From the volleyball court to becoming the Lewiston School District Elementary Teacher of the Year, Amy Kronemann’s story is a wonderful example of how small steps at a small college can lead to a big career and an even bigger impact.
Getting the ball rolling
Kronemann is originally from Missoula, Montana, and made her way to Idaho to attend Lewis-Clark State College. The deciding factor? A volleyball scholarship.
Throughout her time at LC State, Kronemann played both basketball and volleyball. Soon people like Bill Hayne, Linda Coursey, Shawna Castellaw, and Ken Wareham became cornerstones in her success.
From the court to the classroom
They didn’t just serve Kronemann as an athlete, but as a student first. Kronemann graduated in 2004 with an elementary education degree.
It didn’t take long for her to notice that her education, and the professors providing it, would have a lasting impact on her career.
“I was fortunate to work with some professors that had just a wealth of information and knowledge to share,” said Kronemann.
This wasn’t just felt in the classroom, but also through critical experiences provided by professors.
“There were so many opportunities to be in the schools working with kids prior to having our degree.” she said. “It just set us up for success when we graduated.”
Capitalizing on her time working in schools, Kronemann spent a year completing a classroom internship. Kronemann was assigned to a year of student teaching under Clarkston elementary teacher Charlotte Rogers.
“The environment she created and the way that she interacted with kids,” said Kronemann. “I just knew that is how I want to teach when I have my own classroom.”
A teacher who can coach
Kronemann finally got the chance to fulfill her classroom dreams as she graduated and started working within the Lewiston School District.
“I started my career at Centennial Elementary in first grade and taught there for seven years,” she said. “I absolutely loved it.”
During this time, Kronemann came to understand that her connection to LC State wasn’t going to end after walking across the graduation stage.
While working at Centennial Elementary, Kronemann became an assistant volleyball coach at LC State due to a brief transition in coaching.
“Gary Picone, the athletic director at the time, asked me if I could run some spring practices while they were without a coach as I was a fairly recent graduate,” she said. "I was able to give back to my student athletes in the same way that my coaches and others gave back to me.
Amy Kronemann coaching LC State volleyball
“When [volleyball coaches] Jen and Burdette [Greeny] came on, they offered me the opportunity to continue working with them,” said Kronemann.
“They worked with me so that I was able to be at all the things that I could alongside of my current teaching job,” she said. “Those were years I would never trade in.”
A coach who can teach
Although her connections with people from LC State, like current head volleyball coach Katie Palmer, seem to never end, her time at Centennial Elementary did.
“I chose to move to McGhee Elementary at that time because I was looking to kind of expand my horizons, try a new grade,” said Kronemann. “But, when I walked in this building [McGhee Elementary], I just loved the feel that I got from the students and staff.”
Kronemann taught third grade for nine years before moving to her current position as the Professional Learning Community Lead for Collaborative Teams.
“When the district added this position five years ago,” she said, “I felt I couldn't pass it up because I do really enjoy, also, the leadership side of things.”
Kronemann works with teacher groups from different grade levels to ensure that there is vertical alignment and cohesive communication between grades, as well as to ensure that students are hitting district standards.
“When we spend time together, we are looking at our essential standards and then doing some planning of instruction around those essentials,” she said. “We answer what we call our four PLC questions, and those are what we want students to be able to know and do.”
According to Kronemann, those questions are: “What do we want students to know and be able to do?,” “How will we know if they learn it?,” “What will we do if they don't learn it?,” and then "What will we do if they already know it?”
“We are using data to drive our instruction and then planning for intervention and extension when students either don't have it or maybe need something to go beyond,” said Kronneman.
When looking at vertical alignment and cohesive communication, Kronemann is the liaison for cross communication between teachers.
“My time with teachers is hugely impactful to me in that I learn so many amazing instructional strategies,” she said. “Then I can kind of be that liaison between my grade level teams, sharing what's happening to help in other grades to help with that vertical alignment across our buildings.”
Amy outside of current office in McGhee Elementary
Passing it on
The skills of leaning on a team and working collaboratively aren’t ones Kronemann happened upon, they were developed during her time with LC State.
“That learning environment that I was fortunate to have, I would say actually transitions nicely into the work that I'm doing right now because it was a very collaborative small group,” she said. “We [Kronemann and her classmates] relied heavily on one another as teacher interns.
“If it's interdependent, we couldn't do it alone,” said Kronemann. “Our teachers and professors fostered that at LC.
"Really, that’s the work that I’m doing now in this role as a lead,” she said. “Similar to what our professors did, where we’re creating that collaborative environment for teachers to grow and learn.”
Always a student
As Kronemann dives further into the leadership component of education, she is pursuing a graduate degree in Educational Leadership. True to her new home of Idaho, Kronemann is working to obtain her degree at the University of Idaho. She says one day, maybe, it’ll lead her to a principal position.
For today, though, she’ll hold on to her title as Lewiston School Districts Elementary Teacher of the Year.