Recommendation from Emily Brandt

1. April 27, 2020
To Whom It May Concern:
I write to enthusiastically recommend Hannah Ticoras for tenure in the New York City
Department of Education. Hannah is completing her fourth year teaching at the Boerum Hill
School for International Studies (BHS) in Brooklyn, where I’m the IB MYP (International
Baccalaureate Middle Years Programme) Coordinator and Instructional Coach. Not only is
Hannah a strong and collaborative pedagogue, she also is an integral part of our school’s
distributive leadership team. Hannah has done tremendous work leading our Language and
Literature Subject Group, planning and facilitating our Family Academy workshops, and leading
our MSQI literacy initiative.
As a 7th grade Humanities teacher, Hannah integrates the content and skills of Individuals
& Societies (Social Studies) and Language & Literature (ELA). Her carefully designed units
reflect content by diverse writers across history, themes that are urgent and deeply important to
students, and scaffolded skills that prepare students for the rigors of high school, college and
beyond. While she has always been flexible in her planning, to accommodate schoolwide
mandates and vertical alignment, her units also always have her personal hallmarks of a deep
anti-bias lens, and room for creative, as well as critical, thinking. Hannah carefully scaffolds her
instruction so that students develop confidence, as essential skills, along the way. Her projects
are rooted in the real-world, always include room for student choice and creativity, and result in
projects that her students regularly speak proudly of. Hannah treats all of her students with deep
respect and care, taking time to give each student regular, encouraging critical feedback. She
works hard to build and maintain a strong classroom community, using restorative justice circle
practices.
Hannah is in her second year leading our Language and Literature Subject Group team.
Though most of the teachers on this particular team are Hannah’s senior, her intelligent and
highly reflective facilitation style has served the team greatly. Hannah has led this team, our
largest, through the initial development of a vertically aligned curriculum, which as you can
imagine, is no easy task. This process involved having a clear understanding of the many
priorities around skill, content, genre, author identity and more, as well as immense patience and
practice with facilitating complex, often-challenging critical conversations among a large group.
Hannah met these challenges with poise and intelligence, carefully reflecting along the way to
build on successes and learn from setbacks. It has been a real pleasure to witness her tremendous
growth as a fine leader in this difficult and essential role. Hannah’s strength of character, sense
of humor, intelligence, and deep self-reflection are among her best leadership attributes. She
brings these same traits to lead our school’s MSQI efforts around independent reading and
literacy skill development and to our Family Academies, a workshop series for families, so that
Boerum Hill School for International Studies NICOLE LANZILLOTTO,
PRINCIPAL
284 Baltic Street T - 718-330-
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2. they can understand, support, and continue to develop the learning around literacy, math, and
equity that students engage with in school.
I recommend Hannah Ticoras with complete confidence. Her students adore her, and
grow tremendously in her care. Please contact me if you have any additional questions.
Yours,
Emily Brandt
IB MYP Coordinator & Instructional Coach
Emily.Brandt@K497.org