Professor Kevin Miller

COMBINED PROGRAM IN EDUCATION AND PSYCHOLOGY

4116 SEB 610 E. UNIVERSITY AVENUE ANN ARBOR, MI 48109-1259

Phone: 734-615-1800

Fax: 734-615-2164

kevinmil@umich.edu

April 13, 2012 Dear Selection Committee: It is a real pleasure to recommend Patrina Langford for an elementary teaching position. I came to know Patrina first as a student in a small seminar and then as a participant in a month-long trip to Beijing and Xian that I led in the summer of 2010. Across these various experiences, I was able to see how she handled academic work, her ability to work with mixed groups of American and Chinese students, and her engagement with educational issues. Across all of these settings, I was impressed with her commitment, leadership and intelligence, and I am confident that she will be effective in working with people of all backgrounds. Patrina stood out in the small seminar I taught in preparation for the trip to Beijing. She was fully engaged in the class, and was a most conscientious student. She quickly learned the educational and psychological concepts central to the course. The focus of the project was exposing students to the diversity of preschools in China and the United States. During the term, small groups of University of Michigan (UM) students videotaped a range of preschools in the area around Ann Arbor to put together a depiction of a typical day in each school. At the same time, students at Beijing Normal University did the same thing in Beijing preschools. Then we travelled to Beijing for a month, so that students could work together with their Chinese peers in preparation for a conference we put on at the end of the month where the merged groups described what they saw as interesting points of comparison between the two systems. Patrina showed real leadership in each of these settings. The US group consisted of students who had applied for and been accepted by the Global and Intercultural Experiences for Undergraduates (GIEU) program, and so were really the cream of UM undergraduates. Even in that group, Patrina stood out. In the seminar, she asked thoughtful questions, showed real leadership in her small group project, and wrote an excellent final paper. In the trip to China, I was impressed with the way that Patrina handled the strains that come with being a person of color in China. When we went to tourist sites, Chinese travellers would often mob our students of color, asking for photographs and asking personal questions. Patrina handled this with unfailing grace, and I was pleased that she made some good friends with her counterpart Chinese students. One of the key aspects of the trip was a set of visits to migrant schools in Beijing. China has an internal passport system, where students are supposed to go to school in the places where their parents are registered to live. Yet there is a very large population of people who have moved from rural to urban areas for work. In some cases they bring their children with them, and special migrant schools have developed to serve the needs of these children. The schools vary from below average to quite poor by urban standards, and they lack resources and trained teachers.

As part of the trip, we worked in three schools that varied quite a bit in quality. The principals felt that the opportunity to learn about American culture and interact with native English speakers would be the most useful thing our students could do, so we organized some short lessons on American language and culture. Patrina and two other students who planned to become teachers took the lead in developing these lessons and preparing our students to help deliver them. They did an excellent job, putting together songs, pictures, and other engaging materials, including several songs with gestures that students could learn. Patrina led the group in one of the schools, and did an excellent job of making sure her group was prepared and enthusiastic for the task. Patrina has a very sunny, outgoing personality, and its obvious to me that shes someone her students will love and remember for the rest of their lives. In writing these letters, the one question I always ask myself is whether this is someone Id be happy to have as the teacher of my own daughter. In Patrinas case the answer is a resounding yes. Patrina is someone who brings enormous personal resources to the task of teaching. Shes creative, resourceful, unflappable, and I have seen her respond with maturity to a variety of challenges. If you should have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact me, but I recommend her without any reservations whatsoever. Sincerely,

Kevin F. Miller Professor, Combined Program in Education & Psychology, Departments of Psychology & Educational Studies, Center for Human Growth & Development Center for Chinese Studies