Grand Rapids Public Schools Buchanan Elementary School Evelyn Ortiz, Principal; April Chambliss, Assistant Pri April 8, 2019 To Whom It May Concern: | was Morgan Denyes’ mentor teacher during her internship at Buchanan Elementary for the 2018-2019 school year. Itis because of her hard work in this placement that | am able to highly recommend her for a teaching position. As an intern, she demonstrated several qualities that ! believe qualify her as a strong teacher. ‘One of those qualities is her abilty to motivate and inspire the students. She entered the classroom each day with charisma and enthusiasm that | have seen from few previous interns. This charisma and enthusiasm, in turn, was transferred to the students in the classroom. In spite of any challenges she may have been facing, this spirit continued throughout her placement, Another quality Morgan possesses is an enjoyment and respect for the children. Through her day-to-day interactions with the students, it was evident that she enjoyed working with children and also respected their various differences, Morgan worked hard to create lesson plans that met the State of Michigan Common Core and curriculum requirements of Grand Rapids Public Schools. She was very organized, and gave a lot of time and thought to her lesson planning and preparation. She continually requested feedback, and made adjustments to her lessons when needed. She spent time analyzing the curriculum and student work to drive instruction. Morgan worked collaboratively with the third grade team to backwards plan, and use data to guide instruction Morgan was constantly striving to learn and improve her teaching to better meet the needs of all the student's in our class. She took what she learned in class, seminar and applied it to her internship by assessing student needs and creating instruction that addressed those needs. Morgan also worked to give students a way to respond to others by introducing accountable talk. She also motivated students to read by having students present book talks on a book they recently read. Along with all the work and demands in the classroom she also organized and implemented a new book club offered to advanced readers in 3rd and 4th grade. Behavior management was also an area in which she demonstrated great ability. Her command of the classroom influenced the degree to which students were able to maintain focus and learn, Her creative and intuitive approach to instruction served to minimize any behavior that would be considered inappropriate. However, when problems did arise, she handled them with equity, fairness, and having in mind the best interest of each individual student, | know that Morgan will be a hardworking and successful teacher, focused on student learning, and I give her my highest recommendation. \ Sing "ei Dla yi Stacy Grey_, 3rd Grade Teacher Buchanan Elementary Q 1775 Buchanan SW, Grand Rapids, MI 49507 - Phone: 616-819-2252 - Fax; 616-819-2249