To Whom It May Concern,

I am writing on behalf of Hannah Tweedy as she applies to enter into fulfilling her Student
Teaching experience for a degree in Elementary Education.
Hannah and I became acquainted when she was a student in my Math Reasoning for
Elementary Teachers course. I had the opportunity to work with her again, last Spring, in my
Teaching Math in the Elementary School “methods’ course.
It is through this lens that I would like to base my belief that she would be a strong candidate
for the Student Teaching experience.
In our methods course, I was able to listen to Hannah discuss research about how students
learn math, and other issues in math education. In addition, I had the opportunity to observe
and support her as she worked with a peer to plan for instruction and then to carry out those
plans to facilitate learning opportunities, teaching a 2nd grade and 4th grade lesson, to her
peers.
From these experiences, I have learned that Hannah is a serious learner. She is reflective in her
learning and responds very positively to feedback. While planning for instruction, Hannah dug
deep into the important ideas that she know that the students needed to begin to understand.
She used tools to understand where those ideas, and the goal for learning, fell on the trajectory
of how the idea should develop.
Hannah prepared for class and her lessons when she taught. One experience with Hannah in
particular, provided evidence of her understanding of what it means to engage students in
learning experiences. It is typical for Math Methods students to orchestrate their carefully
planned lessons by following their plan and going through the “motions” of each part of the
lesson. Hannah, however, demonstrated a level of understanding of the content and purpose
of the lesson, evidenced by her pose in following her plans yet being flexible to what she
noticed about student thinking.
From these experiences, I would highly recommend that Hannah Tweedy might be able to
continue her learning through the Student Teaching experience on her path to becoming a
future classroom teacher.
Thank you for your time. Please feel free to contact me with any questions or other
information.
Pamela Argotsinger