Robert Walling is a substitute teacher here at The Morgan School. He covers for almost any class that a teacher is out for and makes every class a fun and new experience. But what many don’t know is the journey he took to get here. He’s taught at multiple schools, been in the military, and worked at a shoe store. But throughout all of his jobs, he always learned something new that he passed on to his students.
Mr. Walling started teaching around thirty-five years ago. Since then, he has worked at schools all over Connecticut, including Bristol, Windsor, and Plainville. At Bristol, he had his longest stint, teaching for over twenty-eight years. Walling mostly taught History as a subject, but here at Morgan, he’s taught every class from Intro to Communications to Math. But he wasn’t always a teacher; he served for over six years in the United States Air Force.
Walling started serving in the Air Force in 1978, just after graduating from Ledyard H.S. He started his training at Lackland Air Force Base in San Antonio, Texas, where he learned the basics. Then he was stationed in Germany, once in Wiesbaden and Kaiserslautern. When Walling entered the Air Force, he was initially looking for adventure. He was initially stationed in Delaware and then moved to Colorado. However, when the Cold War started, Walling was forced to take his training more seriously.
Walling wanted to share a memory he had; he thought it would be an interesting story people would want to hear. He was deployed to Berlin and actually got to see the Berlin Wall. Anytime he was walking around at night, he noticed that any “streets I went down ended up in a dead-end when they ran into the wall.” Another one of his favorite memories was being able to play football thirty thousand feet up in the air during a training flight aboard a cargo plane.
After six years, Walling left the military. He felt he wanted to get out into the real world and be a more normal person. So he decided to take on being a teacher as his endeavor.
“When I was in school,” Walling said, “I had a few teachers who were not just good educators, but good people who looked out for me.” So he wanted to be just like them.
Junior, Gavin Theriault, a student who had Mr. Walling as a teacher in his sophomore year for health, first met Walling as a substitute for Ms. Iverson. That day, he had two classes that he did not like and was not looking forward to health, but when he arrived at Wallings’ class, great music and an energetic teacher waited for him in the doorway. Gavin was taken aback by this experience since he’d really never seen this way before, but once he walked in and sat down, everything changed.
Theriault felt Mr. Walling combined fun and work into one thing for every class he taught. He added any details or fun facts he knew while still teaching the given topic. “He is an understanding teacher, but if you fool around, he handles it very well,” stated Theriault. He’s seen Mr. Walling get strict and make sure everyone stays on topic, but he never says strict or is in a bad mood for long.
“I really like it here with you guys; the kids here are really super,” Walled reflected. Compared to other schools he’s been to, Morgan has been one of his favorites to work for.
Although many students don’t know Walling’s background, they often leave his room with a smile. “He’s a very friendly person and a nice guy to talk to with a cool background since he served our country.”
