March 4, 2016

To Whom It May Concern:

I am writing to recommend Erin Keeling as a teacher for your school district. Erin is an
outgoing new teacher who is committed to her students.
Erin spent the first part of her student teaching experience in my middle school language
arts classes. Right from the start of inservice Erin took the initiative to be involved in all aspects
of being a teacher. She attended the professional development sessions our district offered,
including PBIS training, AVID training and engagement strategies training. Erin was an integral
part in helping to prep our classroom for the upcoming school year.
In the George Fox co-teacher model, Erin was thrust into teaching from day
one. Together we would plan what she could do and what responsibility she was comfortable
taking on. I was very impressed with how early she was willing to take on entire lessons and be
the lead teacher when my Collaboration Grant job took me out of the classroom. I believe those
experiences will make her more prepared to manage her own classroom.
Erin was always searching for innovative and engaging ways to teach the content to our
students. She understood from the start that Sheridan has a sometimes challenging
demographic to reach, and she did not let this stop her. One way she was able to reach our
seventh grade class was through a philosophical chairs cycle. The students were able to read
and process non fiction texts that were relevant to them and then take part in a structured
debate around the information they had learned. The students not only loved this activity, but
from the debate it was clear that every single one of them had reached the learning objective.
Erin will be an asset to any school and it would be a shame to pass her up. She is one
of those new and motivated teachers that our profession so desperately needs. It is teachers
like her that will continue to strengthen the Oregon school system.
Sincerely,
Robin VanBuren
Faulconer Chapman School
Sheridan, OR
Middle School Language Arts/
Collaboration Grant Manager
971-241-0300