March 16, 2021

To Whom It May Concern:

I had the pleasure of teaching and mentoring Andrea Swofford during the Spring 2020 semester of ARTE 344- Middle
Level Methods in Art Education and ARTE 463- Reading and Writing in Art Education at Northern Illinois University.
Throughout ARTE 463, Andrea demonstrated a strong work ethic and inquisitive nature during all discussions and
assignments. She was thoughtful and supportive when editing the work of her peers during course writing workshops.
Andrea displayed strong research skills and gave exceptional class presentations throughout the semester. She also
demonstrated a clear understanding of contemporary artists and the need to include a variety of artists from multiple
backgrounds, art mediums, and art movements in her curricula. Andrea was a passionate and charismatic leader and role
model for her classmates and an absolute pleasure to have in class as she took feedback well and always strove to
improve her coursework.
During ARTE 344, Andrea wrote a wonderful six-day lesson plan for 6th grade students entitled, “Recycled Narrative
Footwear”. She then presented this lesson to 6th grade students at St. Mary School in DeKalb during her clinical
teaching. In this lesson, Andrea’s students used cardboard and recycled materials to create wearable footwear that
explored how art can be used to combat material waste and pollution while sharing their personal perspectives on
creating social change. Her students were also asked to critically analyze visual culture and “fast fashion” and consider
how this related to their own and others’ lived experiences as they created their footwear. Issues of equity, inclusivity,
intersectionality, and social justice are strong themes that run throughout Andrea’s lesson plans and educational
philosophy. Throughout ARTE 344 and the clinical teaching experience, I observed Andrea to be a passionately engaged
student and teacher who was always confident, immensely positive, and well-organized. During our time together,
Andrea successfully demonstrated her awareness of different learning styles and thoughtfully adjusted her ways of
thinking and approach to teaching to meet the varied needs of students who learn in differentiated ways. In my clinical
observations of her teaching, Andrea always demonstrated a robust work ethic and excellent rapport with her students.
She possessed a strong disposition and was always well dressed, charismatic, and immensely supportive of both her
students and colleagues. In the classroom, Andrea was positively viewed by her classmates and she did an excellent job
supporting their learning through taking an active role in leading class discussions and idea generation.

Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, we were unable to continue the clinical teaching at St. Mary School, and in lieu of this,
I asked the ARTE 344 students to create flipped classroom teaching videos for the remaining three days of their lessons.
Andrea did an excellent job with her teaching videos and proved to me that she was able to work well under pressure,
quickly solve new challenges, and foster learning through a virtual medium. Her videos demonstrated artmaking
techniques and skills, academic language, critical thinking skills, and she modeled how to write an artist statement and
discuss finished artwork in a metacognitive way.

I am confident that Andrea Swofford will be an asset to any staff and students that she works with. She is confident,
outgoing, knowledgeable, professional, and possesses the skills of an experienced teacher. I strongly believe that Andrea
will continue to flourish and become even more effective as an art teacher given further opportunities. I cannot
recommend her highly enough for a position at your school.
Please feel free to contact me for any additional information in the future.

Jennifer Kaye
Instructor, ARTE 344/544
Art and Design Education,
School of Art and Design,
Northern Illinois University
jkaye2@niu.edu