TO:WHOM IT MAY CONCERN

FROM: Ronald Sallade, Student Teacher Supervisor, School of Education, Drake University, Des Moines, Iowa

SUBJECT: Employment Recommendation for Bandy Borg, Student Teacher, Drake University, Des Moines, Iowa, Spring Semester 2015

DATE:March 15, 2015

This is a letter of recommendation enthusiastically supporting employment for Brandy Borg, a student teacher at Drake University, Des Moines, Iowa, who will be a fully certified teacher in May 2015. I have been supervisor of Brandys student teaching during this Spring Semester, 2015. For her first placement of two, her student teaching placement has been in 7th grade math at Callanan Middle School, Des Moines, IA. Callanan serves the near west side of Des Moines and feeds into Roosevelt High School.

In brief, Brandy is a very successful, intentional teacher:setting her lessons in context; providing direct instruction in a stimulating and effective manner; engaging students in an exciting, purposeful way; using a variety of instructional approaches; appropriately checking for students understanding; and re-teaching as needed. Brandy has an strong teacher presence. She creates an orderly, active, positive classroom environment and puts forth considerable effort to achieve her desired outcome. Her students are engaged, and her classroom is well managed. She conducts herself as a professional in every respect. She holds herself accountable for learning and accomplishes a great deal. She intentionally seeks opportunities to communicate with students on a very personal level and has strong rapport with them. Ms. Borg's lesson plans are well prepared and interconnect appropriately with the course curriculum. In preparing lessons, Brandy has a thorough knowledge of the text and relevant vocabulary, as well as seeksand uses supplemental materials from resource books, the Internet, and the library. For her 7th Grade math classes, she planned and implemented a unit plan concerning random sampling through both individual and group work. Students engagement with concepts relating to producing a random sample and making inferences on the data was supplemented with discussion of how individuals work with math. She consistently expects students to think critically by relating classroom activities to the approach of real-life users of mathematics.

Brandy very ably employs a variety of instructional strategies. Each lesson includes a variation of learning activities such as experimenting with materials, reading, writing, watching a demonstration, or participating in group and class discussion. She has students consider concepts in multiple avenues to acquire a deeper understanding and then apply their knowledge. For example, in preparing for a unit test, students reviewed by rotating through different tables and answered questions posed at each table as a group. This review expected students to discuss the material with peers and gain a deeper understanding of the content.

Students are quite responsive to Brandy. Students benefit from positive, spontaneous, interactive rapport with her. Brandy demonstrates a measured self-confidence. Students know that she is helping them and the students readily accept her instruction. Brandy and her students obviously benefit from mutual respect. Her students like her, are comfortable with her, have a high opinion of her, and willingly follow her instruction. Brandys mentor, Jennifer Davis, has assessed her at the Competent level on the Final Evaluation for 3 of the ten standards and "Exemplary" for the other seven standards established by Drake University. In addition there are dozens of positive comments on every category on page 4 of the instrument is marked "Excellent." I expect Brandy will have comparable ratings in her second placement when that time comes. For her Midterm evaluation, Brandy received "Competent" in all but 2 standards, which were labeled "Exemplary."

Ms. Borg's interpersonal skills (active listening, clearly understood voice, effective eye contact) are especially effective and obviously an important part of her communication with students. I am quite impressed by Brandys easy, interactional repartee with students, her ability to capture and synthesize students ideas during discussion, as well as her ability to concurrently record students ideas on the board. Typically, those abilities are evident later in a teachers career.

Brandy is quite collaborative in her approach. She has been part of an instructional team, which includes other professionals, and she has shared resources very effectively with those teachers. She meets with these professionals to share ideas, evaluate lesson plans, and discuss behavior management of individual students. This collaboration has allowed her to expand her knowledge of education resources and enabled her to create professional relationships. Brandy also readily accepts input and guidance from her mentor teacher as a means to improve her professional practice in the classroom.

In short, Brandy is an exceptionally effective, successful teacher. Her mentor remarked, "Brandy is a strong planner, presenter, and relationship builder with students," in her final review. I would rank Bandy Borg in the top ten percent of beginning teachers. She has the decided commitment and will make a major difference. As a student teacher, Brandy is impressive.

Brandy is talented academically, earning a 4.0 GPA as an undergraduate with a GPA of 3.78 during her Master's program at Drake University. She has successfully completed a degree earning a Masters of Arts in Teaching. Her endorsements will include Middle School, Biology (5-12) and Math. Concurrent with her intelligence and teaching abilities, Ms. Borg is a mature and socially appropriate professional. I believe Brandy is an exceptionally good candidate for placement in that she is certified in Middle School science and math. She is also interested in getting involved with any student program that involves leadership and math and/or science groups.

I very enthusiastically recommend Bandy Borg for any teaching position for which she is qualified and certified. If representatives from school districts have questions or would like more information, they are invited to contact me personally.

Ronald Sallade, Ph. D.3715 SW 28th StreetDes Moines, IA 50321-2024515.249.5627 Daytime Mobile; Messaging Is AvailableRonaldSall@aol.com