Baker calls teaching rewarding experience

by Desarea Autry, staff writer

Teaching has always been a passion for Tom Baker, but getting to his dream job was not always easy.

After teaching at various schools, Baker is now instructor in mathematics at South Plains College’s Reese Center campus.  Baker was born and raised in Amarillo.  He says his mother was your typical 1960s housewife, while his father was  enlisted in the United States Air Force.

Unlike most military children, Baker didn’t have to move around as a child. His father was stationed at Amarillo Air Force Base for the last 10 to 11 years of his career.

Like most boys growing up, he enjoyed playing all different sports, including  football, basketball, and even tennis. In high school, he joined the wrestling team, where he also met Coach Kyle, a man who Baker says was the most influential teacher he had growing up.

“ He was able to get everything out of me that I had and some,” Baker says. “He did it in a way that was very authoritarian, but on the same hand still personable.”

Baker finished high school in the top five of his class out of 730 students and graduated as the top male student. He went on to study at Amarillo College for three semesters before moving to Lubbock. He attended Texas Tech University, where he received a bachelor of sciences degree in 1974.

“ I finished my bachelor’s degree in three and a half years,” Baker says. “I was not one of those students who saw college as a party time. I was very focused on school. I knew I wanted to finish and start working right away.”

After college, Baker worked at various jobs in the public school system. He taught everything from elementary students, to junior high, and high school. For a short time, he even taught at a Christian college.

After being unhappy working for the public school system for many years, Baker made the decision to take a break from teaching. He took a job selling cars until his son Josh Baker told him about a job opening at SPC.

“ I told Josh that I had already applied before and they didn’t want me,” Baker says. “But Josh kept saying, ‘Dad, you need to go apply. They are looking for four new math teachers, and you really need to do this.”

 Josh Baker had been teaching at SPC for a year before his father decided to apply.

“ Yep, Josh worked here before I did,” Baker says.  “He was so happy with his job. I kind of followed in his footsteps.” 

Baker says of  the interview process, “ I had to prepare a lesson I would teach; prepare a test I would give; and then I had an interview. I taught three professors from the department my lesson, and they didn’t act like professors. They acted like kids. They answered wrong; they answered dumb stuff; they wanted to see how I would respond to that. It was a great interview. I loved it! It was a great joy to show them what I could do in a classroom.”

Since starting at South Plains College, Baker says that he could not be happier.

“ I tell people that since I started here I have died and gone to teacher heaven,” he says. “Growing up, I thought the most boring job one could have was being a teacher, doing the same thing day in and day out.”

After teaching for a few years, Baker said that he learned, “ Every class, every student has its own personality.”

After talking with Baker for a few minutes, one will quickly learn that he has a strong open-door policy and is always willing to stop whatever he is doing to help a student.

“My whole view is that I’m here for students,” Baker says. “If I’m here grading papers, I will put the papers aside. That’s my job, is to be with students, and that’s the way I do it.”

Baker says that he wants his students to be able to reach out to him whenever they need help. To help with “math jitters,” he lets them know that he was not a great math student either.

“I still make mistakes in class, and I’m not embarrassed about it, ” Baker says. “It happens. The first thing I tell my students is that I’m not going to try to turn them into mathematicians. I don’t want them to be able to talk all the jargon and sound like someone who is a math major. It seems to put a lot of students at ease.”

Baker is not only a devoted teacher but a devoted family man as well. He has been married to his wife Diana for 33 years. Diana runs her own dance studio, where she teaches tap, ballot, and jazz to children from age 3 to high school students.

School is very important in the Baker home, and they instilled this value in all three of their children growing up. Josh Baker, the oldest of their children, has taught at South Plains College for seven years. He is also married with a young son named Benjamin. Another son, Jonathan Baker, attended SPC before in enlisting in the United States Marines. He is now a student at West Texas A&M, where he is studying range and wildlife biology. Cassie Baker, the youngest, was also a student at South Plains College, and will be graduating from Texas Tech University with a degree in human science and family development.

“ I always wanted to have a positive influence on society, on students, on people,” Baker says. “Other than becoming a parent, becoming a teacher was they other way I could have a positive influence on people’s lives.”

As for the advice he gives to students who want to become teachers, he says, “First, I would tell them to sign up as a substitute in public school. That’s where almost everyone starts. They need to know what that experience is like long before they make a commitment that teaching is what they want to do. It can be frustrating, and math people tend to be very dry and black and white. That can get you into trouble.”

He does not want to deter any student from becoming a teacher, but he sums up his advice by saying, “ Experience it before you commit to it!”

Being a teacher and a parent has been the most rewarding experience in Baker’s life. When asked about his plans after teaching, his answer was simple, “After teaching? I don’t ever see myself not teaching. I just love this job. I can’t get here soon enough. I hate to leave. I hate when the semesters are over, and I can’t wait for the next one to start.”   

Photo by Brenda Cuellar/Plainsman Press