About Mr. K.

Hello!

Welcome to LMS and thank you for looking at my webpage!  I am excited to be able to teach America's future about the history of our country while helping prepare them for their future.  It is my goal to try to make history interesting to my students by sharing the story and connections rather than just focusing on the dates, people and facts of the times.  It is my hope that when they leave my classroom, they have an appreciation of where we've been as a nation while being prepared to succeed in high school and beyond.

As for me, I'm originally a native of Wisconsin that moved to Missouri while I was in elementary.  Graduating from a small, rural high school, I value that small-town education and wanted to teach in a similar setting because I think it gives teachers a better chance to understand and work with students to help them better comprehend the material.

I'm a proud Northwest Missouri State University graduate, earning both my Bachelor of Science in Social Studies Education (1998) and my Masters of Arts in History (2005).  I was a member of the percussion section both in the Bearcat Marching Band as well as the Northwest Wind Symphony.  

I have been in the education field since I graduated college, having been in public education since then with the exception of five years when I worked for the Northwest Upward Bound Program.  I began my career at Lawson in 2005, starting off teaching Early American History, Web Design, and Civics.  Since then, I've gotten to sponsor the Middle School Student Council (since 2007), be the assistant high school baseball coach which included a 2022 3rd place state finish (2011-2022), Middle School Academic Team (since 2013),  read for the High School Academic Team (since 2022), football statistician (2017-2021), lead the Middle School football chain crew (2009-2019) and worked as the Middle School/JV Football Announcer (since 2019), Varsity/JV  Softball Announcer (since 2023), Varsity/JV Baseball Announcer (since 2023), and Emcee'd for Robotics meets (since 2023) as well as helped with the Lawson Cardinal Drum Line (2006 and since 2016).  Today I teach Early American History and Current Events.  Each year presents new goals, challenges, and successes!  Most recently I've become the announcer for the University of  Central Missouri Mules football team (since 2024) and UCM Jennies Volleyball team (since 2025).  I was also recognized by the Veterans of Foreign Wars (VFW) as the 2010-2011 Missouri Middle School Teacher of the Year and was a 2020 Missouri State Teacher of the Year Semi-Finalist.

On a personal note, I met my wife, Heather, in college and we were married in 1999 and celebrated the arrival of our daughter, Allison, ten years later.  Being a Wisconsin native, I enjoy rooting for the Green Bay Packers, Milwaukee Brewers, and UW Badgers, but have also found myself rooting for the KC Royals since I've moved here!  I love flying helicopters and have slowly started working toward a private license.

Thank you again for stopping off at my webpage.  I'm looking forward to another great year and working with your students!

Sincerely,

Mr. Joseph Koeberl