To Whom it May Concern:

It is with great pleasure that I highly recommend to you Ms. Ellyn Dankers for any
position you may have available in your district.

I have been in education for 27 years and from the moment we started working together,
I could tell that Ellyn had what it takes to work with elementary aged children. She always had
an outstanding attitude, coming to work ready and eager to get things done. Ellyn’s smile and
charisma said a lot about the kind of person she was. During her time here, the one thing that
stood out to me more than anything was her ability to read children and understand them. She
connected with every student easily in the first week with fun activities and games. Ellyn had a
keen eye for situations that were developing in the room and could immediately assess and put
in place a potential strategy to help with any situation. She would recognize children who
struggled and would immediately reach out to them and try to find ways to help with strategies
or charts to help with organization. She reacted discreetly to gain a child’s trust and develop
extremely positive relations with students to help them achieve at their highest potential.

Not only was Ellyn extremely effective with her ability to read children, but she is pretty
gifted with technology. Ellyn masterfully created google slide shows to present to children with
interactive, and hands on activities which allowed for movement to develop the many kinds of
learners. She created and fine tuned at least 3 units in math dealing with angles,
transformations, and area. She also became pretty skilled with many of our programs including
Schoology, Infinite Campus, and multiple educational sites like IXL and Spelling City. She also
redid some tests that had some recognizable flaws by adding better graphics and rewording
confusing questions on Schoology.

Ellyn demonstrated the very thing any school would want in finding a new teacher. She
was creative, caring and invested in her students. She has amazing character and yet has fun in
the workplace with staff and students. Ellyn is talented and capable of teaching kids in the 21st
century by implementing research based interventions as we continue to evolve with the way
our students learn. Ellyn not only thinks like an educator but acts with great intention.

It is with highest regard and confidence that I recommend Ellyn Dankers, as I know that
she will make a great teacher in any capacity. If you would like to speak with me further about
Ellyn I can be reached at 651-380-3696.

Sincerely,

Todd L. Cordes
4th Grade Teacher at Zumbrota-Mazeppa Elementary Schools