News Releases
March Employee of the Month: Debbie Morales
Resource Center Teacher, Kimball Hill School
Walking into the Learning Resource Center at Kimball Hill School is like stepping through the doorway of a warm, inviting home. Cheerful curtains frame the windows … a cozy corner with a couch invites guests to curl up with a book … stuffed animals, displays, and children’s craft projects top bookcases and tables … and everywhere, there are books! It’s an environment created especially to nurture the love of reading and books—and it’s largely the handiwork of Debbie Morales, now in her third year as Kimball Hill’s resource center teacher.
Debbie is welcoming and approachable, eager to share her enthusiasm for reading with all Kimball Hill students. She knows most students by name, and is always willing to interrupt what she’s doing to help find a book or recommend books that match a student’s particular interests. “She is a master motivator of students and adults, making everyone feel valued,” her nominator said.
“I hope when the kids come in to our LRC, they see lots of things that interest them,” Debbie says. She thinks of the LRC as “the hub of our school.” Debbie creates special displays on timely topics—authors’ birthdays, National Library Week, African-American History Month, the seasons, and more. Each year, she coordinates a special event that brings in local celebrities—Rolling Meadows city officials and community residents—to read to students. At Halloween, she converts one part of the LRC into a “Haunted Hollow” where students can read with flashlights in the dark. Debbie uses her own creativity to inspire student creativity; for example, to encourage students to do their own research, each month she develops a special voluntary activity focusing on a particular topic. This month’s topic is the Olympics.
Debbie came into the LRC after a number of years as a classroom teacher, having taught kindergarten, first, and third grades in District 15 at now-replaced Joel Wood, Gray M. Sanborn, Thomas Jefferson, Pleasant Hill, and Kimball Hill Schools. Her classroom experience enables her to effectively support teachers with books and activities related to curriculum needs. One of the things she especially likes about the LRC, she says, is working with students of all age levels, from kindergarten to sixth grade. She is also involved with student government, Kimball Hill Space Cadet Club, and the library helpers program.
Debbie grew up in Arlington Heights. She attributes her interest in teaching to the influence of her mother, a school secretary in the Arlington Heights District 25 for more than 20 years. Debbie earned a B.S. in elementary education from Carthage College in Kenosha, WI, and a master’s in curriculum and instruction from Concordia University.
She and her husband Ken, a physical education teacher at Carl Sandburg Junior High, are parents of two children: Meghan, a freshman at Eastern Illinois University, and Michael, a high school senior who’s planning to attend Northern Illinois University. In her leisure time, Debbie loves to sew and do crafts, swim, and work out.
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