Ellicott Mills Middle School 4445 Montgomery Road Ellicott City, MD 21043 January 28, 2015 To Whom This May Concern: Itisa sincere honor to submit this letter endorsing Sarah Pottle as an exceptional candidate for the position of English teacher at your school. In addition to being a talented educator, Sarah proved to be an invaluable member of the Ellicott Mills community during her tenure here. 1 worked with Sarah Pottle for three years as her English Language Arts team leader, and I sat on the committee in 2011 when Sarah was hired to be an Eighth Grade English teacher. During her interview, | remember feeling blown away by her enthusiasm, creativity, and fresh ideas My principal and I had no doubts about Sarah—we could not let her leave Ellicott Mills without accepting a teaching position here. In the years that | worked with Sarah, she did not point. Sarah embodies the characteristics of a team player and a leader, and she can always be counted on to add valuable insights, expertise, and solutions. Throughout her tenure at Ellicott Mills Middle School, Sarah Pottle contributed to our school greatly by being an active member of various committees, including the STEM committee, the Student Service Learning committee, and other small groups focused on project-based, interdisciplinary planning. Sarah hosted several professional development workshops that dealt with technology. From my English team leader standpoint, Sarah always came to our meetings fully attentive, and she often brought ideas with her. Sarah is so dedicated to the teaching profession that, even after she had moved on in her career, Sarah came back this Fall upon my request to train members of our English team on her methods for coupling technology with Socratic Seminars. She has an energetic and friendly demeanor that draws students and teachers in. She gets people excited about learning—students and staff alike. Although Sarah's leadership skills are impressive, her teaching is even more so. Sarah’s extensive knowledge of the English Language Arts curriculum, combined with her creativity, makes her a highly effective teacher. Sarah strives to make every activity and assignment meaningful for her students. She values each student's individual learning style, and she tailors her planning, lesson delivery, and means of assessment to promote student success. Sarah's expertise in all facets of the diverse curriculum elevate her to an elite status. Her National Board Certification also attests to this. Sarah's competence in advanced grammar concepts ensures that the materials she creates are well-written and fluent. She flawlessly incorporates grammar and sentence fluency instruction into her literature lessons. When assigning a writing prompt, Sarah consistently assesses students using the 6 + 1 Writing Traits model. Sarah provides her students with rubrics at the prewriting stage, and she encourages them to use the rubrics as planning tools. Her rubrics are detailed and assignment-specific so students always know her expectations in advance. Sarah emphasizes the specific conventional skills she has taught in class. In this way, students not only are expected to be able to recognize errors (such as in subject-verb agreement, comma usage, or verb tense consistency), they are held accountable for applying accurate conventions in their own writing. The peer reviewconferencing forms she uses in class are always tied to the rubric expectations. Her students have multiple opportunities to review, discuss, revise, and reflect on their writing. At Ellicott Mills, Sarah has taught a variety of English Language Arts courses and student groups, including general, gifted, and support levels. No matter the instructional level, Sarah always strives to create a culture in her classroom where students want to be there and learn. She is always willing to take on new challenges to make sure students are learning and enjoying their learning. This means that her lessons are creative, often incorporating technology to increase engagement. Every facet of her instruction is innovative, including meaningful assessments, documentation, classroom management, and communication with students, teachers, administration, and parents alike. Sarah worked in a co-teaching setting when she taught the English Language Arts Seminar class to support students struggling with critical reading and writing. In this class, there are many students, some with Individualized Education Plans and 504 Plans, who demonstrate a variety of educational and behavioral needs. Sarah dedicated many additional hours to collaboratively planning and sharing her creative ideas for modifying curriculum materials in order to meet the special needs of her students. She has a sincere understanding of the individual needs of her students, and she encourages their progress and fosters the growth of their self-esteem through her nurturing manner and her positive feedback. She encourages students to revise and edit their writing until they demonstrate work commensurate with their abilities. Sarah works closely with parents, guidance counselors, special educators, and paraeducators to customize her lesson materials and instructional delivery. Her regular and open communication with parents demonstrates her belief that parents are partners in their children’s educational success. Sarah is consistently professional, positive, and encouraging in her relationships with her students’ families as she provides specific ways they can support their children. Furthermore, Sarah is reflective of her practice; if an activity or an assignment does not yield the results she had hoped, Sarah will collaborate with her peers and gather feedback from students and parents to determine how she can revise or enrich it. Sarah Pottle is a teacher who keeps her lessons fresh, seamlessly blending the required curriculum with current technology to engage not just the intrinsically-motivated learners, but also the learners who, at times, struggle. She represents innovation, warmth, compassion, and professionalism, setting a standard not only for her students, but for her peers as well. Students, faculty, staff, and parents can attest to Sarah’s commitment to excellence in all she does. Sarah is an outstanding teacher and colleague, and most importantly, she is an exceptional person. I strongly urge you to consider Sarah Pottle for an English teacher position in your school. Sincerely, (ash batclhas Christy Batelka English Language Arts Instructional Team Leader 7 Grade English Language Arts Teacher Ellicott Mills Middle School