April9,2013

To: Whom it may concern From: Michael Mickens

Re: Taylor Podvin

My name is Michael Mickens and I am a fifth grade teacher at Herrington Elementary School in Pontiac, Michigan.

with Taylor Podvin when she was placed in my classroom as an Oakland University field placement student in the spring, 2010 From our first meeting, it was clear to me that Ms. Podvin was a dedicated, committed, thorough teacher. Upon entering the fifth grade class with some reservation, Ms. Podvin was a quick study and was eager to learn all that she could during her tenure. I explained to Ms. Podvin that in many instances in the urban environment, circumstances require that you build substantial, trusting relationships with students before you can begin to deliver curriculum. From that moment on, Ms. Podvin was off and running to achieve; what I perceive in this environment, as an important goal. I was in awe of her perseverance.
I became acquainted

Ms. Podvin was well on her way I think to becoming a great teacher. The students looked fomrard to her weekly visits and relished in the help she would give them in mathematics. Happily, a year or so later when Ms. Podvin had garnered enough credits to substitute teach she subbed in my absence and allwas well. Again, she had established relationships with the students and that helped to ease a perhaps othenrise chaotic day. I would highly recommend Taylor Podvin for any position you may have available
in education. She is kind, conscientious, and gregarious and full of fresh ideas that will encourage and motivate students to learn. She possesses the characteristics of a teacher that wants to know her

students personally and will do what is needed to ensure their individual academic success.
lf you have any additional questions, please feel free to contact me (248) 882-SLg7 Sincerely,

21u,"rt*1,,)ruq&r.e
MichaelMickens

PATACE
SPORTS

ENTERTAINMENT

November 2,2012

To Whom It May Concern,

It is my pleasure to strongly recommend Taylor Podvin for employment with your organization. Taylor has been a model employee at Palace Sports & Entertainment exhibiting the best standards of excellence.
Taylor is the kind of employee who uplifts others, she contributes to a positive workplace environment and motivates everyone around her. We have entrusted her with extra responsibilities, including sensitive assignments in the office, because of her trustworthiness and high moral character.
Please do not hesitate to contact me if I can elaborate further. Taylor is one of the best employees we have ever had in this department, and I know she will be a tremendous
asset to any organization.

Sincerely,

Stan J. Torres Asst. Director of Parking Traffic Operations

&

6 CHAMPIONSHIP DRIVE

AUBURN HILLS

MI48326

248-690.5050

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School of Education and Human Services Offrce of School and Field Services
381 Pawley Hall Rochester, Michigan 48309-4494

248-370-3083

OAKLAND UNIVERSITY
Final Assessment of Student Teacher
Student Name: Taylor

Podvin_student Number:

G00064523

Building: Daniel
Period 15 weeks,

Axford

District: oxford community

School

State: Michigan

Wnterl2}l3

Grade leveUsubject(s): First Grade, all subject areas

Cooperating
Teacher: Jenriifer Roop

University
Supervisor: Sandy Nickora

DESCRIPTION OF ASSIGNMENT (community; district; unique characteristics of school, staff, students) Daniel Axford Elementary is in Oxford, Michigan. It is located in dovmtown Oxford and is a neighborhood and a school ofchoice school. Daniel Axford is a kindergarten through second grade school housing 463 students. There are 6 sections ofkindergarten, seven sections offirst grade and 6 sections ofsecond grade. We do not have great ethnic diversity as about 90% of our students are Caucasian. We have 28o/o of otx families quali8 for free and reduced lunch. D.A. is an International Baccalaweate World School. The students receive instruction in Mandarin Chinese each day for 30 minutes. There are approximately 24 students in each classroom. Our classroom has two identified special education students. One child has a learning disability in reading and the other is vision impaired.

COOPERATING TEACHER'S ASSESSMENT

INTERPERSONAL RELATIONSHIPS Taylor has been able to build many positive relationships during her time at D.A. She has developed a solid rapport with other teachers, our school principal, secretary and parents. Her interaction with colleagues and parents is always friendly and professional. Taylor was also able to connect with students quickly. Due to her placement in the fall, she had already becbme a fixture in her student teaching placement. The students were able to easily accept her as their teacher because she had already bonded with them during her first semester placement. There is mutual respect between the students and Taylor. They think of her as their lead teacher. They go to her for questions, help and comfort. Taylor has invited our principal to observe her qter lsbsql tutollrrl andllcsson during tle day- She has ruelcomedvolunteers intoier+lassroom making sure they have specific activities for students.

StudentName:TavlorPodvin

cLASSRooM .LIMATEAND MANAGEMENT

Taylor has mastered how room arrangement, an organized classroom, tone of voice, explicit routines, wait time, singing, and student modeling of expected behaviors all impact a classroom environment. She is able to redirect student behaviors appropriately with positive praise of work or thinking done, not always the product completed. This keeps student motivation up and students work hard to do quality work. Taylor understands that with young children, one needs to be very prepared for lessons. She knows that asking children to wait while she pulls up a video or grabs materials can cause management issues. Taylor is able to manage transitions well. She is able to keep the students engaged in her lessons by changing her voice and providing interesting materials for lessons. Taylor does all this while remaining calm, kind and enthusiastic. Our IB curriculum allows for sfudent driven inquiry. Taylor is able to direct the students into decision making and high student expectations. Classroom management is also impacted by time management. Taylor paces her lessons accordingly. She knows approximately how long students will take to complete an assignment or prepare for recess. The students have time to complete their tasks and this limits any transition behavior problems. Overall, I believe this is the areathat is most difficult for novice teachers and Taylor has effectively controlled the classroom environment.

INSTRUCTIONAL PLANNING AND IMPLEMENTATION Taylor is organized in hei planning and is able to plan for one week in advance of instruction with a long term curriculum map as a guide. Taylor has met weekly before school with her first grade colleagues to discuss curriculum planning. She is able to implement the Common Core in her plans and uses that to guide her learning goal with the students. She posts her goal and refers back to it during her teaching. Taylor is able to plan based on what information she gathered during assessments. She is thorough in her preparation of books, manipulatives, materials copied, and technology that she needs for her lesson. Her materials are developmentally appropriate for her first grade class. Taylor has developed techniques to support learning in the classroom. For example, Taylor noticed that a particular student was struggling with fluency and it was difficult to break her of using her reading finger. Taylor introduced an Easy Reader highlighted bookmark for the student which helped her to read more fluently. Taylor has completed substitute teacher plans that are complete and easy to follow.

INSTRUCTIONAL PLANNING AND INCORPORATION OF TECHNOLOGY TO ENHANCE STLIDENT LEARNING

Taylor has done an excellentjob ofincorporating technology into her lessons. She is proficient at using the sound system, netbooks, interactive white board, elmo and active inspire flip charts. She is able to utilize these tools to make her lessons more engaging and interactive for the students. Taylor has used short videos to share information from the real world in her lessons. She has used email and Haiku to communicate with parents. She has had the unique opportunity to use technology with a student in the classroom with a vision impairment. She has learned how to use an enhanced vision computer so that her student can see things around the room and on her desk with enlarged print. Taylor assisted in developing a Haiku page for the classroom. She has also used Power School as a way to evaluate and record student progress.

EVALUATION
Taylor has used many forms of assessment to evaluate student progress. She has performed running records, MLPP assessments, Everyday Math Assessments, Writing Rubrics, and IB summative assessments. Taylor then uses this data to guide instruction and inform students and parents of progress. Taylor has difGrentiated her lessons to accommodate her proficient readers during guided reading and extend their learning through comprehension and the writing. She has also accommodated the novice readers by adjusting to have longer lessons with them that extend on word study, fluency, and reading

Student Name: Taylor Podvin

strategies. She gathers this information by doing informal running records on individual students on their leveled guided reading book. Taylor uses the writing workshop model. She teaches a mini lesson and then conferences with writers. She uses student/teacher driven rubrics to evaluate student writing on a daily basis. Taylor uses Everyday Mathematics to guide her instruction and evaluation. She is perceptive and observant and quickly notices who is not grasping concepts. She immediately pulls those students aside after the whole group instruction and works with them to help them gain the necessary skills and confidence. Taylor tutors students after school two days a week with reading. She is in constant communication with their parents through face to face conversations and email regarding how students are performing and what skills they practiced that day. Taylor assisted in completing conferences and trimester report cards. She has also been able to participate in our student RTI referral team to discuss concerns, intervention and progress of students.

COMMAND OF SUBJECT MATTER Taylor is very knowledgeable about the teaching field. She was well prepared to be successful in the classroom. She understands child development, management practices, and content of the subject areas. Taylor asks questions to support her teaching on a daily basis. She is curious and observant so she notices the little things that make a teacher great. Taylor has had the opportunity to observe other teachers,
including the school reading specialist. She was able to bring back that knowledge and implement into the classroom. Taylor integrates content into other subject areas, especially with the IB Units of Inquiry. PERSONAL AND PROFESSIONAL QUALITIES

Taylor is very conscientious, compassionate, supportive and works countless hours. She has become a part of our staffat D.A. She is friendly and warm and interacts exceptionally with other staff and parents. Taylor is always professional, positive, and excited about the teaching profession. She arrives to school clean, neat and dressed professionally. She is bble to find the humor in our first graders and enjoys the children's sense of innocence. Taylor is artistic which helps her to make the classroom look pleasing to the eye and bulletin boards to be functional and attractive. I am able to trust Taylor and appreciate her promptness and her ability to self-reflect. Taylor accepts ideas for improvement well and is able to implement suggestions quickly and efficiently. She has high expectations for herself and always works hard to reach her goals. She is able to articulate herself well in both oral and written form. She has gone above and beyond the required commitments. She has participated in our Principal Advisory Committee, IB
weekly meetings, Professional Development provided by the district, PTO meetings and PTO Executive Council, March is Reading Month Activities, after school tutoring, after school math workshop, and parent teacher conferences. Taylor is observant and notices small details about how the children are behaving. She asks herself why and takes the exha time to by to bond with that child and build her relationships with them. She truly cares for the children and wants to do what is best for them. Taylor is a very strong candidate for any job for which she is qualified and an asset to any staff. I give her my highest recommendation.

StudentName: TAYLOR PODVIN

OAKLAND UNTVERSITY
UNIVERSITY SUPERVISOR'S ASSESSMENT
Taylor Podvin successfully completed her student teaching experience in a self-contained, fnst grade classroom at Daniel Axford Elementary School, in Oxford, Michigan, during the winter semester of 2013. Her five formal observations were in the areas of reader's workshop, writer's workshop, math, and science. Taylor began student teaching with great anticipation and excitement, and exhibited an eagemess to leam as much as possible throughout the semester. She was very creative, kind, caring, and enthusiastic, and was committed to providing the best learning opporhrnities and environment for her students. Taylor utilized best practices and provided motivation and active learning for success. She spent many hours researching and planning lessons which incorporated a variety of learning modalities, diffbrentiation, and cross-curricular activities. She based her lessons on the Common Core State Standards and Grade Level Content Expectations, making sure each had a clear purpose and objective. She encouraged making predictions and connections to real-life experiences, enhanced understanding by incorporating many handson activities, and augmented learning with technology. Taylor set high standards for her students, guided and encouraged their best work, and often gave positive reinforcement and praise. Students responded well to Taylor's classroom management strategies, and mutual respect was evident. Her calm demeanor created a positive classroom climate. She was able to manage individual, small group, and large group activities effectively. She was alert to student behaviors, and monitored and used proximity to deter any potential misbehavior. Taylor was organized and goal oriented. She shared ideas with colleagues and became an active member of her grade level team. She related well with students, parents, and staff. Taylor spent time creating interesting and fun ways to teach her lessons. One was a popular, interactive bulletin board including cards with times to the quarter hour written on them that could be matched to the time shown on a large clock. Another was teaching the comparison of 2-digit numbers with her creation of fwo large, colorful alligator heads and equal sign props, reinforcing the skill with a Top-It card game. Another was a lesson on lightning, utilizing multiple intelligences and cutninated by having the students create their own lightning bolt out of a piece of aluminum foil, shooting from a construction paper cloud, to be displayed as the final part of a bulletin board during their IB study of weather. Taylor also invested many hours volunteering for activities beyond her daily classroom responsibilities. She offered tutoring sessions twice per week to her lowest readers and increased their reading strategies and growttt in the areas of fluency, word study, and comprehension. They achieved great gains in their individual reading levels during the semester. She also participated in three PTO executive board and regular meetings which covered school safety issues, upcoming family event evenings, fundraising results, and the Spring Fair. Taylor participated in the March is Reading Month planning meeting to provide ideas and activities for that special event. She volunteered to work at the Family Science Night at Wass Elementary School in Troy, directing an experiment as part of a rotation dwing the evening, and she also ran the face painting station at her own school's Spring Fair. Taylor Podvin was exceptionally dedicated and will be a definite asset to any district. It was my pleasure to have worked with her and to now recommend her for teaching certification in the state of Michigan.

,rt -R"" ot*ttended for certifi cation _Not recommended for certification
University Supervisor's Sipature
The above Date

Recommended for certifi cation

Not recommended for certification

Teacher

Sipature

Date

certification recommendations have been shmed with me.

Signature Date

Mark here if additional comments by

the student teacher are attached.