New Teacher Profile: Robert Wagner

Now a special education teacher teaching modified classes to small groups of students at City High, Robert Wagner ‘76 first started working as a radio broadcaster for local Cedar Rapids stations such as WMT and K HAWK. After about ten years, he determined it was time to move on to a new job.

“I just decided I wanted to do something different,” Wagner said. “I had a college degree from Iowa in communications and in history. So I said, ‘well, I have done communication so I am going to go into education.’”

At first he wanted to be a history teacher, but he had a hard time finding a job opening.

“I found myself helping out in special ed and working as a paraeducator. I liked that, I took classes for it and then was hired at West Branch,” Wagner said.

He worked as a special education teacher at West Branch High School for fifteen years and then as a paraeducator, assisting special education students in all their classes throughout the day, for five years at City High. His transition to being a teacher at City was not a hard one, since he was already familiar with some of the other teachers and the school in general.

“I had already gotten used to the fact that City High is a really great place to be,” Wagner said.

He teaches a modified math class in room 1202 C. The size of his classes varies anywhere from one to eight students.

“I love the kids,” Wagner said. “They are the reason I do this. If you don’t enjoy working with kids, you shouldn’t be doing it.”

While the best part for him is getting to see his students on a daily basis, the administrative part still has to be done.

“In any job, there is the paperwork,” Wagner said. “You have to take all the things you do with all the kids, and all the paper, and grade them, and enter them in the system.”

Kayinna Straughter ‘19 is a student in Mr. Wagner’s Community Skills class. She enjoys being able to use her Chromebook and tablet for class work.

“He is pretty nice and a respectful teacher,” Straughter said.

Another student in Wagner’s classroom, Kirana Horing ‘21, also enjoys his class.

“[In his class] we do some math and English work,” said Kirana Horing ‘21. “I like math and fractions, addition and multiplication. [Mr. Wagner] is good at math.”