At last night’s Board of Education meeting, Liberty’s teacher of the year Mr. Matthew Barker moved up in the world with his award when he won Teacher of the Year at the district level. Mr. Barker was given a certificate and balloons to celebrate this achievement and many of his students were extremely proud of his accomplishment. 

“He’s understanding, he never loses his temper, he’s intelligent and inspiring,” said junior Madeline Claravall, who currently is in his AP Psychology class. Barker is known around Liberty to be a very eccentric teacher, as he’s known to walk around class playing the guitar and telling life stories that he relates back to the lesson.

Hy Vuong, a junior in his AP Psychology class said, “He taught a student how to play the guitar during class. The student picked up the guitar and asked him how to play. He’s always teaching his students different skills.”

Barker makes teaching entertaining and engaging to the students, where his hands-on lessons leave lasting impressions on students that help them learn challenging, even if they are a little odder than other lessons.

“My favorite activity was when we all went to the bathrooms and flushed the toilets to learn about action potential,” Vito Signaigo stated when talking about Barker’s odd yet memory-lasting lessons. 

In a previous LHStoday.org story, it explains that Barker has been teaching for 15 years but has spent eight years teaching at Liberty. Prior to his tenure at Liberty, Barker taught at McCluer North High School. Barker is known best around Liberty for teaching AP Psychology, though this year he also teaches sociology and U.S. History. The experience that he brings to the classroom helps students learn college level information in unusual yet exciting ways, and to his students it makes sense why he won District Teacher of the Year, and will be in the running later this school year for State Teacher of the Year.