Updated Resume 2016 2v3u50

Margaret Whalen Stec 629 N. Grove Ave. Oak Park, IL. 60302 708-955-9110 : [email protected] EDUCATION

Master of Library and Information Science with Youth Services Certificate: Dominican University, 4.0 GPA Anticipated completion of program: May 2016 Master of Arts in Teaching, Early Childhood: Concordia University, May 2006 Illinois Type 4 Age 0-Grade 3 Certification Bachelor of Arts, English Literature: Dominican University, Cum Laude

PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE La Grange Park Public Library La Grange Park, IL: Youth Services Assistant 2012-Present Thomas Ford Memorial Library Western Springs, IL: Youth Services Assistant (part time) 2012-2013  Proficient in SirsiDynix Symphony System and Millennium Circulation System  Plan and conduct yearly programs:  Baby Storytimes: three 6 to 10 week sessions per year  Toddler Times: three 6 to 10 week sessions per year  Safe Sitter Babysitting Training, including child R: one 4 week session per year  Summer Reading K-3 program: one 6 week session per year  Toddler Dance Party: three times per year  Kids Club: two 10 week sessions per year  Outreach:  Special Needs Storytime at Forest Road School  Preschool Storytime at Barnsdale Preschool  Home Daycare Storytime in La Grange Park  Assist in collection management projects, status changes, new title processing, weeding titles  Create departmental displays  Resource guide for developmentally appropriate children’s literature  Contribute book reviews for library website East Maine School District 63: First Grade Teacher 2007-2011 Curriculum  Implemented guided reading comprehension strategies and problem-solving techniques  Assessed students using Fountas & Pinnell Benchmark Assessment System and AIMSweb progress monitoring data to provide differentiated reading instruction Unique Classroom Experience  Accommodated diverse student populations from over 12 different countries with varied English language proficiency levels  Modeled metacognitive strategies to aid student monitoring of academic and behavioral progress  ed students in multiple challenging life situations by collaborating with parents, social workers and child services Technology Proficiency  Microsoft Publisher, Prezi, Weebly, Microsoft Word, Excel, Power Point, Audacity, ELMO visual projector  Designed spreadsheets to record and analyze student progress in of Response to Instruction (RTI) Intervention System  Developed teacher web page and weekly newsletter to enhance parent communication PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT AND SKILLS  Participant in Global Learning Through Children’s Literature Symposium 2012  Completed Master’s Level courses in children’s literature 2012-2016  Attended ILA Conference 2013  NIU Children’s Literature Conference 2014, 2016  Certified in R/AED  Strong interpersonal skills  Patron reviews listed below

This edition of Library Look brings us the La Grange Park Public Library’s Margaret Whalen Stec. She works in the Children’s Department. Q. How long have you been with the library? A. I have worked in the children’s department for four years. I plan programs, process new books and recommend developmentally appropriate titles for our young readers. This is my favorite part of the job: to connect readers to books that develop a ion for reading! Q. What is your favorite part of working at the library? Why? A. The library is filled with two of my favorite things: books and children! I really enjoy connecting young readers to new books and hearing about their reading choices. This is such an important time in their learning, and to develop a ion for reading during the early stages of childhood is so very important to foster lifelong learning. Q. What is something library patrons may not know about you? A. Before coming to this wonderful library, I taught first grade for several years. My present position has been a great opportunity to use my early childhood teaching experience in my story time/after school programs and my reader’s advisory skills. Q. What do you think is an underused feature of the library and why? A. I love introducing patrons to the online resources available on our website. This is a fantastic selection that is easy to use and free of charge! Novelist Plus is one of my favorites for read-alikes, and Gale Virtual Reference along with Biography in Context are great for older students’ research projects. Q. What is your favorite book and why? A. This is an extremely difficult question to answer for a bibliophile. There are too many! My favorite classics are “Rebecca” by Daphne DuMaurier and “Jane Eyre” by Charlotte Bronte. Some of my favorite children’s books include: “Goodnight Moon,” “The Secret Garden” and “James and the Giant Peach.” Adult reads? I love anything by Ann Patchett, Anne Lamott and Madeleine L’Engle.

Patron Reviews: ---------- Forwarded message ---------From: [email protected] Date: Tue, Jan 5, 2016 at 7:16 PM Subject: New submission from Us To: [email protected]

Name Katie J. Email [email protected] Phone (XXX-XXX-XXXX) How can we help you? Comment I just wanted to thank you for providing such an excellent Baby Story Time. Miss Margaret is such an asset to your children's department. I have been attending the Baby Story Time since the summer and am very impressed with her. She is warm, engaging, and professional. Her agendas are easy to follow and thorough, making it easy to continue what we have learned at home. She incorporates visual, kinesthetic, and auditory learning and her repetition and flow between the activities is just perfect for the little ones. I am a reading specialist and it is obvious that she incorporates best practices in her teaching and that she is excellent at developing early literacy skills. I have attended several other baby story sessions in the area and hers is by far superior. I have been looking forward to the new session beginning next week; thanks for letting my daughter and me be part of it.

yelp*review: La Grange Park Public Library Dist. Dana O. La Grange, IL 1/18/2014 I am not one to take the time to write reviews, but my (very early) New Years resolution is to sing the praises of things I really love. And the LGP library is one of them! I have two small kids and we love, love, love the children's section of this library. Miss Margaret is a dream librarian; she is so engaged and nice with the kids, she has a brilliant memory for ing names, and it's obvious she loves what she does. She is, hands-down, the best children's librarian in the greater La Grange area. The story times are fantastic, and the extra programming they do for kids is so well-organized and memorable. The rest of the library is nice, too. Great natural lighting, and it's just a clean place. Plus, KEY, is that everyone that works there is nice and helpful. I haven't found one person yet who's just sloughing around waiting for 5 p.m. They are all really present and wonderful. I'm so glad we live so close to this library. It is a GEM and we'll be coming here regularly for many years to come.