Deanna Baird, a German teacher and foreign language curriculum leader at the Upper St. Clair School District was recently recognized as Pennsylvania’s Foreign Language Educator of the Year.
She received her Educator of the Year award at the Pennsylvania State Modern Language Association state conference, which was held at the Wyndham Pittsburgh Airport Hotel on October 22 and 23.
Explaining what makes her teaching different, Baird said she tries to get her students to think in ways they have never thought before. She tries to get her students to think globally.
Students in Baird’s classes also participate in several “real world” activities to help them connect what they’ve learned in the classroom.
Baird has worked to set up exchange programs where students are able to actually travel to Germany and experience life in another country. German students also visit Upper St. Clair for a few weeks to get a feel for American culture.
Another project Baird’s students participate in is an international marketing competition. The students work to market a product internationally, which requires that they research the culture they are targeting.
Baird is the daughter of the late David and Kitty Morrison of Tyrone and is a 1968 graduate of Tyrone High School. She received a BS in German Education from Indiana University of Pennsylvania in 1972 and later received her MA in German Language and Literature from Middlebury College and Johannes Gutenberg Universitaet in Mainze, Germany.
Baird has been teaching foreign language for 32 years and currently resides in Mt. Lebanon with her husband, Richard. The couple has two grown daughters, Jessie and Margot.
