New education professor rolls into Mount Mercy community

New education professor rolls into Mount Mercy community

*This article was originally published in the Mount Mercy Times on Sept. 12, 2019 by Caroline Groesbeck, managing editor.

From the elementary schools of Cedar Rapids, Jennifer Kramer joined Mount Mercy as a new assistant professor of education this academic year.

Kramer’s favorite part about teaching was always working with student teachers, so moving to the college level just made sense to her.

“I have always loved working with student and practicum teachers in my classroom and that’s been one of my favorite parts of teaching; working with those college students with those fresh ideas, right out of college and ready to get started in the field,” said Kramer.

Kramer draws from her combined 17 years of experience teaching elementary education at Wilson Elementary and Grant Wood Elementary. Right now, she’s teaching in science and nutrition, but that varies from semester to semester. 

“My favorites while teaching elementary were science and writing, so I’m really enjoying my science class, but I’m also looking forward to my literature classes because I love doing novel units and diving deeper into a book,” said Kramer. Later in the year, she’ll be able to teach a couple reading courses.

While Kramer was drawn to higher education because of her preference for working with student teachers, she was surprised by Mount Mercy’s atmosphere.

“I didn’t realize that it was such a community. Everyone’s just so welcoming with open arms,” Kramer said. She’s excited to get to know people across campus and try new and different faculty activities.

One of Kramer’s favorite hobbies is reading. She tries to read a dozen or more books each summer. She also likes to exercise every day, in various forms. 

“l like to exercise every day, so I like to either bike, or run, or rollerblade. And yoga, I do yoga at least three times a week,” said Kramer.

While just starting out at MMU, Kramer is excited for the future.

“I’m just really grateful for this opportunity and to meet people because, like I said, everyone is just so warm and generous,” said Kramer. “It’s just a wonderful place to work and I’m happy I’m here.”