DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION

March 19, 2015

To whom it may concern:

It is a genuine pleasure to write this letter of recommendation for Ms. Megan King, who will be
a May 2015 graduate of Trinity Universitys Master of Arts in Teaching (MAT) program. During
the MAT program, Megan has participated in a yearlong internship in a third grade classroom at
Woodridge Elementary in the Alamo Heights Independent School District. In addition to being
one of Megans graduate instructors, I have had multiple opportunities during the year to
observe Megan teach.

Megan understands that to be an effective teacher she must possess a solid understanding of
the material that she teaches. Therefore, she researches content prior to developing her
lessons. A case in point, during the spring semester, Megan planned a series of lessons on
adverbs. Although Megan understood adverbs herself, she wanted to ensure that she identified
key concepts for the students to learn and to identify possible areas of challenge for students
encountering adverbs for the first time. Accordingly, she took the time to research adverbs to
align her teaching with the state curriculum and with her students learning needs.
In addition to deepening her subject matter knowledge, Megan creates cohesive, well-
organized lesson plans. Within her lesson plans, Megan demonstrates an ability to activate
students prior knowledge and to make connections between previously taught concepts and
new ones. Megan helps her students explore content from multiple perspectives. For instance,
instead of demonstrating one "right way" to solve math problems, Megan encourages children
to develop multiple methods for solving problems and compares and contrasts their
approaches. Megan knows how to use, modify and create lessons that impact student learning.
Moreover, she knows how to integrate technology, such as an Elmo, educational websites and
educational videos into her teaching. Megan uses and expands on the state's learning standards
when creating lesson plans. Her lessons demonstrate her ability to go beyond the mandated
content to help students develop big ideas as well as necessary knowledge and skills.
Megan recognizes the importance of and the strategies needed to establish relationships with
students. Beyond developing relationships with students, Megan uses specific strategies to
manage the classroom community, such as using established classroom routines and
procedures. In addition, Megan recognizes that children need guidance and opportunities to
learn social skills and she works with her students to help them learn those skills.

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Megan communicates effectively with students. Specifically, she uses child-friendly language
and listens to students concerns and ideas. In addition, during her internship, Megan
demonstrated an interest in and an ability to communicate with students families through
informal and formal communication, including parent conferences and by emailing and phoning
parents to share information. Beyond her capacity to communicate with students and their
families, Megan communicates effectively with her colleagues by actively listening, offering
suggestions, and collaborating with them.

I enthusiastically recommend Megan King for a teaching position. Her clear understanding of
the relationship between planning, teaching, assessment and learning combined with her
strong work ethic will allow her to continuously encourage and support student learning.
Megan will be an asset to her students and to the school in which she works.

Sincerely,

SAS Sherwood
Sara A.S. Sherwood, Ph.D.
Supervising Faculty Member