WERKLUND SCHOOL OF EDUCATION

Undergraduate Programs in Education

2500 University Drive NW
Calgary, AB, Canada T2N 1N4
werklund.ucalgary.ca/upe
upe@ucalgary.ca

May 25, 2016

I was Wendy Smiths Field Instructor for her University of Calgary B.Ed. program final year field
experiences. Wendy had successful field experiences in a grade 5/6 blended classroom in the Louis
Riel School in Calgary. I observed Wendy teach on four different occasions.
A very warm, mutually respectful relationship with her students was evident. Wendy has a strong,
vigorous classroom manner, and an interactive and engaging teaching style. Her lesson plans
reviewed were thorough. Wendy showed particular interest in and empathy for students who find school
learning difficult. Especially impressive was the plan for differentiation in one of the plans I reviewed.
A particular strength was the open-endedness of the questions Wendy posed to guide discussions:
Why do you like this book?; What is happening in your novel?; Can you predict the ending?; How
would you change the ending?, and so on.
Wendy was a pleasure to work with. Highly organized, she volunteered to coordinate my visits to her
school, which she did most diligently and efficiently. Wendy is professional and strongly collaborative.
She is ready to assume her first teaching position.

Sincerely

Claude Oppenheim, PhD

Field Instructor
(403) 561 3550