Williamsport Area School District Andrew G. Curtin Intermediate School « 85 Eldred Street - Williamsport, PA 17701-2259 Ph. (570)323-4785 « Fax (570)323-4974 « http://www.wasd.org April 23, 2021 ‘ToWhom It May Concern, Its with great pleasure that | rite this letter of recommendation for Grace Kenny. Miss Kenny \was my student teacher in the Fall of 2020 atthe Andrew G. Curtin intermediate School. In her 7 weeks with me, Grace worked with orchestral students in fourth ith and sixth grade in both face-to- face classroom settings as well as remotely. The challenges that Miss Kenny faced during this time of the pandemic were met with a postive and grateful attitude. She rose above and beyond any obstacle that came her way, alvays being thoughtful as to hew she could best solve the problem, Throughout her time, Miss Kenny taught lessons in small groups ranging from 1-8 players at @ time. She was responsible for planning lessons that were appropriate forthe level of playing forthe students, She understood that becouse ofthe closing of school mid-year in 2020, students range of ablites were all over the place. Miss Kenny adapted one core lesson plan into three and sometimes even five levels for below basic and high achieving players. in one particular lesson group, Miss Kenny ‘taught the group of advanced violinists an trish fiddle tune that required them each to write thelr own melodies using the chord progression. This was an ambitious project however the students clearly Understood the instruction and created some fantastic melodies that followed the rules of writing. ‘Miss Kenny spent alot of time using various types of technology. The schoo! learning management system, Schoology, was implemented atthe beginning of this school year. Grace was a "master at this program. She was able to problem-solve many problems for me personally. In addition to Schoology, Miss Kenny created many videos for students to practice along with at home. This required her to use Zoom, Movie and YouTube. She also created a background track to Jingle Bells complete with rhythm section and he: solo violin playing, which the students absolutely loved. It will bbe a builtin piece ofthe beginner orchestra curriculum for years to comel ‘Miss Kenny was responsible fr sanitizing every instrument that came to school for rehearsal each day as well as tuning them. This was a tedious process in which she first had to unpack every instrument and hang them on rack in the classroom. She then used a UV-C light on each violin, vila, cello and bass. She helped create seating arrangements that reflected the schoo! safety plan and made charts forthe students to fllow. Miss Kenny understands the importance of following the safety plan ‘complete with seating charts to reference in case there was ever a need to do contact tracing, ‘As difficult as ithas been during the pandemic to get to know students, Miss Kenny managed to learn the students’ names and how to bring the best out of each of them. By the end of her time of hher student teaching, she had grown a wonderful fanbase of students. Miss Kenny is reliable, conscientious, hard-working, positive, endearing and an incredible musician. Within afew days of her time with me, Miss Kenny could nearly read my mind with what needed to be done. She was always, two steps ahead of me. | am gratefulto have had her at Curtin, but especially during this pandemic. She was a delight to have, always with a big smile through her maskl 1 highly recommend Miss Grace Kenny for employment your school district or for whatever further studies she wishes to pursue. Please donot hesitate to reach out to discuss Miss Kenny. To putt simply, she isa winner! Sincerely, ‘Anna L. Radspinner, cooperating teacher 2radspin@wasd.org 570-447-7633 Developing responsible citizens through excellence in education.