The ‘Core’ of Teaching for Taylor Armijo? Relationship Building and Long-Term Impact
| by Hannah Sparling
Taylor Armijo’s resume doesn’t follow a straight line.
Her first job out of college was teaching 9th and 11th grade English for a huge high school in North Carolina.
After that, she wanted a change and worked for a real-estate company, where instead of managing students, she managed adults and distributed leads.
Eventually, Armijo and her husband (and their fur babies) moved back home to Maryland, where Armijo found a marketing job for a home-inspection company. It was great — until her job was cut in a round of layoffs.
The layoff gave Armijo the chance to pause: What did she want to do next? What did she really want out of her career?
In the back of her mind, she knew she still had a valuable asset in her pocket.
“I was like, ‘Well, my teaching license is still valid,’” she said.
Pivoting Back to Teaching
Today, Armijo is an In-School Intervention (ISI) teacher for St. Mary’s County Public Schools in Maryland. She’ll have anywhere from just a few students in her ISI classroom on a given day up to 10 or 12. Some of the students are there for a single class period and others for multiple days, but Armijo’s goal is always the same: to create a safe space, and to build relationships.
It’s not “teenage babysitting” or the chance to “nap all day,” she said.
“A lot of times, they’re not happy to be dropped off. They’re upset. There’s a lot of big feelings going on,” she said.
But she tries to help her students move past that point.
“I can’t change that you’re here,” she said. “But, you know, we can make the time that you’re here worth it.”
Taylor Armijo loves leaning into the fun that comes with being a teacher, including dressing up for spirit and theme days.
Earning Her Master’s Degree
Armijo started with St. Mary’s schools in October 2025, and even though she had taken a break from teaching, she immediately felt at home again in the school setting. She was able to transfer her license from North Carolina to Maryland, and then she realized her school district would pay for her to earn her master’s degree as well.
“It seemed like a no-brainer,” she said.
Armijo enrolled in Moreland University’s online Master’s in Educational Leadership program. She started her first class on Jan. 4, 2025, and she finished the program on Dec. 20, 2025.
“That was a big selling point for me,” she said, “because all my friends who have done [a master’s degree], it’s 2 to 3 years. And I don’t have 2 to 3 years to spend on another degree, while working full-time.”
Armijo isn’t in any rush to move into administration, but she liked that her master’s program gave her insight into how admin functions and how she might apply that to her current role. Plus, a master’s is always great for job security and moving up the pay scale, she said.
‘Cowpie High’ and Beyond
In North Carolina, her first job out of college, Armijo was teaching in a massive, urban high school. Now, her building is surrounded by cornfields, and the joke is that it’s “Cowpie High.” But regardless of class size or school location, Armijo’s focus is on building relationships with her students.
People think of ISI as a punishment, she said, a consequence for students who are acting out. But she wants to build her program into a multi-tiered support system. It’s a balance, she said: You need sternness and strict standards — no headphones, no sleeping, etc. But you also need a level of care and sensitivity. More often than not, she said, once she shows students she’s in their corner, they rise to the occasion.
When she thinks about her resume, Armijo doesn’t know what’s next. But she does know this: She likes her job. She’s content. She’s excited about growing and developing her ISI program.
And, perhaps most importantly, she knows she’s making an impact. Some of her very first students from North Carolina have since graduated and launched their own careers, but they still check in with Armijo and give her updates on their lives.
“I had these kids 10 years ago at this point,” she said. “Some of them are having their own kids now, which is wild and makes me feel ancient.”
But, it underscores the impact a teacher can have.
“It wasn’t just, ‘Oh, you made me read Romeo and Juliet,’” Armijo said. “But, you know, ‘You saw me as a person,’ or ‘You would listen,’ or ‘I really liked being able to have time to journal and process.’ That relationship building, I think it’s the core of pretty much everything I’m doing.”
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