By Jessie Moser
KSLA-CE provided continuing education credits for an author talk at Cedar Crest College on April 3, 2024. Dana Kramaroff introduced future and current educators to her third book, The Do More Club. Dana started her talk by giving advice to the future teachers. Don’t think you have to be 50-50 balancing being a teacher with a personal life: always take care of yourself-then you can be the best teacher you can be. Her second tip was: to say “no” is to say “yes” to yourself. She proceeded to share some barrier breaking activities and tips that could be used in the classroom.
Do More of This: She encouraged teachers to not only break down barriers during the first week of school, but to engage students in activities that get them to share their differences throughout the year. She reminded her audience that “not everyone can hide who they are.” Ideas for classroom barrier breakers were: Write down ten things you are obsessed with. If you identify with something someone else shares, she has her students make the heart sign. A third activity
was called iceberg. You write your traits that are seen are above the water line, and your unseen traits (Jewish, ally) are written below the water line.
She cautioned that students may not want to read their responses aloud, and the teacher could offer to read them. Also, kids may reveal things if they feel they are in a safe place.
She read an excerpt of her novel in verse, a style of book that is kid-friendly, with lots of white space and a growing genre. Book characters shared their responses to this prompt: “If you really knew me, you’d know _________”. The Do More Club was about doing random acts of kindness with the idea that just one person and one small act can push another person forward.
Do More of This: Engage your students in ongoing acts of kindness so hate can’t win. Attendees got to practice writing an encouraging post-it message to leave on a community board, a place that she encourages teachers to publish student work. Another format for a community board message looked like a tear off message like the kind people use to sell a sofa or find a roommate. Instead of a phone number you tear off a message under the heading: “Spread Kindness” Please take what you need.
Dana’s website to learn more about her new book is: danakamaroff.com
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