Meet CPSB’s Middle School Teacher of the Year: Lauren Cesar, Iowa Middle School
Holly Holland
Public Information Officer
holly.holland@cpsb.org
March 14, 2018
At the beginning of her career, Iowa Middle School teacher Lauren Cesar noticed something in her students.
“My first year of teaching, I’d have all these kids come through my door kind of defeated,” said Cesar. “I wanted to change that.”
Now, 12 years later, that is still part of her daily goal in class.
“Learning can be fun,” said Cesar. “It’s not always fun, but we can press through. You can’t limit yourself when you fail. Failure is not fatal. Failure is a puzzle piece. It tells us what we need to know.”
Cesar is the Middle School Teacher of the Year for the Calcasieu Parish School Board. This honor comes as no surprise to Iowa Middle School Assistant Principal Rachel Zaunbrecher.
“Ms. Cesar is an asset,” said Zaunbrecher. “She strives to make sure everyone else succeeds, and not only students, but other teachers. She will spend and does spend time with any teacher that needs to know how to be successful doing something in the classroom.”
English/Language Arts teachers on her campus are currently utilizing guidebook workbooks Cesar created.
“Lauren may be a genius,” said fellow ELA teacher Lyndi Stewart. “She’s smart. She’s very talented. She’s friendly and doesn’t mind helping. It’s my first year teaching ELA. Not only do I have this guidebook, but I have the person who wrote the guidebook.”
Despite her success as a teacher, Cesar initially wanted to pursue a law degree. After not enjoying time working at law firms, she took jobs substitute teaching while she decided what she truly wanted to do. The rest is history.
“Kids would come to me with questions and I loved helping them,” said Cesar. “I wanted to teach them. I would take the lesson plans teachers left and do my best to teach them. I had so much fun doing that.”
After taking her first full time teaching job on a whim, she fell in love.
“I’m a Christian and I’m a firm believer that when God has something for you, you couldn’t have created it yourself,” said Cesar. “I knew it was the right thing.”
When Cesar found out she’d be representing Calcasieu Parish at the next level, she broke out in dance in front of her students.
“I would really like to positively represent my students, my school, my parish, and the vision of the School Board,” said Cesar. “It is an opening and a doorway to continue to fight the fight for the students and the teachers and make sure that policies being made are the right ones for the students and for the teachers.”
Zaunbrecher describes Cesar as driven, while Stewart recognizes her way with students.
“She’s got a really amazing rapport with the students,” said Stewart. “They love her. They don’t love her because her class is easy. Her class is hard. She challenges them. But they’re drawn to her. She runs a tight ship, but she never raises her voice. She really just has a way with people.”
Cesar is quick to respond when asked what she enjoys most about teaching.
“The kids are my favorite part,” Cesar said. “I love their personalities. The kids are not going to remember what I taught them in class in five years or in ten years. What they are going to remember is how I treat them and if I taught them how to treat others respectfully. My favorite part is teaching them how to be good citizens and teaching them English and making them feel like I know them.”
Her students are sure to feel important after completing their eighth grade English class with Cesar. She ends each school year with a personal letter to each student about their school year together.
“I want them to leave my class knowing that someone knows who they are,” said Cesar.
Helpful is a common adjective used when people describe Cesar. She’s helpful to students, teachers, or anyone else in need.
“She’s an open book,” said Iowa High School Principal Patrick Fontenot. “What she has is yours.”
When not in her classroom, she stays busy with many other things. She coordinates weddings at her church, writes for Thrive magazine, and dabbles in photography. If that doesn’t sound like a full enough plate, she’s also published a few book and takes care of her son whom she calls the light of her life.
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