April 9, 2013 To Whom It May Concern: It is my pleasure to write a letter of recommendation for Leah Jones.

I had the good fortune of mentoring Leah as she student taught in my seventh grade language arts classroom. I found her to be an informed and caring educator. Leahs greatest asset may be her ability to plan and develop appropriate learning materials because of her strong content knowledge and homeschooling background. She implemented a persuasive unit in which she used a variety of instructional approaches that heightened students understanding of persuasive techniques and provided students with practical application. Her ideas were shared with other seventh grade language arts teachers for implementation in their classrooms. Leah also has the ability to build strong rapport with middle schools students. She began to build relationships from the start. Her respect for students and genuine passion for teaching was consistently apparent. She did a great job of fostering a productive learning environment and tailoring her lessons to differentiate students needs and interests. In addition to her regular classroom duties, Leah attended the entire spring student-led portfolio sharing conferences during which she shared positive and encouraging comments with parents and students. Working with Leah as a mentor has been personally and professionally rewarding. She is incredibly knowledgeable and always maintains a professional demeanor. She was consistently open to constructive criticism and ever willing to try new ideas. Leah has high expectations for herself and for her students. She will be a valuable addition to any staff. Sincerely, Deborah Brennan Seventh grade language arts teacher deborah.brennan@dmschools.org