Golden Apple: Leah Cramer

The Golden Apple Awards honor those shaping student success and our region’s future through excellence in education.

Eight award recipients will be recognized April 22 at the Golden Apple Awards event, and will also be featured in stories in the Press Times each week leading up to the event.

This week, get to know Golden Apple Award recipient Leah Cramer.

A freshmen English teacher at Bay Port High School, Leah Cramer is passionate about her profession.

After graduating from Pacelli High School in Stevens Point, she went on to earn her bachelor’s at UW-Steven’s Point, with a major in English education. She spends her time outside of teaching with her husband and three sons, coaching T-ball or recording book reviews for her podcast with her friend.

Cramer is dedicated to growing as an educator. “I’m trying to always grow and develop as a teacher. I really like to experiment and try new things and tweak and find what’s going to work best in my classroom for my students. I really like when I find an activity or a lesson or a discussion that resonates with the students and gets them excited and energized because it turns around then and gets me excited and energized as well,” she said. She is also dedicated to creating a space that showcases the importance of literacy. “The thing that has influenced my teaching most is my desire to create a classroom community centered around literacy and reading books. It’s something I’m very passionate about and I dedicate time and energy to make that come forth.”

This passion has been shaped by the many positive influences in Cramer’s life, particularly her college professors. “David Roloff and Barbara Dixson are two professors that stood out to me as incredibly kind, empathetic, supportive, and provided constructive criticism in a meaningful way. They challenged me in all the right ways and really helped me become the teacher I am.”

What makes Cramer’s classroom unique is the number of books and pink things that line it. “I have a slight obsession with the color pink and so anytime I can get something in pink I will even if it means I’m paying more for it. I tell my students that every day they can find something on me that is pink. I have students try to catch me in the wild too if they see me at the grocery store and demand to see the pink item that I’m wearing that day. My classroom also visibly contains a lot of books because it is a core belief of mine that kids need to be reading more and in order to do that, they need access to quality books. It’s one of my favorite things as a teacher to recommend books to kids who don’t know what to read next.

“I hope my students look back on their time in my classroom with fondness and they felt like it was a comfortable safe space to learn and to grow,” said Cramer. “I hope they’ve come to understand the value and importance of reading in their daily lives even if they don’t plan to go into a career that reads books. I hope they had fun and I hope they felt like they learned a lot of skills that are going to transfer over into their life outside of these high school walls.”

Cramer left off with some advice for teachers who are starting their careers: “Hang in there and keep trying new things. It might take a while until you find something that works for you, but that doesn’t mean you should quit trying. Get out and about as much as you can and see what other successful teachers are doing, then figure out a way to use it and put your own spin on it in your room. Never stop wanting to grow and get better. Keep looking for ways to improve. And make sure you see kids as individuals, not as a test score or a problem but as someone who needs love and support.”