Mr. Bauer's Profile

5th Grade Teacher

Phone: 262-253-3465 email: tbauer@gsdwi.org

This is my 26th year teaching at County Line, my 27th year in the Germantown School District, and my 29th year in education overall. I received my Bachelor of Arts Degree at UW-Whitewater in 1995. I was also involved in many athletic activities in high school, including football and baseball. At UW-Whitewater, I was the starting place-kicker for the UW-Whitewater football team for four years. I received my Master's in Educational Technology from Marian University in 2009. I have been very happily married for over 28 years to my wife, Michelle. Michelle has worked at TCI Inc. (Transcoil) as an HR Manager for the company since 2004. We have one daughter, Sierra (Bauer) Miller, who will be turning 25 in December. She is living in Juneau, WI, with her husband, Cory Miller. Sierra is working full-time at Maxim Healthcare in Madison and previously taught fastpitch softball pitching lessons in Waunakee. My son-in-law works for BASCO Inc. and is an apartment manager at Hartford Oriole Ponds. He was just promoted from their apartment complex in Watertown. They celebrated their 3rd Anniversary this past summer on June 24th.  Sierra graduated from HUHS in 2018 and was the captain of the Hartford Varsity Softball Team during her senior year. However, four surgeries on her left arm cut her college softball-playing days short. We live in Hartford with our very spoiled black lab, Callie, who is 8.5 years old! (Another addition six years ago was our daughter's chocolate lab, Remmy, who is full of energy!) Yet another addition to Sierra & Cory in late August 2022 is Be(Nelli), an adorable German Short Hair Pointer.

I grew up in Germantown and attended County Line Elementary (at least CL has changed), KMS, & GHS! When I have free time, I like to spend time with my family, fishing, hunting, spending time at our cabin along the Mississippi River (just north of Ferryville), and watching many sports. Go Packers, Badgers, Marquette, Bucks, & Brewers! (Yes, we are Packer Shareholders!)

My Goals For My Class/Team

My main goal for my class is a learning lab environment that allows students to succeed and develops educational technology activities for my students. I focus on the current technology and essential skills, which are: collaboration, critical thinking, communication, inquiry, & creativity. It is all right to make mistakes, and we learn from our mistakes.  In my learning lab, I focus on the positives more than the negatives, so that my students can be successful. I focus on having a Growth Mindset. We all make mistakes, but do not make the same mistake over and over. I also have my students participate in numerous cooperative learning activities and incorporate a wide range of technology use in my classroom. In my class, we are known as a TEAM and not a class. This means that everyone has a job to do and is a piece of our TEAM puzzle. Another thing I emphasize is allowing the students to take charge of their own learning and allowing them to take chances in the room. My main class rule is RESPECT, EVERYONE! I find that my students learn as much in the classroom as they do out. So, I take those experiences and incorporate them into my class. Just like some famous people said:

"We would accomplish many more things if we did not think of them as impossible."

-- Vince Lombardi

"The best way to predict the future is to invent it."

-- Alan Kay

"I have never let my schooling interfere with my education."

-- Mark Twain

“The difference between a successful person and others is not a lack of

strength, not a lack of knowledge, but rather in a lack of will.”

-– Vince Lombardi

All of this includes our school's plan and motto:

CARING, SHARING, LEARNING, FOR LIFE!!

I hope my team will remember this for their life also!