When Santa Rosa’s Bellevue Elementary School and Meadow View Elementary School found themselves unexpectedly in need of a music teacher last year, they approached Baron with a job offer. Because she hadn’t spent much time teaching kids, she hesitated at first, but then thought, “I’m nine anyway! Why not?"
Baron, who drives to school in a hot pink and lime green Honda that matches her Scooby-Doo–themed
office, likes to teach music through theater. “It’s more fun. You get to wear a costume,” she says.
She believes in getting as much student input as she can. So she uses a purchased script for a plot outline, and then lets the kids create their own characters and dialogue, relying on improvisation to shake out the good ideas. This year her students are working on a play about pirates.
“I have this one girl who loves to [say] Arrrrgh! When I had her come up with her pirate name, she wanted
to be Rosalinda. [So] I said when we introduce the pirates to the stowaway, we’re going [to say,] ‘This
is Rosalinda. It starts with an Arrrrgh!’” she recounts, laughing.
Her kids are thriving with her unconventional, off-the-cuff teaching style. And the Bellevue principal has been impressed with what Baron has been able to do in a short period of time, she says...
