Olympia Middle School 911 E. 800 North Rd. Stanford, IL 61774 Phone: 309-379-5941 Fax: 309-379-5411 “Working together to make tomorrow better than today” March 12, 2017 ‘To Whom It May Concern: I feel it is a privilege to write to you in support of one of my colleagues, Anna Underhill. I started teaching at Olympia Middle School this year (2016-2017) after teaching for five years at Mt. Pulaski High School. Mrs. Underhill was extremely helpful and welcoming to me when I joined the 8" Grade Team at OMS. Even though my experiences with Mrs. Underhill have thus far been short-lived, as I have only known her since August 2016, it does not take one much time to see her extreme potential as an educator. We met and collaborated on our lessons daily, and oftentimes I would forget that it was only her second year of teaching based on her lesson ideas, classroom management style, and overall confidence in the classroom. Mrs. Underhill taught 8" Grade English I and I: Reading and Writing at OMS this year and English I: Reading last year. Teaching middle school students, especially 8" graders, requires an educator to have an incredible amount of patience, determination, professionalism, and maturity. Mrs. Underhill demonstrated these traits with grace and dignity with her students throughout the school year. This year, in addition to taking on a class (English Il: Writing) that she had not taught before, Mrs. Underhill also had to adjust her lessons and assessments to a new grading system, Standards Based Grading, that OMS implemented this year. Also, OMS implemented a new school-wide writing curriculum that she and I both had to learn and then collaborate on daily in order to make sure our classes were lined up with each other based on the units of this new curriculum. Outside of the classroom, Mrs. Underhill took on a large leadership role when our 8° Grade Team was planning our annual fundraiser last fall: a dodgeball tournament. She took the reins on many tasks, including the t-shirt design, the concession purchasing, the schedule making, and much more. Mrs, Underhill is always professionally dressed and arrives to school early each day. She is also present at many after school activities, which really shows the students that she cares about their interests outside of the classroom as well All of these experiences and several more have made me proud of Mrs. Underhill during her second year as an educator, She is a great example of what administrators are looking for in a newer teacher: one who is ager and capable of not only educating her students, but is also continuing to educate herself. She would make a great candidate for your open teaching position, and I have every confidence that she will be an asset to any school of which she becomes a part. If you have any additional questions, you can reach me by phone at (309) 379-5941 ext. 8324 or email at susan.springer@olympia.org. Sincerely, Mrs, Susan K. Springer English Teacher Olympia Middle School OLYMPIA: INSPIRING, EDUCATING, AND CHALLENGING EACH STUDENT TO ACHIEVE PERSONAL EXCELLENCE