How does Mrs. Baker change from the beginning to the end of the story in Gary Schmidt's The Wednesday Wars?

In Gary Schmidt's The Wednesday Wars, at first, Mrs. Baker seems to resent the fact that Holling Hoodhood will be left alone in her class every Wednesday afternoon while all other seventh graders are either at Temple Beth-El, attending Hebrew School, or at Saint Adelberts, attending Catechism. She expresses her resentment so much that Holling reaches the conclusion she hates him and is even out to kill him or at least get him in some way. Yet, by the end of the novel, Mrs. Baker helps Holling in multiple ways; she helps him so much that she becomes a role model for him.

Mrs. Baker first expresses her resentment by suggesting to the principle she thinks Holling should retake sixth-grade math; she does so in an effort to get Holling out of her class on Wednesday afternoons. When that effort fails, she resorts to giving him menial chores to do such as cleaning the chalkboards, cleaning chalkboard erasers, carrying 12 trays of cream puffs up to her classroom one tray at a time, and cleaning her pet rats' cage. When some of those tasks end in disaster, Mrs. Baker begins reading Shakespeare with Holling, which Holling is sure, at first, is some sort of torture.

However, the more he reads Shakespeare, the more he learns, and the closer his relationship with Mrs. Baker grows. As their relationship grows, she begins protecting his interests. For example, when Mickey Mantle behaves offensively in a sporting goods store owned by the Bakers, she comes to the rescue. Mickey Mantle refuses to sign Holling's baseball because Holling is still dressed like a fairy after performing Ariel in The Tempest. Holling's friend Danny Hupfer jumps to Holling's defense by refusing to accept the ball Mickey Mantle had just signed for him. When Mrs. Baker hears about the incident, she gives the kids "three brand-new baseballs" and arranges for them to meet Joe Pepitone and Horace Clarke, who sign their baseballs and give them tickets to the Yankees game on Opening Day ("December"). Later, she comes to Holling's rescue when his father neglects to take him to the game. She acts in other kind and encouraging ways as well by coaching Holling in cross-country running and by taking him on a tour of "points of local architectural interest" so that he might decide for himself whether or not he wants to be an architect like his father ("May").