UNIVERSITY OF MINNESOTA Twin Cities Campus Department of Postsecondary Teaching and Learning of Eitucation and Human Development Far: 612-625-0709 Ip: /education.umnedwPSTL/ April 4, 2016 REFERENCE FOR MARGARET GLEASON | am delighted to provide a strong reference concerning Margaret Gleason for a teaching position. | worked with Ms. Gleason as a student in my Global History and Culture course a few years ago and then selected her through a highly competitive basis to serve as my Undergraduate Teaching Assistant for several years. In her role as a student in my class, Ms. Gleason distinguished herself as a class leader and served as a powerful influence for other students. Gleason worked hard in the class to eam A's on exams and challenging assignments including those requiring development of social media projects. Her leadership with fellow students was excellent by maintaining the focus of the others with the learning task and also leading them to work together and create projects that earned high marks. She took those roles with distinction. After the course concluded, Ms. Gleason served as my Undergraduate Teaching Assistant. Based on Margaret's skills and interests, | involved her with curricular redesign of the global history and culture course. She conducted independent research to select new readings for the course and developed discussion questions for each Her perspective as a former student was enormously important with selecting rigorous articles that would be meaningful for new college students. As we met during our weekly meetings, we also discussed her perspectives on the curriculum and pedagogy of the course through her eyes as a future schoolteacher. These discussions were enormously helpful to me. Gleason displayed a passion for exploring other cultures and integrating that knowledge with her future career path of working with a diverse student population as a schoolteacher. | believe her cultural competence will be a significant asset for a future career as an educator. She demonstrated that skill with me. | believe Ms. Gleason has commitment and high potential for a bright future. Her work here at the University of Minnesota has been exemplary. | believe she will contribute to a society reflecting a rich and growing diversity. For these reasons, | strongly support Margaret Gleason's application for selection as a schoolteacher. Atyour service, David R. Arendale, Ph.D. Associate Professor of History and Higher Education College of Education and Human Development, University of Minnesota Driven to Discover