Alan Baird is a Teacher at Kraxberger Middle School. He possess expertise in curriculum design, team building, community outreach, classroom, teaching and 6 more skills. Colleagues describe him as ""Yes. Yep. You bet." Administrators counted on Mr. Baird, ever the team player, to be amenable to yet another change in his schedule. "Will you teach English this year? We want you in this pilot program integrating academics with CTE. We need more sections of US History this year and you can do it. Will you join Site Council for another term?" With his endorsements in both English and Social Studies, over the years I saw a variety of vice-principals call on Alan to be the solution to their giant puzzle, the Master Schedule. His nice-guy temperament, depth of curricular knowledge, and breadth of instructional skills make Alan a valued staff member. Students feel seen by Mr. Baird. He's accepting and engaging, welcoming and warm. Never a "sage on the stage" type of Subject Matter Expert, this is a teacher who shares his wonderings about a topic and inspires students to be curious too. Everyone feels included in the learning families that Mr. Baird creates every period of the day. Even before we used the term "trauma-informed" this teacher was co-creating a safe learning environment with his students. Kids and colleagues count on Baird to bring the fun too. He can gamify a lesson or assessment and crack a "Dad joke" for the students, but he can also slay his coworkers at lunch with snappy repartee or light-hearted observations. When he leans in with that arched eyebrow, you just know he's going to deliver a great story. If alliterative headlines were encouraged for LinkedIn recommendations, this one might say "Favorite Teacher: Forthright, Fair and Fun!""