Joseph Lanza

Nick Bank-Johnson
Monday, 12:40p.m.
Fall 2022

Contact Information: Joseph.Lanza@cortland.edu

12/5/2022
Dear Parent/Guardian of Nick Bank-Johnson,
To begin I would like to thank you for giving me the pleasure of working with Nick. My
name is Joseph Lanza, and I am a physical education teacher candidate at SUNY Cortland. I am
taking this Adaptive Physical education class which is set up with the Sport and Splash program,
which allows me to work with Nick. Nick is a respectful, enthusiastic young man who is highly
cooperative and is always eager when it being physically active. Nick takes on challenges with
his eager personality which will help him continuously grow physically, mentally, socially, and
emotionally. Nick understands the environment he is given and follows my directions and
commands with full attention, energy, and participation. He is a good listener, has a respectful
manner, and always follows directions and never causes me, or anyone else in the gym any
problems, or distractions.
Nick has made a lot of improvement since the beginning of this semester towards the
goals and objectives I have created for him. During our first two classes together, I assessed Nick
on his physical fitness, using the General Brockport Physical Fitness Test. This assessment
helped me create long and short-term goals for Nick to complete by the end of this semester.
One of Nicks goals is to improve his overall physical fitness, and to develop and improve
on lifetime activities that he enjoys. Nick enjoys working out and since the beginning of the
semester Nick has improved on his physical fitness. At the beginning of each lesson Nick and I
go through a variety of different flexibility, cardiovascular endurance, muscular
strength/endurance exercises. During the first few classes we had together Nick would often need
to take a break. In the past three classes we had together, Nick only needed a water brake once,
which showed me that his cardiovascular endurance is increasing. I have seen how Nick has
progressed flexibility wise because he is more comfortable while doing various stretches. Since
the beginning of the semester, I have seen Nick improve in each of these fitness categories. Nick
also enjoys baseball, so we have gone through a variety of baseball activities and by the third
baseball lesson we had together, I saw major improvements in Nicks catching and throwing
skills. Nick enjoys playing baseball so improving these skills could help motivate him to pursue
baseball when he is done with school. Another goal of Nicks is to have a better understanding of
fitness exercises and how they can be beneficial to his life. Nick knows about 80% of the
exercises I have him do, what body part they are exercising/stretching, and why they are
important. His knowledge on physical fitness has expanded and he seems more interested when
it comes to learning about fitness. A third goal of Nicks is to apply safety and to demonstrate a
respectful manor in class for the entire time. Since the first class we had together Nick has
demonstrated a respectful and safe manor. Nick listens to my directions and follows my rules
with no trouble, he helps me put out equipment for tasks and helps me clean it up when the task
is over. Nick is mindful of his surroundings and always makes sure of safety before performing
an activity.
Nick has participated in a wide range of activities throughout this semester such as,
fitness exercises, baseball activities, and basketball activities. Nick has gone through a variety of
different stretch activities that include arm, leg, and dynamic stretches. Nick has also been
through multiple different cardiovascular and muscular strength/endurance exercises including
sit-ups, squats, pushups, walks around gym, and running/jogging drills. He has gone through
different throwing, catching and striking drills that improved his baseball skills, as well as
dribbling, passing, and shooting drills that improved his basketball skills. I try my best to provide
Nick with options of equipment so he can pick for himself what he wants to use. If Nick chooses
an ‘easier’ piece of equipment, we would progress towards the harder one as time goes on.
Nick has been working with his good friend Ben Shaw throughout this semester and has
been showing nothing but respect to Ben. He works well with Ben, and I believe he would work
well with anyone else too. Nick is calm and knows how to apply safety when he is going through
activities in class. In the spring, I think Nick would fit appropriately in a smaller class with
students who are as mature as he is. Nick may enjoy working with more students and it can
provide him with a “teamwork” environment. I thank you again for giving me this opportunity to
work with Nick. He is a determined and enthusiastic young man who is always ready to take on a
challenge. Nick has been a wonderful experience for me, and I am so happy I got to work with
him this semester. I wish Nick the best and hope he has enjoyed this experience as much as I
have!

Sincerely,
Joseph Lanza