Adam Parkinson was a student of Dr. Katherine Safford-Ramus in her mathematics course for elementary school teacher candidates. He stood out among students for his reflective thinking and ability to make connections between course material and real-world examples from his after-school teaching job. Adam took on a leadership role in class discussions and was willing to adjust his perspectives. He chose to take additional mathematics courses required for middle school certification and excelled in the more challenging material. Dr. Safford-Ramus highly recommends Adam for employment without reservation, believing he will be a hard candidate to beat.
Adam Parkinson was a student of Dr. Katherine Safford-Ramus in her mathematics course for elementary school teacher candidates. He stood out among students for his reflective thinking and ability to make connections between course material and real-world examples from his after-school teaching job. Adam took on a leadership role in class discussions and was willing to adjust his perspectives. He chose to take additional mathematics courses required for middle school certification and excelled in the more challenging material. Dr. Safford-Ramus highly recommends Adam for employment without reservation, believing he will be a hard candidate to beat.
Adam Parkinson was a student of Dr. Katherine Safford-Ramus in her mathematics course for elementary school teacher candidates. He stood out among students for his reflective thinking and ability to make connections between course material and real-world examples from his after-school teaching job. Adam took on a leadership role in class discussions and was willing to adjust his perspectives. He chose to take additional mathematics courses required for middle school certification and excelled in the more challenging material. Dr. Safford-Ramus highly recommends Adam for employment without reservation, believing he will be a hard candidate to beat.
Adam Parkinson has asked me to contribute a letter of recommendation to his portfolio. I am delighted to do so. I met Adam as an entering freshman when he enrolled in our mathematics course for elementary school teacher candidates. I have taught that course for fifteen years and over that span of time a handful of students stand out in my memory. Adam is one of those individuals. Entering freshmen are generally not used to the reflective process we demand in college and need to be coaxed to think creatively about material presented in lectures and assigned readings. Not so, Adam. He was working in an afterschool program during his two semesters with me and assisting children there with homework assignments. Adam would regularly come to class with stories of the occurrence of our current topic within a childs homework assignment. He shared the experiences of seeing the relevance of the material from our course to that being taught in the schools. We would discuss ways to help a child develop conceptual knowledge of mathematics and Adam would return to class and report the outcome of the intervention. Many times in a class there is one student who acts as a catalyst, sparking interest and discussion, drawing out the more reticent students. Again, it was Adam who served as the spark plug in our class. He is a natural leader without the bluster that sometimes accompanies leadership. With his quiet respect, I witnessed Adam take a leadership role in small group and whole group situations. His openness to new ideas and willingness to adjust his perspective would serve to make Adam a thoughtful and productive team player on a faculty. The mathematics course for pre-service teachers is a two semester course. At the end of the academic year I suggested to Adam that he think about taking the additional nine credits of mathematics required for middle school certification. He chose to do so and I had the pleasure of teaching him for a third semester, this time with more challenging material in a course on functions. He was up to the task. This was an upper-division course that met once a week and required considerable work on the part of the student to complete the readings and assigned problems and come to the lecture prepared to ask clarifying questions. Adams work ethic and reflective thinking came through again in the class. Recently, he shared with me the fact that he had passed the Middle School Mathematics Praxis exam. It is clear that I think highly of Adam Parkinson and recommend him for employment without any reservation. You will be hard-pressed to find a better candidate. Yours truly, Katherine Safford-Ramus, Ed.D. Professor of Mathematics 2641 John F. Kennedy Boulevard | Jersey City, NJ 07306 | www.saintpeters.edu | (201) 761-6340 The Jesuit University of New Jersey
A Voice for Writing: A Formulaic Reading and Writing Method Utilizing Colors, Patterns, and Socio-Emotional Intelligence for Virtual Instruction and Online Learning