Middle School

Mr. Taylor Serving As Student Teacher For 8th Grade United States History

Alan VanTilburg

April 11, 2005

Mr. Ted Taylor, from Chadron State College is working with Mr. Van Tilburg during April and part of May in United States History as a student teacher. Mr. Taylor is from Ogallala and is the son of two former educators. Mr. Taylor brings a wealth of life experiences into the classroom.

He first served in the Marine Corps from 1983-1987 as a Sergeant. Two of those years were spent in Japan. Later he was activated for Desert Storm in 1991 and then re-activated again for Operation Iraqi Freedom. "One experience I had in the streets of Korea that has helped me in the classroom was when some Korean children made it abundantly clear that kids are kids the world over. It was so interesting because another Marine and I were going to cross the street at a round-about (where six streets come into one circle) and they gave us the international sign to stop (the kids did). As we waited for all the strings of traffic to come upon us, finally they signaled for us to cross the street. The group of about five or six kids just about the time just as we stepped on their side of the street, they signaled us to go back and started laughing. They literally saved our lives with all the traffic and yet were having some fun with us at the same time. No language was ever exchanged, just the use of hand signals," said Mr. Taylor. Mr. Taylor went on to say that without their help, the two men would have had to backtrack two miles, or risk their lives crossing the very busy streets at that time.

Mr. Taylor has jumped right in and started teaching with the 8th graders and he has been received very well according to Mr. Van Tilburg. "I have found the kids at AMS to be pleasant to work with and that has been neat."