Hello There!

Hello There

About Me

Hello, my name is Kristi Druvenga and I am currently a K-8 Special Education Consultant.  I have been a PreK-12 Instructional Coach for 9 years. I LOVE my job, the people I work with and most of all working with students! I am passionate about instruction and research based strategies for 21st century learners. My goal for this blog is to provide resources, strategies, and reflections on my experiences as an instructional coach. When I’m not blogging I enjoy spending time with my boys.

I grew up on a farm with 7 siblings, including a twin brother in a very rural section of our state. I am the mother of two boys, an 8th grader and a 12th grader. I have been married to my AMAZING husband Travis for 20 years.  He is the high school principal for our school district. I am adventurous, I love to snowboard, travel and am a self-professed tech nerd! I enjoy a challenge and believe that every day is a day to learn something new.  I am passionate about education and LOVE to show my creative side in my job!!! I LOVE the people that I work with and feel that I learn just as much from them as they (hopefully) do from me.

My Teaching ExperiencesTeacher Bitmoji holding a Globe

I started my teaching career teaching in a self-contained K-6 grade level 2/3 Special Education classroom where I spent my first three years of teaching. I then spent nine years teaching 4th grade Special Education followed by three years as a 3rd-grade classroom teacher. I spent 9 years as a preK-12 Instructional Coach, followed by two years of designing digital K-12 courses using the platform Canvas.

For the past two years, I’ve had the privilege of leading a team of K-12 Instructional Designers for the Iowa Department of Education’s Iowa E-Learning Central (ILC) project. In this capacity, I’ve been instrumental in guiding the team to develop a repository of online courses (ELA, Math, Science, Social Studies, and Spanish) available for schools to download at no cost. Leveraging the Canvas Learning Management System (LMS), these courses, meticulously crafted by certified Iowa teachers, align seamlessly with the Iowa Core Standards. My commitment to education is reflected in these efforts to provide accessible and quality learning resources for schools.

I have spent time in the Content Developer, Content Expert, and Instructional Designer worlds. I have been leading a team of K-12 Instructional Designers for the Iowa Department of Education’s Iowa E-Learning Central (ILC) project where I have been leading an Instructional Design team to develop a repository of online courses (ELA, Math, Science, Social Studies, and Spanish) for schools to download for free for the past two years using the LMS Canvas. These courses are designed, and developed by certified Iowa teachers and align with the Iowa Core Standards. Check out a few of the courses I have developed below.

Course Examples

Created using the OERs Engage NY and Unbound Ed.

Bitmoji popping out of a computerCreated using the OER Savvas My View Series

Created for Teachers

I was a Content Expert on all 4th Grade ELA courses on the ILC website. Check out a few of them below. (Note: I took over development on the fist course)

Instructional Coaching

I first learned about Instructional Coaches in 2011 when our school adopted the Teacher Leadership Compensation Grant (TLC) from our state Department of Education. This grant allowed all schools in our state to empower teachers to advance into leadership roles such as Instructional Coach, Model Teacher and Curriculum Leader (these are the roles our school chose). The overriding philosophy of the system is multi-pronged, but boils down to the philosophy that improving student learning requires improving the instruction they receive each day. I am a passionate co-teacher, coach, consultant, course developer, instructional designer, teacher, school leader and teacher efficacy builder. My goal is to empower teachers to believe in their abilities as experts in their field. My instructional coaching methods include building capacity through self-reflection, building on experiences and using data to drive instruction with the ultimate focus on student learning. Just trying to keep the main thing the main thing!

As of today, every K-12 public school in our state has adopted the TLC grant. At first, it was a bit of a scary thought to leave the classroom, however, I was ready for a new adventure. My first three years were spent as a K-5 Instructional Coach. I spent time as a PreK-12 Instructional Coach for the past 6 years. I was initially very nervous about the change as elementary education is my passion (and comfort zone). I am however, glad I was pushed outside of my comfort stationary box. Working at the middle and high school levels has opened my eyes to a whole new world and has made me realize that good teaching is good teaching no matter what grade level or content you teach.

I wear a lot of hats as an Instructional coach including co-teacher, partner, PLC coach, instructional strategist, tech coordinator, curriculum developer, special education consultant, researcher, blogger, trainer and colleague. I wouldn’t have it any other way.

SRG Work

These past few years our district has been working on transitioning to Standards Referenced Grading (SRG). We currently have full implementation in our entire district K-12.  I have done a lot of work these past few years working with teachers on unpacking standards, creating proficiency scales, aligning assessment, designing instruction (cross curricular units and PBLs), digging through data, researching best practices and testing out research-based strategies in the classrooms.

I am a lifelong learner and have embraced the change. I think if you are not pushed outside of your box then growth will not occur. I will use this blog to share my experiences, growths and failures as well as share my learnings as an instructional coach.