Simons Valley School

375 Sandarac Drive N.W., Calgary, AB T3K 4B2 t | 403-777-6660 f | 403-777-6663 | SimonsValley@cbe.ab.ca

February 6, 2021

Dear Recruitment Team:

This letter offers my full support of Rick Simms as he applies for a teaching position.
He completed a practicum in our diverse Kindergarten learning community that
included refugees, English language learners, and IPPs requiring the full time support
of an Education Assistant.

Thoughtful, creative, and reflective in his lesson design, Rick regularly sought
feedback and redesigned his lessons as he observed the impact of his teaching on
individual student learning. He used a variety of instructional strategies and adapted
his delivery to support the learning goals targeted, the energy and mood of the class,
time constraints, and needs of individual learners.

Rick was intentional in modeling tasks, encouraging collaboration and perseverance,

giving specific feedback, and offering assistance or adding a challenge to nurture
individual student growth and success. His understanding of project based learning
methodology engaged students in rich inquiry tasks as part of an exploration of the
question, “What is Spring?”. The project inspired students to explore Indigenous ways
of listening to the land and the living things that share the land with.

Rick consistently demonstrated a commitment to establishing positive, personal

relationships with each student. As the practicum progressed he applied his growing
understanding of the developmental characteristics of children and the diversity within
our learning community to be responsive in structuring the day and guiding children’s
learning. Maturity and advanced skills in relationship building and child watching
contributed to Rick noticing details that were used in creating formative and summative
assessments in mathematics.

Rick was professional in all of his interactions with parents, colleagues, diversity
workers, and other allied professionals providing specialized services (occupational
therapists, speech therapists, speech language pathologists).

Please contact me at 403 208 4122 you require additional information. Rick is a strong
team player who will be an asset to any school community!

For the love of learning,

Corinne Webb
Kindergarten Teacher
Simons Valley School