May 12, 2013 To Whom It May Concern: It is my pleasure to write this letter of recommendation for Kaitlyn Anderson.

Over the course of this school year, I have been Kaitlyns field instructor, which has allowed me to observe Kaitlyn in the classroom and to help her reflect on her practice as an educator. Kaitlyn has the ability to hold her students to high expectations, solid content knowledge in both English and Social Studies, and has a keen interest in developing students. When watching Kaitlyn teach, at Waverly Middle School, it is easy to see how she has created a classroom environment in which her students can feel both comfortable and challenged to engage in the curriculum she creates. Kaitlyn runs a tightly structured room in which clear descriptions of student behaviors and expectations are carefully explained and modeled. Kaitlyn is then sure to follow through on each expectation and help every student in her room reach the level she has set. In her history placement Kaitlyn also utilized clear learning targets as a way to assess how students were learning the content being presented. She then worked with students to ensure that they had passed each module. Kaitlyns strong content knowledge helps her to create dynamic and multidimensional lesson plans that weave the humanities together. A key example of this is her lesson about Martin Luther King Jrs I Have a Dream Speech. This lesson plan is centered around the use of figurative language and oratory skills. She then built the historical context into the lesson as well, which allowed the students to make powerful connections to the material and skills being articulated. Student relationships were very important to Kaitlyn throughout her internship. She worked closely with all of her students, but she excelled at working to understand a students point of view in her classes. To this end she researched about the issue of student motivation as a way to seek new strategies to use with her students that were struggling. Kaitlyn approaches learning in her classroom in a holistic fashion and seeks to help each of her students develop as a person and a learner. Kaitlyn will be a valuable asset to your school community as she continues to grow as an educator. If you have any questions please contact me at home (517) 5807962 or through my email: yatescla@msu.edu. Sincerely,

College of Education
Department of Teacher Education
Michigan State University Erickson Hall East Lansing, MI 48824-1034 517-353-5091 Fax: 517-4325092 education.msu.edu/te

Claire Yates Curriculum, Instruction, and Teacher Education Ph.D. Program Michigan State University 313 Erickson Hall East Lansing, MI 48824 yatescla@msu.edu (517) 580-7962
MSU is an affirmative-action, equal-opportunity employer.