1. Central Park East 1
1573 Madison Ave.
New York, New York 10029
June 20, 2011
To whom it may concern,
I have worked closely with Monica Rodriguez for three years at Central Park East
1 Elementary School in her capacity as the music teacher and in my capacity as
teacher coach and support person. First and foremost, Monica is an excellent
music teacher. In our very small school, with only 200 children, she fills many
roles, both as a music teacher and as a support to the school as a whole. She
brings both talent and skills to all of these roles.
She teaches music classes to every class from 4 year olds to 12 year olds. These are
classes are exciting and at the same time demanding, requiring students to reach
to a high level of performance and understanding of music theory. The classes are
varied, from voice to instrumental instruction, to reading musical notation, to
music appreciation. The classes are lively and engaging.
She also runs three choruses: a boys chorus and a girls chorus for the lower grades
and a mixed chorus for the upper grades. The lower grade choruses have about 75
children in each and the upper grade mixed chorus has about 50 children. With a
little support from paraprofessionals, she runs these large groups, forming
cohesive choruses that perform to a high standard. There are performances twice
a year.
She also directs an all school sing every week with the entire school community of
children and adults. This is a real challenge to engage the entire auditorium in
singing, harmonizing, and learning new material week in and week out. This
sing, that happens first thing every Monday morning, builds our sense of
community and starts our school week on a positive note. She finishes each week
with a lower school sing, without the teachers. This allows for collaborative work
among the teachers and supports the youngest children in their musical
development and love of singing and music.
She also works with small groups of children during a project period every day. At
this time children are engaged in long term projects of their own choosing. She
has supported children making audio books with sound effects, preparing for

2. performances both vocal and instrumental, creating original compositions, and
many more and varied projects. Children see her rightly as a rich resource to be
called on for help.
She has also over the years supported classroom teachers in more narrowly
defined academic work. She has worked in classrooms alongside the classroom
teachers helping individuals and small groups in the whole range of learning
activities.
She brings these strengths to her classroom and school community as a whole:
intellectual curiosity, enthusiasm for learning and teaching, concern and respect
for individual children, and a willingness to experiment and try new ideas.
We work very closely as a staff. We have intensive staff development meetings
once a week. We discuss philosophy, curriculum issues, individual children, and
school policy. Monica is a thoughtful contributor in all of this work.
She will be an asset to any program, school, or institution she is a part of. If there
is any way I can be of further help, please feel free to call or write.
Sincerely,
Donnie Rotkin
(718) 768-1797
Donnierotkin@gmail.com