Clinton Bartholomew Ph.D.

Jackson Preparatory & Early College

Science Department Chairman

To Whom it May Concern:

I am writing this letter of recommendation on behalf of my colleague Kasia Ciolek for a

position as a STEM teacher at your institution. I first came to know Kasia when she joined
Jackson Preparatory & Early College (JPEC) in 2016 as a Robert Noyce fellow through the
National Science Teachers Association and Michigan State University. During her time with us,
Kasia was the lead teacher of our Biology (9th Grade) and Fundamentals of Chemistry (10th
Grade) classes. At the offset of this recommendation, let me state that Kasia is the best
student-teacher I have seen in general, and in particular she currently operates more like a third
year teacher than beginner teacher. Let me talk about some of the specifics that allows me to
give such an emphatic recommendation for Kasia Ciolek.
One area in which I have been imminently impressed with Kasia is the way in which she
interacts with our students. Given the relatively small size of our school (~75 students per
grade) and the close-knit relationship between our faculty and students, it is often difficult for
new teachers to win over the hearts and minds of our students. Our students quickly warmed up
to Kasias warm but no-nonsense approach to teacher-student relationships. Students
welcomed her high expectations coupled with her eagerness to help students. She is never
found at her desk during student work time, but instead is constantly moving throughout the
classroom interacting and helping students. She never lectures students on past performance,
but instead excitedly helps students work through their work and encourages them when they
see success. In this way the students have come to know that she genuinely cares about them
and their academic, as well as social, success.
Throughout her development of the courses she has taught at JPEC, the chemistry course
in particular, she has focused on student inquiry and interest to enrich her classes. To increase
students inquiry she has designed station-based inquiry labs (3-5 stations/lab) for each of the
second semester Chemistry units (5 units). This has increased the satisfaction of the course
dramatically and created an environment of inquiry in the course that I have only rarely seen in
science classrooms; and to see such deep thinking and robust development of activities by a
student intern is extremely rare. In addition, to increase student interest, Kasia implemented an

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ongoing forensics case developed to apply the scientific principles learned in each unit of study
to a forensics lab activity to investigate and ultimately identify the culprit in the murder
investigation of Jenny Jones. Utilizing this forensic scenario she focused on the student skills of
arguing from evidence. As an observer it has been a thrill to watch students excitedly engage in
the forensics case, argue about possible culprits with each other, and make indepth arguments
from evidence while critiquing their own claims about the most probable suspects. These course
developments have been time consuming to prepare and demonstrate her commitment to both
inquiry and student engagement.
I want to discuss the approach that Kasia has taken in class with respect to formative and
summative assessment. Utilizing the one-to-one student:computer ratio at our school, Kasia has
developed daily computerized assessment of students which target Next Generation Science
Standards (NGSS) science and engineering practices and crosscutting concepts. One of the
impressive parts of these assessments has been the automated grading of many of these
assessments so that students receive immediate feedback. In this way she has largely avoided
the problem seen in many learning environments in which students do not receive assessment
feedback until days after a concept or skill has been assessed. In addition, Kasia designs her
assessments to focus on skills in the context of the material. In this way she is able to test skills
five to six times throughout the term in different contexts; thus she ensures that students are
mastering skills over time and not just memorizing content. This daily assessment and rapid
feedback have resulted in substantive gains in student mastery of our schools essential
departmental competencies.
Another important attribute that all schools are looking for in employees is the ability to
interact with both parents, colleagues, and administrators in a positive, productive, and
professional manner. I have had the pleasure of having Kasia join me for parent teacher
conferences and open houses for the school as well as observed her interactions with parents
through teacher-parent communication. In each of these environments Kasia has been
supportive of students, other teachers, and the school. Kasia has also regularly attended our
departmental and divisional meetings in which she is an active participant and a productive
collaborator. I have heard from both other members of the department as well as other teachers
in the school that Kasia has become a welcome addition to school during her brief stint here at
JPEC. During her time at JPEC she has also reached out to administrators to have them
observe her in the classroom. The responses from these administrators has been

2111 Emmons Road Jackson, MI 49201 www.jacksonprep.org

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overwhelmingly positive and they have commented to me that they are very impressed by
Kasia. I know that both the members of the department as well as our administrators have
strongly encouraged Kasia to apply for the next opening we post for a science teacher. I think
this interest in having Kasia join our staff is one of the most explicit recommendations of Kasia
an organization can give.
I can without reservation give Kasia Ciolek a recommendation as a science teacher at your
institution. In hiring her you will be hiring an excellent teacher and colleague. I should point out
that Kasia will have her DI and Secondary Mathematics endorsement making her a very flexible
member of your future staff. Please do consider her application seriously. If you should desire
to converse further about Kasias abilities in the classroom then please feel free to contact me at
your discretion using the contact information below.

Sincerely,

Clinton Bartholomew

Science Department Chairman

Curriculum Committee Chairman
Learning Management System Administrator
MSU Carbon Time Fellow
MSU Evo-Ed Fellow
Woodrow Wilson Fellow
Jackson Teacher of the Year 2017

Jackson Preparatory & Early College

Personal Cell: 734.389.5317 | School Telephone: 517.768.7093 | School Fax: 517.795.2735

2111 Emmons Road Jackson, MI 49201 www.jacksonprep.org

Phone- (517) 768-7093 Fax- (517) 795-2735