A Certifiably Rewarding Experience

AUTHOR: MAX SMITH, Region 10 Digital Marketing Specialist

CHRISTOPHER Cavenar’s classroom is a learning environment made for learners from all backgrounds. From a signlanguage interpreter helping facilitate discussions in his first period class, to a student with Down syndrome taking a specialized test in his fifth period class, to students teaching their fellow classmates, Cavenar has gone above and beyond to create environments where all of his students grow.

He has done all this as a new teacher at Plano Senior High School. With the help of his fellow teachers, his wife, and Region 10’s Alternative Certification Program, he has shattered expectations as a beginning teacher.

After working as a social worker for Child Protective Services (CPS), Cavenar was looking to go into teaching so that he could combine his passion for working with kids with his passion for history and social studies. When he was looking into programs, his wife’s friend in Sherman ISD recommended he enroll in Region 10’s Alternative Certification program.

“There’s probably 100 different programs here, but the Region 10 Alternative Certification program came highly recommended. I didn't want to go back to college because I have a family, and I had to work. It was the most convenient way for me to get certified to teach,” Cavenar shared. “Everything in the program is straightforward. The biggest challenge is trying to work the Region 10 material into my job. Fortunately, a lot of it plays off of each other. As I'm learning through Region 10, I am able to implement the lessons here in the classroom.”

Cavenar has also received guidance from Dr. Patricia Williams, a Region 10 Consultant for the Alternative Certification program. Early in the year, she gave Cavenar valuable feedback that has improved his students’ ability to retain information.

“When Dr. Williams was here observing, she noticed that I was really good at talking ‘at’ my class, but there wasn’t a lot of engagement. She offered me a few pointers as it pertained to the lesson, and things we could go back and revisit,” Cavenar recalled. “I used those pointers during the following days, and my students were more engaged. We had a test shortly thereafter, and you can tell it really reflected in their test grades how much they retain just by making the lesson more conversational.”

When Cavenar first started teaching, he modeled much of his approach based on how his teachers taught him when he was a student by talking at his class versus with his students. Thanks to the feedback Dr. Williams provided, he has since changed his approach as he has grown in the program.

“How my teachers taught me doesn't work with kids anymore. My class is such a diverse group with different levels of learners, and that cookie cutter approach doesn't work anymore,” Cavenar explained. “I’ve found that I have become more individualized. When I'm looking at assignments, every single student crosses my mind as to how it is going to work for them.”

While Cavenar can’t individually teach every student due to time constraints, the Alternative Certification program taught him how to generalize his approach for his class by incorporating different methods, from hands-on activities to videos. Cavenar has also gone above and beyond to build individual connections with each student who enters his classroom. For him, he wants each student to know that he truly cares about them.

“I always stand at the door to greet my students as they come into class in order to create a welcoming environment. I can tell immediately which kids are more standoffish or which kids I might not have anything in common with,” Cavenar shared. “I want to connect with them, so I try to learn their interests. I research a little bit and find something to talk to them about on a personal level. Every student in this room just wants to know that you have some kind of interest in them.”

For Cavenar, creating an inclusive environment where students of all backgrounds are able to learn is a challenge, but it’s one he welcomes with open arms.

“It's a lot of hard work, and it never really stops. I think about it when I should be going to bed at night, and I wake up thinking about it,” Cavenar explained. “I'm here two hours early every morning getting stuff ready for the day. It is the hardest thing I've ever done in my life, but it has also been the most rewarding. I've never had more fun doing something so hard.”

Cavenar’s dedication to his students during his first year of teaching has not gone unnoticed among his fellow teachers at Plano Senior High. As a result of his excellent work, he was named Plano Senior High School’s New Teacher of the Year.

“I was so honored! I couldn't have been more pleased. It was like, ‘Wow, all that hard work paid off,'” Cavenar said. “The school’s administration and my fellow teachers have been really great and supportive throughout the whole year.”

Among those he credits for helping him during his first year, he thanks his wife, who is a teacher for Plano ISD’s Beaty Early Childhood School. When Cavenar began teaching, she helped him better understand some of the tools educators use in the classroom.

“She's a very good teacher, and she’s taught for years. She's the one who sat me down and showed me how to use Google Classroom and the technology that I would be using,” Cavenar said. “I would show her my lesson plans for feedback, and she was able to help me with building relationships and managing my time. She also pointed out tools and strategies that might be more effective in the classroom.”

According to Lindsay Scott, his Team Lead for US History, Cavenar went above and beyond what was expected from him as a beginning teacher.

“Cavenar walked into his first year teaching during a firestorm of a year, but he is the type of person who walks into the fire and calms the storm,” Scott shared. “He is truly a gift to education and so needed during this time, by his students and by his peers. As a beginning teacher, Cavenar is supposed to be full of questions and mistakes. However, every day he motivates his students as their facilitator in learning while inspiring our team of teachers as he takes on one of the most difficult roles on campus with dignity and grace.”