The start of the 2025-2026 school year marked the beginning for new students and teachers at Coral Gables Senior High. Amongst the line of teachers lies the newest addition to Gables: Theory of Knowledge and Inquiry Skills teacher, Mr. Caldera. Although his Cavalier journey has only just resumed, a long chapter of teaching lies ahead for him.
Being born and raised in Miami, Mr. Caldera graduated from Gables in 2020 with his International Baccalaureate diploma. Attending Florida International University as an undergraduate student, he earned his bachelors degree in political science in 2022. As a panther, Mr. Caldera pursued his masters degree in international business for two years at FIU.
Falling in love with the campus, Mr. Caldera worked at the College of Nursing and Health Sciences for the Office of the Dean for one year. In the long run, he worked at the Jack D. Gordon Institute for three years, managing the academic workforce development programs. Helping students through professional development with federal government agencies in National Cybersecurity, Policy and Intelligence related fields, his career has always remained rooted in supporting the career goals of others.
After spending four years as an administrator at FIU, Mr. Caldera grew attached to the curriculum process. Adoring planning out themes and values to teach others from a young age, his work at FIU allowed him to gain an overview of the classes students had to take.
As things took a turn once he was offered the opportunity to teach at Gables, Mr. Caldera viewed this as a chance to gain hands-on experience in teaching students and actively creating their curriculum.
“Mr. Caldera is very direct and responsible. I feel like since he’s a younger teacher, he relates a lot with his students, which really helps me like the class a lot more since he’s a lot chiller than most teachers. He plays a lot of the same video games as us too which I think is really cool,” freshman Julian Cardon said.
As a Gables alumni, Mr. Caldera attributes obtaining his IB diploma because of influential teachers such as Mrs. Kiely, Mrs. DePaola and Mr. Nelson. Hoping to be amongst that list of teachers one day, his goal is to develop the foundation for students to succeed in the IB program by teaching Inquiry Skills. By teaching transferable skill sets, Mr. Caldera strives to empower students with strategies that will teach them to think critically in the future.
Describing Theory of Knowledge as research based learning, Mr. Caldera ensures his students feel confident in their abilities to question things. Whether its a claim or just an assumption, engaging in active research to gain comprehension is his main goal.
Enjoying teaching TOK as students are able to dive into more advanced research techniques and methodologies such as Open-Source Intelligence, he helps IB juniors learn critical skills necessary when researching about topics throughout the IB program.
Looking up to his encouragement and support due to his active learning teaching style, students take pleasure in participating in his class. Creating a comfortable environment, Mr. Caldera pushes them to ask questions especially if they do not understand a lesson.
Beyond his excitement for teaching, Mr. Caldera adapts his lesson plans based on students’ interests at the moment. Recently incorporating the popular mobile game Clash Royale into one of his lessons, he highlighted Critical Thinking Skills and how to use evidence to make informed decisions in an engaging way. With instances like these bringing Mr. Caldera closer to his students, his sense of humor makes them naturally comfortable to approach him for help.
“I think Mr. Caldera is a really cool teacher. He was a student here at Gables so he knows the school like the palm of his hand, and since he’s kind of in the same generation as us he’s very relatable and we can talk to him about things like Clash Royale,” freshman Felix Parra said.
Alongside his desire to make students feel comfortable and uplifted, Mr. Caldera intends to be the best teacher he can possibly be to support the academic development of his students. By working to guarantee his students are excited to come to class everyday, Mr. Caldera looks forward to watching his students grow up into the adults they strive to be.
“Mr. Caldera is a really good teacher. I’ve really learned a lot in his class, and it has only been about three months. He gives good feedback about the assignments we turn in and allows us to improve. As students we kind of get on his nerve sometimes but he really stays calm and never really inflicts his anger on us,” freshman Nicole Zapata said.
Maintaining his passion for education with his fifth year of teaching coming up, Mr. Caldera does not see himself working in a different field. Driven to create an impact on students, the few months that he has worked at Gables have brought him one step closer towards shaping the next generation of future leaders.
