1. *TEMPLATE – Clark Library*
Dear People,
Kay Traester has been my student teacher in my eighth grade English classes
during the winter/spring period of the 2004-2005 school year. Kay came well prepared
to her student teaching experience. Prior to being my student teacher, she was a tutor
for several weeks for some of my needier students after school. In this capacity she was
consistent, compassionate, and reliable. While student teachers are required to spend
one hundred hours for field study, Kay had clocked well over double that amount prior to
her student teaching experience with me. This further evidenced her dedication to the
teaching profession. This enthusiasm and the philosophy of hard work did not wane
after she began her formal student teaching in earnest.
When she began her student teaching, it was immediately evident that Kay had a
love for the profession and a sincere interest in and concern for the students. She was
willing to come up with creative lessons that proved to be interesting and educationally
effective. Furthermore, she spent many hours with an individual student working on
reading strategies on her own time to help one of my less capable readers.
Kay has approached any and all aspects of the work involved in teaching my
students with eager anticipation. She wrote extremely detailed and well though out
plans in spite of the fact that during this entire student teaching experience she
maintained her responsibilities as an editor in chief of the Colgate University Maroon
News weekly newspaper. In fact, in my thirty years of teaching, I have never
experienced any student teacher who was better prepared and who worked harder than
Kay. Her lessons have been thought out and professional. She was always willing to
adjust any parts of her lessons that she thought could be improved.
Kay’s classroom management style seemed closer to that of a veteran teacher
than to the student teacher she is. Her maturity in dealing with the students was evident
and, as a result, commanded real respect from the students. On a practical level, all the
papers, quizzes, and tests Kay assigned to the students were immediately graded and
returned to the students. She maintained a level of efficiency that was fueled by her
obvious work ethic and her professional concern for her students’ progress. No time
was wasted in her class.
While teaching in my classroom, Kay too the initiative to creative many colorful,
creative, and effective bulletin boards relating to the work being done and the units
studied in class. She became ever more efficient in her teaching, keeping lists of
students who owed worked on the board, as well as announcing the homework assigned
each day.
Overall, as the chairman of our English department, I would not hesitate to offer
Kay a teaching position in our district, were we to have an opening. Wherever she
decides to accept a teaching position, I know with all confidence that she will do an
outstanding job and become an asset to the school district fortunate enough to receive
her application for employment.
Should you desire further information, please contact me at Sherburne-Earlville
Central School.
Sincerely,
Ex Ample