Scott Taylor did not always dream of becoming a teacher – in fact, he never did.
“It wasn’t a first choice for me,” he says. “I always saw myself in some office or something.”
At UC Davis, he majored in International Relations and minored in music, hardly a yellow-brick-road into teaching.
While growing up, Taylor says, he rarely talked in class and “I was the last person I wanted the teacher to call on.”
But Taylor always liked children – “I was one of the only guy babysitters in my neighborhood” – and he always liked to have fun. Combining those two interests led him to a 5th grade class at Natomas Park Elementary, where he is Site Teacher of the Year for 2015-16.
“It’s fun,” he said of teaching. “What we do is good quality learning, good stuff, but I like it and we have a good time.”
“Kids see the world in such a neat way,” he said. “They really look at things and they want to figure them out, they’re curious … I have that innate curiousity, too.”
Taylor entered the teaching profession almost by accident – he started by substitute teaching “on a whim” in 1997-98, shortly after he had graduated from UC Davis and at a time when California was experiencing a shortage of substitutes due to implementation of class-size reduction.
“I decided, you know, this is kind of cool,” Taylor said. So he went back to school, earned his teaching credential, and began his career in West Sacramento 15 years ago. He has been with Natomas Unified since 2007.
Taylor, an Eagle Scout and a big sports fan, coached NPE’s boys football team last spring and currently is coaching its boys basketball team. He has helped to expand colleagues’ use of technology and to create new curriculum around NUSD’s College and Career Readiness goals. He also has assisted with NPE’s after-school instruction and its College and Career Week.
“Mr. Taylor is known for being a kind, caring and sincere person,” Principal Kendra Shelton said in a Teacher of the Year nomination. “He is the type of teacher that other staff state they would be pleased to have teach their own children.”
Added Shelton: “Mr. Taylor believes in every child’s ability to learn and demonstrates the commitment and collaborative behaviors needed to help students across his grade level and the school reach higher levels of achievement.”
If NPE appreciates Taylor, the feelings clearly are mutual.
Taylor, a permanent fixture at NPE for the past three years, calls the school a “very welcoming, happy place,” adding: “When I drive away from my house every morning, I think, ‘Love what you do and do what you love.'”
