For second year Educational Coordinator Cassidee Platner, teaching sixth through twelfth grade students at Pivot Charter School Riverside felt more natural to her than teaching in a traditional setting. Platner says the individual emphasis at Pivot allows her to cater the day’s lessons to each student.
“In a traditional classroom, I often worried about focusing enough on each student and the possibility of students falling through the cracks,” Platner says. “At Pivot, I can dedicate more of my time to focusing on the individual students.”
After earning her bachelor’s degree in History and Political Science with a minor in English from Vanguard University, Platner says she hoped to instill her passion for history in others by teaching. Recently, Platner furthered her skills by earning a master’s degree in Teaching from Pepperdine University.
Platner says she loves teaching at Pivot because it allows her to build relationships with each student and truly understand the ways each student learns most efficiently.
“I like getting to work one-one-one with the students and getting to know them on a more personal level,” Platner says. “We are able to take the time to figure out exactly what a student needs, what their strengths are, what their weaknesses are, how to get them to work and what their best method might be. We are able to isolate exactly what the student needs and then we are able to accommodate and provide for them whatever it is that they do need.”
To Platner, this contrast in teaching styles makes the difference for students who may not be able to succeed in a traditional setting.
Outside of the classroom, Platner enjoys rock climbing, camping and any activity that puts her in nature. She also loves to travel and spent five weeks backpacking through Europe last summer.