By Leigh Patterson
“Hi, Dr. Kramer!” a UT Elementary School fifth grader yells as principal Benjamin Kramer cracks open a classroom door and peeks inside. More students spot him in the doorway. “Good morning!” a few exclaim. “Good morning,” he responds, greeting them by name as he enters the room.
Photo by Shiyam Galyon
It is a cloudy September morning, and the class is learning about astronomy. “I don’t understand this,” one student says to Kramer as she points to her worksheet. “Can you help me?” Kramer leans in closer, examining the black and white diagrams. “What do you think the answer is?” he asks her. “Let’s talk about what makes sense to you.”
Despite the fact it is only his third month on the job, Kramer is markedly assured as the new principal of UT Elementary School, a campus off East Sixth Street with 275 pre-kindergarten through fifth grade students. The school is ranked “exemplary” by the Texas Education Agency.
Kramer brings a fresh perspective to the school. With an undergraduate degree in classics, he sees value in the aesthetic experience of school for both students and teachers. These visual touches are evident in small flourishes around the campus: flowers and succulent plants blooming in colorful planters, large murals of smiling children covering the buildings’ exteriors and heirloom tomato plants sprouting in a corner for cafeteria lunches. Together, these details speak to a larger value Kramer aspires to attain as principal: school as community.
“Schools that seem to work the best to me have this notion of schools and childhood as a sacred space,” he said. “The more we can capitalize on the beauty that children bring to our lives and the more we can immerse their lives in beauty, the higher we can set our goals.”
Kramer comes on board with an impressive resume: degrees from the University of Texas, Princeton and Harvard, an alumnus of the 1991 inaugural Teach for America class, teaching experience around the world, administrative and teaching experience in Austin schools (Mathews Elementary and International High School of Austin), and three years of lecturing in the Educational Leadership Program at Texas State University.
Although he is quick to say he is still learning the lay of the land at UT Elementary, it is clear that he has goals in mind for increasing the breadth of the young students’ capabilities.
Founded in 2003, UT Elementary consists of a network of portable classrooms tucked away in an unassuming neighborhood. Plans are in the works to build a “main” building on the north side of the campus when enough money is raised (which administrators only hope will be “soon”). Money for the new campus will come from a capital campaign launched several years ago by the school and UT. With the new building’s common rooms including a gym and cafeteria, Kramer hopes to implement more ways to encourage this idea of unity in the student body. For example, kids would serve each other with family-style dining, allowing a communal, hands-on setting to create an environment like “we’re in this together,”
he said.
The school’s theme of community also extends to its relationship with the University. As a “research-based demonstration” school, UT Elementary manifests the idea that inquiry by adults leads to good decisions in the educational lives of children. Small reminders of the UT connection are present throughout the elementary school campus: students wear burnt orange polo shirts, signs adorn classrooms that read “Little Longhorns,” and many teachers actively pursue coursework at UT.
Photo by Shiyam Galyon
Access to the resources of a large parent institution allows for advantages like implementation of cutting edge technologies in classrooms. For one, SMART Boards, interactive boards with light pens that trigger different functions, have replaced traditional chalkboards. Kramer has a strong background in using technology in classrooms. His doctoral dissertation was on using e-mail to track the language patterns of Latino immigrant students. He insists that digital fluency is mandatory for today’s youth as they enter a world that requires it.
Despite Kramer’s passion about technology, aesthetics and school community, he is quick to clarify that the day-to-day lives of the students and needs of the school come first — not his academic interests.
“I’ve come into a strong school environment,” he said. “I’m not about to come in and say, ‘Stop the presses. These are
my interests.’”
Ultimately, Kramer said, his role at the school is to allow teachers to do their best work. “When it works for teachers, it works for students, and everyone is benefited in return. Making that happen? That’s why I’m here,” he said.