Shute Elementary School Briarbrook Drive ‘Super Stars East Peoria, IL 61611 Brad Wood Phone: 427-5500 Principal Fax; 698-1362 November 6, 2019 Ms, Jeanelle Valdovinos did her student teaching placement in my first grade classroom at Don D. Shute Elementary, located in East Peoria, IL. Shute is one of the K-2 buildings within District 86. Her placement began on August 19, 2019 and will end on December 13, 2019. My classroom is the first grade collaboration room, so Ms. Valdovinos was able to gain experience in working with students who have IEP's, yet are placed in a regular education classroom. At the time of her student teaching, we had sixteen students, two of which had IEP's in place. She also worked with the special education collaboration teacher and aide during her placement. In an effort to learn more about our school, she made the time to attend a staff meeting and an IAT meeting, which is our response to intervention team that I sit on. She was able to be at our Meet Your Teacher Night and at our parent-teacher conferences as well. In addition, she went with me to an offsite visit which was scheduled to help District 86 teachers with the implementation of guided reading. Lastly, she went along with me to school improvement planning days and professional learning community days (PLC's). Ms. Valdovinos shared that she was grateful to have the opportunity to immerse herself in the experiences in which a teacher in our district regularly participates. During the semester, | was able to witness many positive characteristics in Ms. Valdovinos that will be of value to her as an educator. | found her to be reliable and dependable as she maintained good standing with her attendance. She was also hard-working during the schoo! day. Iwas pleased with how comfortable she was in asking questions and how she showed an enthusiasm to learn all she could about this profession. Ms. Valdovinos completed her lesson plans on time and learned to be prepared for her lessons each day. She was also flexible when ‘changes to our schedule had to be made which | appreciated as we learned to implement a new reading program. Overall, | was genuinely happy to have had the opportunity to work with her, ‘and | know that she will do very well in her own classroom. | was also very pleased with the performance of Ms. Valdovinos in the areas of lesson presentation, classroom management, and her abilty to show flexibility. She did an excellent job Of building relationships with students and was able to provide consistent reinforcement of her expectations in a positive manner. When presenting lesson material, she did so at a level that was appropriate to the development of our first grade students. She has an extensive background in working with children who are preschool age, and she was able to adapt to meet the needs of older students. Ms. Valdovinos reflected on her lessons and sought guidance for areas that she felt the need to improve in. She worked well with staff and parents and maintained a positive attitude. Ms. Valdovinos was also eager to learn how to manage the time constraints of a typical day in a classroom and how to balance the many duties that a teacher must fuffill and showed great improvement in these areas. Its evident that she thoroughly enjoys working with children, and she works hard to establish a strong rapport with them. Ms. Valdovinos has shared that she is interested in pursuing a career in the Peoria area. I'm confident in saying that she would be an excellent candidate for a position in early childhood education, Sincerely, Robyn baka teacher Don D. Shute Elementary, East Peoria, I 309-427-5500 wernowsr’@end86.org