Bethann Kosiba Email & Phone Number

Tinkergarten provides educational and fun classes for kids ages 18 months to 8 years old, in the healthiest classroom of all—the outdoors. Our aim is to bring back the most influential part of our own childhoods — free time to tinker outdoors. The curriculum is designed to help kids become well-balanced people who can problem-solve, lead, and create. Think about it as engaging, memorable, play-based learning, all outdoors.

Greater Chicago Area

-Lead on-site field trip program coordination, including training staff, coordinating edits to the field trip app, coordinating needs with other departments, and continuously improving the program for learners grades K-5-Lead coordination and training of the Youth and Family facilitation team, including the relaunch of the in-person Shark Feeding Tour and continuation of virtual animal encounters-Lead development of youth and family programs, including virtual mini camp and overnight program adaptations -Co-lead development of summer camp planning, including curriculum development, coordination of animal requests, materials ordering, and staff training as well as teaching six weeks of in-person camp for the K-1 grade band-Facilitate virtual animal encounters, connecting guests to otters, penguins, and sea lions and Shedd’s mission-Lead special request tours and programs for Development, including virtual member talks and in-person tours

Greater Chicago Area

• Develop and implement an immersive programmatic suite aligned to programmatic and learner goals and outcomes utilizing best practices for use with Shedd guests• Facilitate learner-centered trainings and enrichment while engaging volunteers, pre-professionals and teens through multisensory and dynamic experiences• Maintain resources, materials and learning spaces, including ordering of supplies, equipment and materials as needed• Monitor and evaluate learning using authentic assessment tools in alignment with learner and program evaluation plan.• Recruit, train and co-manage volunteers and work-study teens• Facilitates daily interpretive volunteer and teen shift meetings which include post assignments and departmental and institutional updates, as needed• Regularly coach and provide performance feedback to volunteers and teens• Provide operational support to volunteer- and teen-led exhibit programs such as multi-media and prop distribution, as needed• Provides management with periodic performance assessments for internal learners• Cultivate and maintain individual relationships with volunteers, pre-professionals and teens to ensure high levels of engagement with the aquarium• Demonstrate a commitment to professional and personal growth by initiating dialogue with colleagues, engaging in self-directed learning and focusing on professional development

Virtual

In this time of distance and digital learning, I have joined the Varsity Tutors team to help support students across the country get the one-on-one tutoring help they need. I prepare individualized lesson plans each week, tailored to the student's learning style and goals for the class Subjects I tutor:-Biology-Ecology-Environmental Science-English-Elementary and Middle School Science-Public Speaking-Spanish 1-4 and Conversational Spanish-Writing

Olympia Fields, Il

-Leads fields trips on various environmental education topics-Connecting kids with nature in their own backyards as well as at our facility-Led environmental education programs and birthday parties at Irons Oaks as well as provide outreach programs

I was part of a team of three education advisors to the Gorilla Species Survival Plan, working together to enhance the goals of the program. Together, we launched the celebration of the first World Gorilla Day, created a gorilla key messages document, and held a now annual successful nationwide cell phone recycling initiative, Gorillas on the Line.

Greater Chicago Area

• Delivered Children’s Garden birthday party programs• Delivered other education programs in the Children’s Garden and throughout the Arboretum, including school field trip programs, free drop-in programs for the general public, fee-based programs, and special events• Served as host for party rentals, providing activities for guests and ensuring their party runs smoothly• Maintained supply inventory for youth and family programs• Monitored safety in the Children’s Garden • Supervised volunteers

Greater Chicago Area

-Facilitated play stations for 2 and 3 year olds and their caregivers-Modeled play narration and other effective toddler interaction strategies for caregivers-Set up and cleaned up free play stations, including process art, building, loose parts, music, dress-up, sensory bins,fort building and reading-Led closing meet an animal activity occasionally, rotating with other facilitators, to help connect participants with zoo animals-Led evening programming for families during summer campouts at the zoo

Greater Chicago Area

I oversee the daily operations of Lincoln Park Zoo’s interpretive programs, including demonstrations, zoo chats, animal encounters, and cart-based learning stations. This includes interpreting the zoo to guests, program development and writing, training, supervising and evaluating education volunteers, and special event planning.

Greater Chicago Area

In this position extension, I have completely rewritten and reformatted the entire suite of educational programs to be delivered by volunteers at Farm-in-the-Zoo. This entailed not only writing new programs, but also purchasing and building new props for the volunteers to use while faciliating the new suite of programs. I have also planned out all volunteer training for the upcoming 2014 volunteer season at Farm-in-the-Zoo, ensuring all policies and procedures are up-to-date and accurate for training purposes. Training preparation included coordinating key dates with Animal Care and Volunteer Services to ensure staff coverage for important animal safety and guest services portions of training.

Greater Chicago Area

I am responsible for training and evaluating seasonal volunteers, new and returning, on developed educational programs for Farm-in-the-Zoo. I will be coordinating daily activities for and schedules for the volunteers as well as coordinating with both Animal Care and Volunteer Services to ensure the volunteers and staff are well supported. As the season progresses, I'll also be planning volunteer development and enrichment activities to help provide more fun opportunities for our fantastic volunteers at the Farm.

Greater Chicago Area

I facilitate daily chats and programs on zoo grounds, helping to provide excellent experiences for our visitors. Some of the formal programs I facilitate include a daily "Meet an Animal" session, narrating seal, rhino, or gorilla training sessions via microphone, and delivering informal chats with conservation messages to guests as they visit various animals on zoo grounds. I've also written interpretive zoo chats to be delivered on grounds and gave special Members Only tours, as well as supported the department as a whole by helping to staff other special programming

Greater Chicago Area

During my internship, I contributed over 120 hours of unpaid work to support the zoo’s education programs. My projects included:1. Conducting research on best practices for education programs geared towards middle-school aged youth2. Staffing education programs, such as family overnights and cart-based chats on zoo grounds3. Developing an educational scavenger hunt to be used for summer camp staff and summer camp programming4. Prepping and organizing supplies used for education programs

Greater Chicago Area

I work on special projects to help streamline processes within HOLLY HUNT Collection furniture. Current projects include revamping the custom quoting process as well as the custom quoting matrix and thinking strategically about our pricing structure to provide the best possible client experience.

Chicago

• Managed multiple projects with tight deadlines• Analyzed data and generated reports to monitor performance• Built Access Database to track workroom performance and developed monthly scorecards to relay data to workrooms; trained co-workers to use database• Implemented new procedures to provide better communication between the corporate office and the showroom staff• Managed successful production schedule for two major workrooms

South Holland, Il

• Provided enriching and engaging daily activities for summer campers, ages 6-12• Trained staff to deliver planned program activities• Developed communication skills among staff• Assisted in designing and implementing daily activities, including weekly theme days• Assumed responsibility when camp director was unavailable• Addressed classroom management needs and challenges related to inappropriate camper behaviors• Processed and organized important camp documents

South Holland, Il

• Supervised groups of 6-12 year olds in planned daily activities• Assisted in planning special activities for weekly theme days• Addressed camper behavior problems and elevated to the director when necessary

Post Baccalaureate Certificate, Zoo And Aquarium Studies, 4.0 Gpa

B.S., Biology, Environmental Science, Spanish

Activities and Societies: Tri-Beta Biology Society, Phi Eta Sigma Freshman Honor Society, University Honors Program Ambassador.