His eyes scan the room as he notices who walks in and out. Always attentive to students who may need help. Stepping in the room a warm welcoming presence as if you’re in a coffee shop surrounds the classroom. A genuine smile appears on his face as he notices familiar faces. The tone in his voice shows the way he feels at home and able to joke around.
Kevin Pluchar, a global studies teacher, law teacher, 5 ’11 ¾ (as he insists), short hair compared to his Captain Jack Sparrow length hair last year, is a friendly face to former students who can also give a sense of belonging to those who have never had him.
Mr. Pluchar’s journey as a teacher, which began 13 years ago, was actually pretty simple. He was a student at a pretty local high school at Tinley Park, where he was raised, Andrew High school. After high school his journey kicked off as he found interest in teaching. “I student taught here,” said Pluchar, “I was able to student teach here and then go right into the teaching.” Pluchar thought back to the reasons he wanted to become a teacher. As he explored his interests, “I like politics, I like economics, I like government. I like explaining things.” The option of becoming a teacher then became his choice. “If I’m not going to be on a campaign for an election, kind of teaching about social studies in high school is kind of the next best thing for kind of those skill sets of what I want to do.”
It may be difficult for new teachers to find a teaching method that works for them. For Pluchar, it’s “Trial and error.” He goes on to explain more, “Teaching is very much a trial by fire situation where you hit the ground running. You’re in your classroom, you try some stuff, it doesn’t work, you try some other stuff. And you kind of just do that until you get to a point where you kind of know how you want to present yourself,” He sees it as “Building up your arsenal of tools you can use as you kind of go along in your career.” He likes to feel a connection with the students and believes that when you have that connection, it is. Pluchar explained how most days usually all blend in together. The most exciting consists of Halloween or the last of school. However the most intense had to be when, “There was one year my US history class, I had one student stand up and start punching another one. So I had to pick him up and move him off. The other person called the deans, they came down, they resolved it, and I had to go right back into teaching, pretending like nothing ever happened.” Although the job can get stressful by the way he describes some moments, he likes his job, or as he said Selfishly, it’s nice to have, like, nights, weekends and summers off, major holidays off. That’s a really nice benefit for me.” He also feels that being a teacher is rewarding when he sees old students come back and share their accomplishments.
As a new school year has started, his old students realized they probably won’t have Pluchar again. “I liked how he made us do activities. It helped me actually understand the work,” said one of his former students. However, he never seems to forget these students. Pluchar remembers kids he had who are now
Besides just talking about his career, he reminisces on his earlier years in life and how that shaped him to be who he is in the classroom: “I am the fourth of five children. So for me, you had to basically talk loud and be funny in order to get attention. So I think that’s one of the attributes that I think works well for me, is just being loud and trying to be humorous to get kids to buy into the class, to get them to work on stuff maybe they don’t want to work on. But if I can make it interesting, if I can perform the material for them. I think it helps get more kids on board” Aside from being a teacher, he’s also a dad. Something they have in common is, “constantly reevaluating the progress we’re making, he says. “You are trying to shape the futures of young people, and that can be extremely challenging.” Pluchar believes a fundamental part of being a teacher and father is creating a good connection.
Pluchar’s voice really projects when he speaks and emphasizes that feeling of a coffee shop catch up with an old friend. No matter whether he’s a former teacher to a student or a current student, he always finds a way to connect with the students and help them feel invited. As Pluchar thought about his future in this career, he has decided that when he ends his career as a teacher he wants to do it right here where it all started, with his Leyden family.
