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Plymouth Elementary School

Promoting a Culture of Collaboration, Innovation and Inspiration

June 2017

I am writing this letter of recommendation for Maureen Ebner, who was a student teacher in my
Kindergarten classroom January through April of the 2017 school year. Our Kindergarten
classroom had 23 students, with a wide range of academic styles and social skills.

Maureen spent the first week observing the students and the daily routines of our classroom,
quickly stepping in to assist where needed and taking the time to get acquainted with the students
and their needs. Within just the first few weeks, Maureens student teaching required her to take
over several subject areas. She began with Math and Morning Meeting and gradually continued
to add subject areas until she was teaching the entire curriculum. She spent a lot of time and
energy creating innovative and hands on lessons that engaged the students in all subject areas.

Differentiation and assessment was a large part of her Kindergarten experience, as she was
asked on a daily basis to create lessons based on student needs and abilities. Maureen learned
quickly and accurately how to write a lesson plan with all the required components for an effective
lesson, while learning how to differentiate her lessons based on the needs of the students. She
would gather this information from informal and formal assessments given at the end of each
lesson or unit of study. One specific lesson where this was evident was a follow up response in a
Shared Reading Lesson. Maureen read the story to the whole class and then broke the class into
three different groups based on abilities to respond to the story. Some groups had more teacher
assistance as other groups worked independently to discuss and write their responses.

Classroom management was an area that Maureen continued to work on throughout her entire
student teaching experience. Kindergarten is a unique grade where students are entering school
for the first time and expectations and rules are new to all. During her time with the class, she
learned about the responsive classroom and used management strategies, such as tight
transitions, associated with this philosophy to create an effective classroom where optimal
learning could take place.

Maureen was a team player, collaborating with other professionals, and always asking for
feedback during her student teaching experience. She was responsible, respectful and prepared
every day. I highly recommend her for a teaching position and believe she will be a strong asset
to any grade level. Thank you for taking the time to consider her for a position in your school.

Rachel Handis
Plymouth Elementary Kindergarten Teacher

Serving the students of Conshohocken, Plymouth and Whitemarsh

542 Plymouth Road, Plymouth Meeting, PA 19462 Phone (610) 825-8190 Fax (610) 825-7853
www.colonialsd.org

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