Catherine K. Walker 924. Marye Street Fredericksburg, Virginia 22401 Phone: 540-373-9338 FAX: 540-373-3921 ce amma February 12, 2014 ‘To Whom It May Concern, It is with great pleasure that | write this letter of recommendation for Janine Henley, who is currently completing her Student ‘Teaching Internship in fifth and second grades at Chancellor Elementary in Spotsylvania County, Virginia. The Internship, which I supervise, is part of her Master of Science Degree program in Elementary Education at the University of Mary Washington. As a retired clementary principal with 43 years of experience in public education, [ have worked with many novice teachers and I recognize Janine as a superb teacher candidate. She is an energetic and caring hard worker who can be depended upon to complete any task given to her. I have 1no doubt she will bea definite asset ‘0 your school and schoo! division Jann has strong instructional skills. Although she began her Intemship with a strong, broad-based foundation of information and theoretical knowledge fom her undergraduate clases and previous practicum experiences, Janine has added greatly to her professional knowledge and pedagogy during her Intemship. She utilizes the Virginia Standards of Learning, the school division's curriculum guides, and her student’ prior knowledge asthe bases for her lesson planning, delivery, and assessment. For each lesson, she follows a coherent progression grounded in essential questions and concepts and based upon students’ academic and developmental needs. She incorporates a wide variety of literature, hands-on manipulatives, support materials, tschnoloay’and creative resoures to present active, interesting tasks for students to complete while they are developing erica thinking an problem-solving sil. Janine does her homework in designing her lessons. Before any of her units, she researches the topic thoroughly to be certain that she has all the accurate information on the topic. When planning her second grade Social Studies unit on China, she realized that most of her students had never been exposed to any information about Asian countries. Therefore, she utilized “Google Earth” to give her students a real-life, real-time tour of the major parts of China. As they traveled around mountains, rivers, desert, and plateaus in China, students, vere able to see first-hand that the country's geography is very diverse and they were able to visualize the impact geography had on the development of China. The tour also helped students link events in the past, such as building the Great Wall to current times. While historical places and names certainly were highlighted for students during their tour, Janine also asked students to determine the types of jobs the people in each of the geographical areas would have. Such higher level questioning prompted students to share their thinking and analysis readily. In her lessons, she also varies her instructional groupings to include whole class discussion, partner pair-share, targeted skill small work groups, and individual tutorials. During instruction, she listens intently to students’ questions and responses so that she can tailor her actions to address the specific needs expressed. Janine models her high expectations for students and holds them accountable for their behavior as well as for their academic achievement. Janine cares about all children. She understands that planning for instruction goes hand-in-hand with planning for and anticipating classroom management needs. She has learned ways to interact with, to manage, and to mect the needs of hyperactive, high poverty students; and, in doing so, she has clearly established a classroom environment of trust and respect. Students feel very safe offering their ideas and opinions to her and tothe group; they ae comfortable in taking risks in thelr thinking and learning. Janine makes a conscious effort to get to know her students’ interests and talents; her students know that she genuinely cares about them. Her rapport students, colleagues, and parents is an easy, open one; she smiles and laughs with children often. Itis very important to her that students know that she is there to help them in becoming both the best student and the best person they can be. She is willing to work hard to find new strategies that unlock that success for each student. Jnine is articulate and communicates wel orally and in writing to both chien and adults. She establishes productive relationships with parents and works well with children of all bilities: she has a special place in her heart for special needs chien. She isa contributing member on any teaching team, sharing her ideas and skills readily. fully expect Janine Henley to continue adding to hor repertoire asa professional educator by employing bet instructional practices, by collaborating with colleagues, and by investigating current research in our field. Hire her. You will be very pleased that you did not let her get away. Please feel free to contact me if «questions arise or additional information is needed. “Che Catherine K. Walker ‘Adjunct Instructor & University Supervisor of Student Interns, College of Education University of Mary Washington 1301 College Avenue Fredericksburg, Virginia 22401