Mrs. Nicole Toothaker’s classroom is the type of classroom you would only find in a movie. Take one step inside, and all you want is to be taught there. 

Her room consists of beautiful flower art on top of newly painted ocean blue walls. The class seemed to be brightened from her Buddha statue that sits right below an outstanding triptych map of the world. 

The students in her seventh-grade middle school class were very happy and seemed to enjoy the activity they were working on in class, along with learning from Mrs. Toothaker, when two Triton Voice reporters visited.

When she was in elementary school, Toothaker struggled in school with reading. Her goal for her career in teaching is that she continues to find the drive to help others, and teaches them the same way she was taught all those years ago. 

“She got me an entire stack of Amelia Bedelia books for my birthday” is what Toothaker said about her 2nd-grade teacher Ms. Duffy, who inspired her to start a teaching career. 

Toothaker comes from a family of teachers. Her older sister is a 2nd-grade teacher in New York, and her younger sister is a middle school math teacher in Lawrence. Out of all three, she was the first to get into teaching. Both of her sisters changed their careers. 

Toothaker went to Southern New Hampshire University and Lesley College to major in history and minor in education. She also went on to get her master’s in Special Education. 

Toothaker works under Mr. Alan MacRae, principal, and Mrs. Heidi Mongeau, assistant principal of Triton middle school. Both had good words to say about Toothaker and see a great amount of potential for her teaching career at the school. 

“She is very engaging to students and has a very inclusive style.  Everyone participates and is heard in her class,” said MacRae. He believes she makes students feel like they are the priority, and said in an email that “she has great confidence about her and a very positive personality!” 

Mongeau shared a similar sentiment to MacRae’s. 

“Mrs. Toothaker is passionate about teaching and learning and is willing to share her ideas with her colleagues.” 

Both MacRae and Mongeau pointed out that Toothaker held an “archeological dig” activity, that MacRae says “brought a hands-on approach to Social Studies.  Not something we often see in that content.” 

Before coming to Triton this year, Toothaker left her teaching job at Lawrence High School. She left because the commitment at the school would interfere with her spending time with her kids. 

Prior to leaving Lawrence High, Toothaker established the women’s soccer team at the school. She worked there for 10 years and coached her soccer team along the way. When Toothaker was faced with a future plan to coach the soccer team here at Triton, she stated in an email, “For sure, when my kids are a little older! I stopped when my son was younger because I was dragging him to all my practices.”