As the 2020-2021 school year begins, we’re continuing our Meet Us Monday Blog series to introduce you to our outstanding ILS teachers and staff. Check in each week to meet or better get to know one of our new or returning faculty members.
Today, we invite you go get to know ILS Assistant Headmaster, Ms. Katherine Kramer, with her recent “Meet Us Monday” interview.
Ms. Kramer is beginning her 11th year of service at ILS, having joined the faculty in 2010. She now serves as Assistant Headmaster, similar to an Academic and Student Dean.
What is your favorite thing about ILS?
In this time of global pandemonium, it warms my heart and strengthens my general resolve to know so confidently that our mission at ILS remains constant. While the methods of our connection may be forced to change for a time, we are still a community engaged in the pursuit of nurturing the minds, hearts, and bodies of our students. I really love working with our faculty and am thrilled that we have such excellent new faculty to welcome this year, so discussing pedagogy, curriculum, and classroom management is on my mind almost constantly right now. My most cherished moments are likely spent in the classrooms with our students, particularly whenever it involves telling or listening to stories.
What book are you currently reading?
I'm reading a book on publishing children's fiction, a book of prayers for grief after losing my mom a few months ago (thanks to Pastor Rogness for this text!), and The Splendid and the Vile by Erik Larson.
What was your favorite thing you did this summer?
I got to see wonderful friends in Washington state (a dear former ILS family, the Edges) and was able to roadtrip to my grandparents in northern Pennsylvania for a week. Both were wonderful!
What is one place you would like to visit but have not yet been?
I really want to see the northern lights, so somewhere in the great north. An animal I have not yet seen in the wild is the orca, and seeing one would just about complete my animal encounter bucket list. I would also love to see Israel.
What was your favorite subject/class when you were in school?
Literature. I had the blessing of being homeschooled by my mother, and she created extravagant unit studies that captivated my imagination when I was in elementary school. I still remember collecting acorns when I was six or seven to try to make acorn flour like Ma did in the Little House series.
What was your favorite book as a child?
I had many favorite books! A few I returned to over and over were: Little Women and Little Men, Island of the Blue Dolphins, Lassie Come-Home, Hatchet, and Where the Red Fern Grows.
What is your favorite scripture verse?
For now, and particularly in these times of actual global pandemonium, I'm daily asking the Lord to have mercy on my heart and teach me to be grateful for the blessings that He's given me. I'm memorizing Lamentations 3:22-24, "The steadfast love the LORD never ceases; his mercies never come to an end; they are new every morning; great is your faithfulness. 'The LORD is my portion,' says my soul, 'therefore I will hope in him.'"