Letters of Recommendation

1. Letters of Recommendation Andrea A. Nielsen M.ED. Brigham Young University

2. Beginning • Written in proper business letter format, the letter should open with the name of the student you’re writing for, how you know them (including the extent of your relationship and the length of time), and what the student is applying to. The most important aspect of the opening paragraph is setting the tone. It’s like a thesis statement, it states why you chose to write the letter for the student. • To Whom it May Concern, • I am pleased to write to you on behalf of Jessica Johnson, who is applying for admission to Best University. I have known Jessica for two years. She was a player on my JV basketball team, and is now in my Senior English class. Jessica is a gifted student and athlete, but perhaps more importantly, she is an outstanding citizen.

3. Explain • This is the portion of the letter where you have to show, not tell, the readers the student is as great as you think they are. Vague praise or neutrality is avoided through examples and anecdotes that are glowingly positive. These should illustrate one or more of the following: • Scholarship • Citizenship • Leadership • Community and School Service • Unusual Circumstance – something about the student’s life that makes them extraordinary • Jessica has been an honor student as well as an athlete throughout her high school career. For most students, this is a difficult balance. But for Jessica, it wasn’t enough. She became a volunteer at our local nursing home during her sophomore year. This year, after a unit on oral history, she came to my English class to help her begin a program called ‘adopt a grandparent’ which pairs a student with a resident at the nursing home. Jessica’s peers respect her immensely, so it was no surprise that my class enthusiastically helped her. It is because of Jessica that every resident receives a visit from someone on a regular basis.

4. Sum it • To end, summarize why you are recommending the student. Also, make it clear to what extent you recommend them. There is a difference between recommend and highly recommend. The committee will probably pick up on this in your letter anyway, so the honest thing to do is state it. • Jessica displays intelligence and leadership abilities that are well beyond her seventeen years. I highly recommend Jessica for entrance into Best University. She is a student that will be an invaluable asset to your institution.

5. To Whom It May Concern: I am writing to inform you that I can, without reservation, recommend _____________ for a full time teaching position in your school. As his program advisor at Brigham Young University, I have been able to observe ________ with his students in a classroom setting as well as in a professional atmosphere. _________ exhibits the characteristics of a quality educator. He possesses a wonderful work ethic and a passion for teaching young people. He is also very well qualified in his content area. I have observed him as a full-time intern teaching on his own demerits within his classroom, and based on my observations, he has shown that he is capable of building rapport with his students and colleagues as well as engaging students in learning. _________ is highly skilled at adapting and implementing educational knowledge in his classroom and his profession as an educator. ________’s ability to connect with students and teach using age appropriate pedagogy makes him a valuable asset to any team. His technological skills not only enable him to be a more effective educator, but also an indispensable resource for his fellow educators within the school. Once again, I recommend __________________ for a full time teaching position in your school, and do so with the utmost confidence in his abilities. Should you have any further questions regarding _______, please do not hesitate to contact me, as I would be more than happy to discuss _________’s potential and abilities as a candidate for this position. Cordially, Andrea Nielsen, ME.D. Coordinating Supervisor of Student Teachers/Interns Department of Spanish and Portuguese

6. To whom it may concern: I am writing this letter of recommendation on behalf of __________, who is seeking a teaching position with your school district. As __________’s program advisor at Brigham Young University, I have observed his skills as a teacher as well as a professional. He is respected for his dedication to his students, for his constant desire to progress, and for his professional commitment. _________ is an enthusiastic educator who has worked hard to apply the things he has learned to his work with students at ________ High School. He has challenged himself to teach exclusively in Spanish, and is especially skilled at making his presentations and instructions comprehensible to his students using a wide variety of strategies such as activating students’ prior knowledge, carefully scaffolding activities, and using technology in a variety of methods. He employs a variety of teaching methods which include class instruction, group learning and individualized instruction. ________’s greatest strength is his ability to create standards-based lessons which include culturally authentic materials, current events, and social issues. Each of these lessons strategically draws students’ attention to grammatical patterns in the language as well as real life application. Additionally, each lesson is generally designed to move students toward a final communicative performance or product of some sort. Clearly, _______invests heavily in everything that he does and actively participates in the professional learning communities of which he is a part. He is not afraid to ask questions and works hard to do what is expected of him. His ability to adapt to situations, his optimism, his motivation, and his genuine concern for those around him has had an extremely positive influence on the students and staff. Once again, I recommend __________ for a full time teaching position in your school, and do so with the utmost confidence in his abilities. Should you have any further questions regarding ________, please do not hesitate to contact me, as I would be more than happy to discuss ________’s potential and abilities as a candidate for this position. Cordially, Andrea Nielsen, ME.D. Coordinating Supervisor of Student Teachers/Interns Department of Spanish and Portuguese

8. Fill in the blanks • I am pleased to recommend _____________ for a teaching position. _____ was my student teacher this year, and _____ was wonderful. _____ immediately adapted to my teaching style, but never shied away from offering ____ own ideas and perspectives. • ________________ is a real team player and always has the best interests of her students, and the school at large, at heart. ______ is a confident instructor and manages the classroom as if ____'s been teaching for years. • _____ also has a gift for curriculum development. Given just a few prompts from me, ___________ put together the perfect plan for our second grade mid-year science unit. Her ideas were fresh and exciting, and when implemented engaged the class completely. I was almost a little jealous! • The children love "Miss ______________." She, appropriately, commands respect, but is genuinely caring and interested in each of the students. A group of them came to me and asked if we could do something special for her on the last day of school, and the children came up with the cute idea of planting flower pots with a student's name on a little craft stick in each one. Miss _____________ could plant them and think of each student as they grew! She had tears in her eyes when they gave her the flower pots. • The school that ultimately hires ____________ will find itself fortunate indeed. If our district was not in the midst of declining enrollment, I'm certain she would be hired immediately.

9. Encuentran un companero. 2. Necesitanestahoja de papel. 3. Escogenunapalabrapor la gramaticacorecta. 4. Cuando la profesoradiga, presentansuspalabras.

11. Sample Letters can be found at: http://businessmajors.about.com/od/samplerecommendations/a/RecSample8.htm Mad Lib http://www.madglibs.com/showglib.php?glibid=125 Printable Mad lib http://www.madglibs.com/printglib.php?glibid=125