2013-2014 Academic year To Whom It May Concern: Sarah Skidmore very successfully completed her first 7 week student

teaching placement in my elementary Art classroom from January 27th to March 13th 2014. There are approximately 450 students enrolled at Perkins from diverse backgrounds and life experiences. Each grade level, Kindergarten through 5th, is divided into three sections and each section attends a 50 minute Art class on a three day rotation. Individual class sizes can vary from 20 to 29 students who represent a variety of educational skills, talents, and needs. Ms. Skidmore had been responsible for planning, preparing, teaching and assessing Art lessons for the three different sections per grade in a K-5 Art classroom. She was also responsible for supervision of students at lunch duty and bus duty daily. During her student teaching experience, Ms. Skidmore planned and implemented project units, modeled the daily activities, prepared Artist of the Month displays, and assessed completed projects using an established rubric. She had successfully demonstrated awareness of different learning styles and adjusted assignments to meet the varied needs of the students. Her lessons were well prepared and implemented using the DMPS curriculum maps for Art. Ms. Skidmore also followed the established classroom management procedures for my classroom very consistently. Ms. Skidmore not only participated in building and district level professional development sessions during this student teaching placement, she worked with the students after school in Art Club and attended the district art show and two nights of parent teacher conferences. Ms. Skidmore possesses a positive and enthusiastic personality, as well as a strong and diverse art background. She is knowledgeable, talented, and demonstrates respect and concern for students. She was very professional in her dealings with the students, staff, and community during her placement at Perkins. She asked appropriate questions and continually strives to grow as a professional art educator. I am very confident she will continue to develop into a highly effective teacher and that she will be a strong asset to any art department and building that she works within. I highly recommend Sarah Skidmore for a teaching position without reservation. If you have any questions or need further information, please feel free to contact me at mindi.mccoy@dmschools.org or (515) 778-6038. Ms. Skidmore has my permission to email or to make photocopies of this letter. Sincerely,

Mindi McCoy K-5 Art, Perkins Elementary