Kelli Thorton-Varley

Kelli Thorton-Varley is an instructional coach and an elementary classroom teacher in a suburb northwest of Minneapolis, MN. Kelli started her career in special education, where she gained 5 years of experience working mainly with students labeled as having emotional/behavioral disorders as well as students diagnosed with an autism spectrum disorder. In her 20 years of teaching, she has also had a variety of different classroom teaching experiences including having taught grades 1,3, 4, and 6. In addition to her teaching degree, she holds an undergraduate degree in Psychology and a Master’s Degree in Special Education with an emphasis in EBD.

As an instructional coach, Kelli coaches licensed school staff to meet their individual professional growth. Kelli also leads several grade level and special education PLTs where she facilitates teams to share different teaching strategies to align their practices with their goals. Kelli’s strengths lie within continuous learning and creating positive learning environments for teachers and students with whom she works.