Amherst Middle School June 8, 2020 14 Cross Road Amherst, NH 03031 ‘To Whom It May Concern: Iam happy to write this letter of recommendation on behalf of Mrs. Susanna Hargreaves. Mrs. Hargreaves came into our Read 180 Classroom as a substitute teacher upon replacing the teacher who left for another job opportunity. She followed my lead instructing the class and learning the schedules and class format for about a ‘week before taking over as the lead teacher. Almost immediately she developed a very open relationship with all the students, expressing her interest and concerns for their continued development and getting to know their strengths and weaknesses and what she needed to focus on for each individual. The students responded to her quite nicely. Very shortly thereafier we were hit with the pandemic and schools were closed. With barely a couple of weeks on the job Susanna was thrust into this teaching position that now was being retooled as an online instruction program. Not only is this a daunting task for the experienced classroom teacher who is already entrenched within the classtoom, but for a new teacher to be put in this situation in such a short period of time was extremely difficult. Before leaving school, upon it being closed, Mrs. Hargreaves made sure to have all the materials she would need and receive the necessary training in a very short amount of time in order to conduct the classes online efficiently and effectively. As all of us have come to experience during this online instruction keeping students engaged, interested and focused isn’t an easy task, Mrs. Hargreaves stepped forward to give all the students the opportunity to continue in a functional manner, making herself available and sending daily welcomes and reminders to our students Time was scheduled four times a week to meet for online discussions and check-ins. Among the things Mrs. Hargreaves did on a regular basis was presenting on Google Classroom an audio link of her reading chapters in our book for the class to follow on their convenient time schedule, provide easy follow along instruction worksheet and share her own personal articles that she has written. She tried various ways of reaching out to the students to engage and encourage them to continue to do their daily software and read, including scheduling a Zoom presentation with a well know NE fiction author and creating a video of staff’ members reading and talking about reading to peak our students interest and provide yet more encouragement. On a personal level I have come to find Mrs. Hargreaves charming, enthusiastic, understanding and obviously encouraging, She has tremendous empathy for our students and their learning, I thoroughly enjoyed working alongside and remotely with her and now know what a fabulous instructor and teacher she is. Mrs. Hargreaves would be a welcomed addition to any teaching staff, IfI can be of any further assistance on her behalf please don’t hesitate to reach out. Sincerely, L Ans me Athtétic Director 7 & 8" Grade Read 180 Program Amherst Middle School 603-673-8944