Watching Marshall Norman walk through the halls of Sharon High School, it’s obvious that the man is popular.

Students wave and shout his name and teachers stop to say “hello” to the busy teacher’s aide. While circling the track with a student during a morning gym class, a crowd of kids form around Norman as they walk and talk, often about football, and offer high fives.

Norman’s bright eyes and welcoming smile make him appear younger than his salt-and-pepper hair and seemingly unflappable patience.

Sporting a Tiger Pride pin on his shirt and an orange district-issued bracelet that says “What’s best for kids,” the 54-year-old spends his days helping a 7th-grader who is visually impaired navigate the wild world of high school. Norman takes notes for the student and helps him read assignments and complete them. He also communicates with the child’s parents to help ensure continuity from the classroom to home.

A Sharon native, Norman attended C.M. Musser and Sacred Heart elementaries, Sharon High the year the current building opened and then graduated from what was then Kennedy Christian High School in 1972.

Most days Norman stays at school into the evening as a tutor in the elementary 21st Century Children’s Opportunities for Outside Learning (COOL) program. He also serves as a homebound instructor for the district for students who are sick, injured or are on disciplinary leave.

In the summers, Norman teaches summer school at Sharon and instructs several classes at Thiel College’s College for Kids program.

“It seems like the more I work, the more I want to work. It suits me just fine,” Norman said.

Listing the courses he teaches at Thiel — sign language, Spanish, martial arts and guitar — shows how well-rounded Norman is and his dedication to sharing his skills with young people. He said he thinks it’s good for kids to see another side of teachers “other than books and dry erase boards.”

Sign language was the last course Norman took while a student at Edinboro University, where he earned a bachelor’s in elementary education and a master’s in special education. It’s something he has used with students at Sharon during his 13 years as an instructional assistant.

When he started his career, special education students were not mainstreamed in regular classes. For two years, Norman taught at the Crawford County School for Exceptional Children and then transferred from Meadville to teach learning support at Fairview School District.

Before settling down back in his hometown, Norman worked for the Pennsylvania Department of Education as special education adviser at several Intermediate Units outside of Harrisburg, something he called an “eye-opening experience”. Prior to that he spent seven years working for Columbia Gas Transmission before getting back into education because he missed the kids.

“Believe it or not, I hadn’t any plans for college,” said Norman, who grew up in the Mesabi Heights. Jobs at steel mills in the Shenango Valley were plentiful at the time and factories in the area were booming.

But some friends went off to Edinboro, so Norman moved there and got a job. After a year, he decided to start taking classes and thought about becoming a nurse.

When he first returned to Mercer County, Norman worked “sporadically” as a substitute teacher and even took a job as a janitor and worked at a fast food restaurant to supplement his income. Eventually, Sharon was calling him to substitute on a regular basis and then hired him as an aide.