Dear Ms.

Refsin, I wanted to thank you for allowing me to be part of your class for the last couple of months and to let you know that I am enjoying my time in your classroom. Much of what I am seeing in your writers workshops is things that I am learning about in my class. It is nice to be able to see how what I am learning in my class connects to the actual classroom. I especially made a connection from the book The Nuts and Bolts of Teaching Writing. The author states, when we visit a writing workshop, we peak in on not only todays but also tomorrows teaching. Thanks for allowing we to peak in on your writers workshop. From being in the classroom I have learned a lot about how to introduce writes workshop and how much time it takes for a student to write a story. Additionally, I want to thank you for allowing me to perform a read aloud. From reading to the class I have realized some things that I need to work on. Furthermore, doing the calendar and clock has taught me about how to question students and how important it is to have them talk through their thinking. During my time in your classroom I have also gained more insight on how spelling groups work. I thought that it was interesting how students, within the same class, are working on all different spelling levels. I think that it was interesting to see how teachers assess students before starting a new unit. I have learned that by doing these assessments it allows the teacher to determine what level the students are currently working at so that they can better prepare their lessons. Again, thank you for allowing me to participate in your classroom! I am learning a lot and I am excited to learn more in the future. Sincerely, Brittanie Vangeli