The start of the 2024-2025 school year brings many new teachers along with it, one of which is Mr. Andrew Taylor, a Special Education teacher here at Arcadia High School (AHS).
Mr. Taylor, a California State University, Northridge graduate, studied film and multimedia in college. Initially, he wasn’t interested in pursuing a career in teaching at all, despite his mother, aunt, and brother all being teachers. That all changed after college when he got the opportunity to go to Malaysia to teach a variety of subjects: English, Culinary Arts, Sports, Track and Field, Basketball, and Debate.
“I ended up [in Malaysia] teaching high school for two years,” said Mr. Taylor. ”That really was eye opening, and kind of gave me the opportunity to see the impact that you can have on young people’s minds, and how much inspiration there is within that. And so I kind of fell in love with that aspect of it.”
Outside of school, Mr. Taylor has a lot of hobbies. He likes to exercise and often does yoga and sports such as track and basketball. Mr. Taylor is also fond of traveling, which lets him learn about new cultures and different types of art around the world.
Despite being a new teacher here, Mr. Taylor has experience teaching in the Arcadia Unified School District (AUSD) as a former substitute teacher. In fact, his experience subbing for AUSD is what inspired him to come work at AHS.
“It was very special, walking into the school’s front office. I was subbing in another district at the time as well but with Arcadia, I would walk in, and you can just kind of feel the difference in energy,” said Mr. Taylor. “Arcadia was lively and full of positive energy. Everybody was super nice, welcoming, and there was just kind of like a balanced, grounding feel to it.”
After being a substitute for a special education class in AUSD for the Spring semester last year and for the Extended School Year (ESY) this summer, Mr. Taylor was offered a position at AHS.
Mr. Taylor now teaches Special Education in an Adult Transitioning class here at AHS. Mr. Taylor works with his class of six students, ranging from 18 to 21 years old, from 8:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. The day starts with each student’s personal routine and morning jobs and ends when the class cleans up and walks to the front to leave school. During the class, he takes the time to teach about life skills, money use, confidence, essential life skills, cooking lessons, art and more.
Each student has a morning job, one of which is watering and taking care of the plants in the class.
“I incorporate nature into the classroom, which I think is therapeutic and supportive for all of us. Plants are incorporated into our kind of daily routine,” said Mr. Taylor. “Each student has a job they participate in every morning, that we rotate each day. So one of the jobs is to water the plants. And since we’re not able to have any pets here, it’s kind of like a way that they can take care of something.”
Mr. Taylor’s classroom is decorated in a calming matter with plants surrounding the room, a fresh smell of eucalyptus and peppermint, and even fairy lights around the classroom ceiling. The decoration of his room correlates to his goal here at AHS, which is to inspire and make his students feel safe.
Mr. Taylor says that his “number one goal is to make sure that my students are feeling inspired every day, first and foremost, safe, but then inspired. I want to help them build confidence.” Not only does Mr. Taylor wants his students to feel motivated but he also wants them to “walk away from campus every day on their way home, and then at the end of their time here at Arcadia or in our program here, feeling like they can go out into the world and contribute in their own unique ways.”
AHS is excited to welcome Mr. Taylor to our Arcadia High School community and the rest of our new teachers.
