1. Shanghai United International School
上海市民办协和双语学校
Where East meets West
January 4, 2016
Shanghai United International School - Wan Yuan Campus
Shanghai, China
To Whom It May Concern,
This is a letter of recommendation for Mr. Alan Coyne, Social Studies classroom teacher during the 2013-15
academic years. Mr. Coyne expertly functioned in his role during the tumultuous early development years of
the school. He saw the original student population increase in surprising numbers and saw the number and
level of service the school offered increase as the school gained AdvancEd accreditation status in only its
second year of operation.
When I envision highly effective international teaching, I think of Alan’s World History classrooms. I would
observe students who had engaged in the classroom weebly.com site the night before, would come into the
room with ideas of what was to be learned tht day, see essential questions on the board and then would
spend ninety minutes wrestling with language, ideas, presentations, performances, assessments and leave
the room having learned! Alan was masterful in setting the stage, conducting a highly effective class and
summarizing the work on the school information system, Renweb. He would do this for every class and
then aid in offering school duties and covering for missing teachers. Alan was very professional in
improving his craft and accepted administrative observations with professional curiousity.
In terms of extracurricular activities, Alan was a leader of the staff. He led the effort to encourage students
to engage in Community Service projects - a concept quite foreign to the Chinese education system. He
developed a tracking system, taught skills in developing projects, and then offered projects to model the
concept to students. Our students served others within the campus, in neighborhood venues and even
leaving the province on service projects. All our students’ university application portfolios were personally
impacted by Alan’s work. He could also be found teaching students martial arts, gaelic football, or any
fitness-related event. He was a stellar developer of young international minds and bodies!
Alan was active in supporting the climate of the school. He was always in attendance in after-school events
whether to attend another teacher’s efforts to teach theater, film production, or just aiding new teachers in
their acclimating to Shanghai life. Alan was tremendous at being present to others and cared for the
well-being of all.
For the reasons mentioned above and countless others, I thoroughly enjoyed working with Alan Coyne and
would recommend his employment to anyone fortunate enough to receive his application.
Sincerely,
Kevin J. Chederquist, Former USHS Principal
kevin.chederquist@gmail.com