known for broadening expertise both for himself and others.

“We appreciate everything Mr. Baker does for the district,” Principal Tony DiNello said. “He serves as a mentor not just to students but to some of our staff as well.

“I value the relationships he has built with the students – his ability to use the relationships to keep the kids accountable both in the classroom and on the basketball court," DiNello said. “He’s constantly researching new ideas and attending professional development and adapting his teaching lessons to keep his students engaged and best meet the needs of the students.”

Baker just completed his ninth year as the boys basketball head coach, preceded by three years of coaching girls basketball.

He’s learned to take himself less seriously over the years, he said.

“When I first started coaching, I thought I was Bob Knight, John Wooden, Mike Krzyzewski – ‘Coach K,’” Baker said, noting he then realized nobody’s career depends on the outcome of games at that age. “I worry a lot less about winning and losing each individual game.”

He hopes that kids enjoy the sports experience and stay involved through high school. This season, his seventh-grade team were regional champs.

Baker said coaching means “getting to see those kids in a different light, and they see a different side of me. ... [My] seventh-grade students … by the time February rolls around, got to be so sick of me. I see more [of them] than my own family for a few months out of the year. I enjoy it a lot. It’s a huge commitment. I wouldn’t do it if I didn’t enjoy the sport, didn’t enjoy the competition of it – helping kids get better at something.”

He’s grateful for his wife putting up with the absences and for his family being among the team’s biggest fans.