Falmouth High School art teacher Jane Baker recognized for innovative approach to teaching
For Falmouth High School teacher Jane Baker, teaching art is not just kids in a classroom painting on canvas or sketching with charcoal on drawing paper.
“In my program, we take field trips and the kids are able to get out of the classroom, go into the community and learn,” said Baker, who has been teaching for about 20 years. “We go to different science labs and historical parts of town and draw things based on the experiences.”
Her peers have recognized her for her innovative approach to art education. Baker was selected as one of the semifinalists at the Wasabi Fenway Bowl’s fourth annual Honor Roll this year.
The Honor Roll recognizes educators across New England for their dedication to students and their communities. Thirty educators from New England were featured this year, according to a Dec. 11 announcement. The finalists were selected from over 300 submissions.
On the Honor Roll website, all the chosen teachers are shown on mock-up baseball cards, featuring their photos, with teaching information on the back. Baker's info reads: "Jane Baker not only brings experts across many diverse disciplines (scientists, historians, writers and community advocates) to help her students understand the ways that life and our surroundings can inspire art, she takes her students out of the classroom and into the environment for a full sensory immersion."
Each of the semifinalists received a $400 grant to support their classroom and school.
Baker, a director and advisor to the National Art Honor Society, teaches drawing and painting to students in grades 9-12.
“I am honored to be recognized as a semifinalist,” said Baker. “There's not a lot of recognition for teachers and so it's nice that there are recognitions like this where teachers get applauded because that doesn't happen very often.”
As a visual art teacher, Baker not only focuses on the materials and processes of art but to give her students an arts education that they can apply to their future endeavors outside of Falmouth High School.
Baker, who was born in Falmouth and went to Falmouth High, takes an innovative approach in her teaching. The students’ work is not just classwork, she said. She encourages them to do different things that can be memorable for them as well as building valuable art skills.
“It's great to see the kids evolve through the process and then by senior year, they're making these great works of art,” said Baker. “They don't all necessarily go to art school, but it's a skill that they can use in their lives, a coping mechanism that they can turn to for the rest of their lives.”
Baker was interested in art from early childhood. Her grandmother was an artist and Baker's early memories are of painting with her.
Also a professional printmaker, Baker graduated with an art major from Smith College in Northampton. While at Smith, she decided to be an art teacher and went to Massachusetts College of Art and got her master's degree.
Baker has been honored for her skills before. In 2015, the Arts Foundation of Cape Cod named her Cape & Islands Art Educator of the Year.
This year, Baker also designed the Falmouth Road Race poster.
The grants received by the teachers are provided by the Wasabi Fenway Bowl in partnership with Extra Yard for Teachers, Samuel Adams, Amica Mutual Insurance, Moderna and Meet Boston, and can be redeemed on DonorsChoose.org to assist in the purchase of classroom equipment and materials.
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This article originally appeared on Cape Cod Times: Falmouth teacher Jane Baker Wasabi Fenway Bowl Honor Roll semifinalist
