This letter of recommendation is for Aaron Tinker for a position as a high school English teacher. The letter writer recommends Aaron highly, stating that he graduated with a degree in Secondary Education English from the University of Alabama with a 3.4 GPA. The letter notes that Aaron wrote well-organized, clearly written essays for his advanced English classes and would be an excellent English teacher. The letter also says Aaron is a likable, well-mannered person who would embrace and dedicate himself to any educational community. The letter writer strongly endorses Aaron for the teaching position.

1. 103 Morgan Hall | Box 870244 | Tuscaloosa, AL 35487 | 205-348-5065 | Fax 205-348-1388
October 21, 2016
Letter or Recommendation for Joshua (Aaron) Tinker
To whom it may concern:
I write to recommend Aaron Tinker for a position as a high school English and Language
Arts teacher. Aaron is a University of Alabama graduate with a degree from the College
of Education, where he majored in their Secondary Education English track (SELA). He
is a good student who graduated with a 3.4; but better yet, he is a fine person who will in
my opinion become a highly successful teacher and valued colleague.
He is certainly well educated and in possession of all the English expertise necessary.
Aaron’s work for me came in advanced English classes—a class on the western canon
and a seminar on John Keats—and therefore consisted principally of essays. So I can
testify that he writes an appealing and grammatically correct English prose, with complex
arguments presented with admirable clarity. Aaron is a genuinely thoughtful person, so
his essays were always independent-minded and interesting: I recall, for instance, his
effort to correlate the increasing humanism of Greek tragedy with the freedom of the
characters; and his attempt to rehabilitate the older view of Keats as an idealist in reading
“The Eve of St. Agnes.” But for a future English teacher, the more important point may
be that the essays were well-organized and clearly phrased: they communicated
effectively. And Aaron was in addition an excellent citizen of the class, a student who
attended regularly with his assignments done, and who was a great pleasure to teach.
He’s also a good guy. It’s always a pleasure to see Aaron; he’s a likeable, well-mannered
young man who makes a good impression on others and handles himself well in public
situations. He cultivates relationships and is an excellent team player: he still returns to
his high school, I know, to help out there with the baseball team. His personal character
would lead him similarly to embrace any educational community he joined and dedicate
himself to promoting its best interests in whatever way he could. His students would love
him and his fellow teachers appreciate his professionalism and enjoy working with him—
or that at least is my judgment.
For all these reasons, I am happy to give Aaron Tinker my unqualified endorsement as a
high school English teacher. Hire him! Hire him before someone else does; you won’t
be sorry.
Sincerely yours,
William A. Ulmer
Professor of English