UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, IRVINE

BERKELEY • DAVIS • IRVINE • LOS ANGELES • MERCED • RIVERSIDE • SAN DIEGO • SAN FRANCISCO SANTA BARBARA • SANTA CRUZ

Terry Shanahan, EdD University of California

Lecturer, UC Irvine School of Education (949) 824- 0693
Cal Teach Mathematics and Science Credential Program FAX: (949) 824-0694
137 Bison Modular Internet tshanaha@uci.edu
Irvine, CA 92697-5506

March 4, 2018
To Whom It May Concern,
I have known Leanne Lupone since she enrolled as a UC Irvine undergraduate in my ED 143A
CalTeach high school teaching field experience course in Winter 2016. Leanne has been my student in four
courses: Classroom Interactions I and II, Complex Pedagogical Design, and Student Teaching Seminar.
Additionally, I have served as Leanne’s supervisor in all these courses so I have had the good fortune to
observe her teach science lessons to high-need inner city students. During our CalTeach courses, we have
weekly meetings and the students have frequent writing assignments, which they submit electronically to me.
From her writing and our conversations in the CalTeach Resource and Advising Center, I think that I know
Leanne well enough to recommend her as a talented secondary science teacher.
Throughout our interactions in the CalTeach undergraduate science teacher credential program,
Leanne has impressed me with her energy and passion for teaching. Leanne is a natural teacher, bringing
enthusiasm and love of teaching to her science lessons. In the fieldwork lessons that I have observed, Leanne
has been explicit in her directions to the students, while embedding several appropriate strategies to support
her English Learners. Leanne also uses technology to show images of science phenomena, giving context to
the science concepts she wants her students to master. She always tries to find real world situations to connect
to her lessons to make them relevant to her students.
In all her lessons, Leanne’s students are actively engaged in discourse, sharing ideas, and arguing
from evidence. When she creates her science lessons, Leanne includes the Next Generation Science
Standards, the CA English Language Development and the CA Common Core English Language Arts
standards. By the time she completes her student teaching, Leanne will have over 600 hours of fieldwork
experience. Her current science department is field testing NGSS lessons and Leanne is the leader of the
group, writing the lessons and teaching them first before the rest of her grade level team does. She is
considered a valued colleague at her school site, according to her mentor teacher.
Leanne is going to be an amazing teacher when she completes our undergraduate teacher credential
program. She is hard working, creative in her lesson design, collaborative, and motivated to be the best
science teacher she can be. I think your school district will benefit from having Leanne as one of your science
faculty. I strongly recommend you consider her application for a position in your district.
Sincerely,

Terry Shanahan, EdD

Lecturer, UCI School of Education