Izzy Kramer received her master’s from Portland State University in the spring of 2024 after completing the Graduate Teacher Education Program (GTEP) in the College of Education. Now working as a second-grade teacher in the Portland Public School District at Chapman Elementary, she shares her journey from the advertising world to the classroom.
When the COVID-19 pandemic hit in 2020, and the world slowed down, Izzy Kramer found herself re-evaluating her career and priorities. After five years working in the advertising industry, she no longer found fulfillment in her career.
Thinking about what she might do instead, teaching felt like the most natural fit.
"I'd always thought about education,” Kramer recalls. “I'd had people throughout my life telling me, ‘you should be a teacher, you should be a teacher.’" So, with time on her hands during the pandemic, she decided to take a leap of faith. She quit her job to see if teaching suited her.
Chapman Elementary, just blocks from her home, was the perfect place to test the waters. Kramer got hired as an educational assistant (EA) for the summer school session. Things went well and the principal asked her to stay on for the next school year. She hasn't left Chapman since.
After getting a taste of success as an EA, Kramer set her sights on a master's degree in education. She wanted to earn her teaching license and experience the theory and rigor of a teacher prep program so she wouldn’t be relying solely on instinct and intuition in the classroom. “Even though I was excited about teaching, and people were telling me that I would be really great at it, I still didn't feel prepared,” she says.
As she started to explore her options, PSU rose to the top of her list. While its downtown campus location was convenient, it wasn’t just proximity that set Portland State’s teacher prep programs apart from the competition.
"PSU was really focused on diversity and inclusion, and that was really important to me," Kramer says. With the intention to work in the Portland Public School District, Kramer wanted to learn best practices and feel prepared to serve urban students from a variety of backgrounds. And on this front, PSU delivered.
Kramer was able to continue working full time as an EA at Chapman through her first year at PSU. She then advocated to stay there for her student teaching placement in the second year of the program, while also substitute teaching. After graduating in 2024, Kramer landed a nine-month classroom position at Chapman — covering for a second grade teacher on paternal leave — thanks to the connections she’d developed at the school.
Her first year has come with challenges that have tested both her training and her resolve.
“I started the year with 30 second graders,” she recalls. This included several students in need of additional support and resources. Managing such a large class while addressing individual needs was overwhelming at first.
Kramer says that no amount of preparation can fully prepare you for every scenario you’ll face as a new teacher, but PSU did prepare her in other crucial ways.
One key lesson that stuck with her from her very first graduate class is resilience. "Professors told us from the get-go that this job is hard and you need to build resilience for it,” Kramer says. “I think about that quite often, especially with the trials of this year."
Lesson planning is another area she feels confident in thanks to her time at PSU. And while her lesson plans are now "sticky notes instead of 10-page plans," she jokes, PSU's rigorous preparation helped her internalize effective teaching methods.
During her time at PSU, Kramer also found a strong sense of community within her cohort.
"PSU gave me a great opportunity to build community,” Kramer says, crediting professors like Cynthia Lam-Moffett for fostering relationships among teacher candidates and encouraging connections with other educators.
“They're really the only ones that understand what your job is and what it requires of you,” Kramer explains.
Today, Kramer maintains strong ties with her cohort through regular meetups and online discussions. These connections have become an essential support network, with students even helping each other secure teaching positions.
For those preparing for a career in education, Kramer has some advice: "Try to get your hands on curriculum as much as possible, even before student teaching," she says. "It's going to be so much easier later on if you're not learning everything from scratch."
While it’s been a tough first year as a teacher, Kramer has continued to learn as she goes and has found moments of triumph and growth. "I'm really enjoying seeing my students progress," she says. "When you give them instructions that you know are going to improve their learning and they follow through – that’s really, really fun to see."
Kramer’s journey is an inspiring example of how resilience and a commitment to growth can lead to a fulfilling career in education. She is part of a growing network of College of Education alumni making a difference in schools across Portland. Chapman Elementary alone employs four PSU-educated teachers, a testament to the program’s reputation for producing skilled, passionate educators.
“Changing careers has been one of the best decisions I've made,” Kramer says. “It has greatly improved how I think about myself as a professional and what I want to get out of my job.”