TEACHING, LEARNING AND

SOCIOCULTURAL STUDIES
DEPARTMENT
Education Building
1430 E. Second Street
P.O. Box 210069
Tucson, AZ 85721-0069
Ofc: 520-621-2928
Fax: 520-621-1853

14 December 2020

To Whom It May Concern:

I am delighted to write a letter of recommendation for Lauryn Lyons. Lauryn was my student in TLS 322:
Teaching Language Arts and Communication in Elementary School during the fall semester of 2020.

It is common to find in my TLS 322 classroom several students who do not initially see themselves as writers. As
we discuss their elementary and secondary writing experiences, it is not difficult to understand why. They have,
generally speaking, rarely had the opportunity to write about topics that matter to them and the focus of
instruction has typically been on the mechanical aspects of the craft rather than self-expression and delight. As
part of my course, I ask students to engage in a writing workshop process with their own writing. I do this so that
students can experience a form of writing instruction they are unlikely to see within the classrooms in which
they are placed. Lauryn is a prime example of a student who flourished in this environment. She dove into this
work deeply and playfully. Her final writing project was a fictional narrative in which she assumed a male point
of view.

I understand that a description of her creative writing growth might seem of lesser importance to a school
district administrator hiring teachers. But Lauryn was also constantly examining the way in which her earlier
negative experiences with writing and recent positive ones surfaced what she needs to do to support her
students-to-be, how she could craft lessons that would help them grow in skill and enjoyment. More than any
student I have taught, Lauryn responded to the readings for the course by making important connections to her
own experiences and how she would apply the knowledge she gained through these readings in a classroom.
The writing lesson she developed included an engaging anticipatory set to support students in learning to write a
narrative piece.

What I most want to convey here is that, if you have the opportunity to hire Lauryn for a teaching position, you
should not let her walk out of your office without a job offer! She will be a wonderful addition to your faculty.

Please do not hesitate to contact me with any further questions you might have.

Dr. Elizabeth L. Jaeger

Associate professor, Department of Teaching, Learning, and Sociocultural Studies
elizabethjaeger@email.arizona.edu