1. 12 East 89th
St. New York, N.Y. 10128
Re: Mr. Robert Panish
Date: 4/9/13
Mr. Panish joined the faculty of Saint David’s this year as one of two fifth grade homeroom
teachers. His duties included teaching language arts, history, and religion. Even though Mr.
Panish had little direct experience teaching this age group, we were impressed with his
understanding of curriculum planning and his ability to demonstrate enthusiasm for teaching at
this age during his interview. Mr. Panish taught several sample lessons and met with the fifth
grade team. He impressed everyone he met and we were happy to offer him a position at the
school.
Mr. Panish’s teaching duties are split between language arts, history, and religion. When
teaching history, Mr. Panish has coordinated his teaching with an experienced 6th
grade teacher,
and together they have significantly updated and improved our program. Mr. Panish has focused
on asking “essential questions” of the boys, and he has required his students to think deeply
about what they have learned and what they know. In addition, the program is structured so that
the boys have an opportunity to work in groups, pairs, and individually. Mr. Panish has used
Google Documents to manage student work successfully. Each semester concludes with a
culminating project or performance, and Mr. Panish’s students have performed superbly with
these.
When teaching language arts, Mr. Panish has worked with two other teachers to develop a new
program for the fifth grade. This program emphasizes reading classic novels representing
different genres and cultures. Boys are given multiple opportunities to respond to these texts
both verbally during group discussions and in writing. Mr. Panish utilized several successful
writing techniques to allow the boys to respond to prompts and capture their understanding in
written form. Time is also spent working on grammar, vocabulary, and spelling.

2. 12 East 89th
St. New York, N.Y. 10128
Mr. Panish is also responsible for teaching both sections of religion. During these classes he has
focused on ensuring that the boys live up to the school motto “…that they be good men.” Mr.
Panish’s work with the boys in developing social awareness and understanding of how their
actions can affect others is impressive. Parents have spoken positively about his handling of
many tricky situations.
As a new teacher, Mr. Panish has welcomed feedback and advice about his teaching. He has
invited colleagues, mentors, and administrators into his classrooms. Additionally, he has made a
point of observing colleagues and speaking with them about their professional practice. He has
remained open to receiving feedback and implementing this into his lessons. At all times, Mr.
Panish displays a calm persona and the boys feel safe in his classroom. He has developed
consistent routines both in his homeroom and during instruction time. His classroom
management skills are very well developed. After teaching this year, Mr. Panish has developed a
realization that this age-group may not be the right group for him. His experience in the past and
his experiences from this year have helped him realize that working with older students would be
a better fit.
Mr. Panish has sought out professional development opportunities during his time at Saint
David’s. Even before he officially began working at the school, he attended a two-day
conference on teaching methods, worked with teachers to develop curriculum, and has
participated fully in our NYSAIS evaluation. He will be attending another professional
development seminar at Columbia Teacher’s College in May of 2013.
Mr. Panish has been an active member of the faculty and he has participated fully in the life of
the school. We wish him well with the next stage of his career and recommend him to you
without reservation.
Dr. Shane Kinsella
Dean of Faculty
skinsella@saintdavids.org