Letters of Recommendation

Letters from Students

While I was student teaching, students in my class wrote me letters of recommendation. Students were graded more on the structure and format of the letter, and less on the content.

To see the checklist that students received, click here.

It is my great honor to write this recommendation letter on behalf of Ms. Caitlin Sheehan, who is completing her teacher candidacy program under my supervision this semester. As one of my most dedicated student teachers, Ms. Sheehan embodied the principles and actions we hold central to our program’s core dispositional requirements of cultural and instructional responsiveness, thorough and integrated planning, and inspiring and empowering engagement with students in meaningful learning.

Ms. Sheehan is completing her M.Ed. program teaching at New Field Elementary on the north side of Chicago, teaching a diverse third grade classroom in a low-income community. Ms. Sheehan took quick charge of her students’ development, carefully crafting engaging units while also differentiating her lessons for the students with varying proficiencies. Ms. Sheehan’s thoroughness and carefulness to the delivery of important information for all students has helped her shape the structures and routines that facilitate true learning for young people. Her ability to conduct lessons that allow her to scaffold instruction as well as build on student strengths – while also providing her key moments to check in with individuals and pairs to assess their learning in progress – is inspiring to watch. Her creativity and maturity in constructing engaging and multi-layered instructional units was in full force this semester, evident most clearly in her culminating News Show unit. Her brilliance in incorporating literacy objectives embedded in a authentically-discursive framework highlight Ms. Sheehan as a practitioner beyond a typical novice teacher. Seeing the students grow both in their content understanding and awareness of themselves as learners in this unit and in all of Ms. Sheehan’s careful practice has provided our cohort with motivation to push themselves even harder toward meaningful and attentive instruction.

Beyond the scope of the semester’s duties for Ms. Sheehan, we know her to be an exceptional new teacher in a variety of dimensions of teacher practice – as she has carefully reflected in our seminar on the broader implications and theoretical underpinnings of the life she has led daily. In her course discussions and assignments, Ms. Sheehan modeled reflective practice and critical-pedagogy dispositions for the empowerment of urban students. Her detailed examinations of her own work using evidence from student performance are exciting and remarkably precise for a teacher at this novice level. Her humble reflections on her own role in the classroom give me great hope for this next generation of teachers and the work they will accomplish with and on behalf of all students.

I understand that Ms. Sheehan is eager and excited to begin fully this next stage of her life as an educator, and it gives me great pleasure to recommend her enthusiastically and without reservation as one of the most qualified and dedicated candidates I imagine you and your schools might find. If I can be of any further assistance, I hope you won’t hesitate to contact me. It would be an honor to urge you personally not to hesitate in hiring her as quickly as you might be able.

Sincerely,

Victoria F. Trinder, Ph.D.

vtrinder@uic.edu

Letter from Field Supervisor

To Whom It May Concern:

It is my pleasure to recommend Caitlin Sheehan for a teaching position. I have known Caitlin for a year, first as an instructor of CI 508, Teaching and Learning Science in the Elementary School, and recently, as field supervisor during her student teaching.

Caitlin has many outstanding qualities. As a teacher, Caitlin plans diligently and her instruction is poised and refined. She has a level of thoroughness that is impressive. For example, when she is eliciting ideas from students-- whether it is for writing, reading or mathematics, she creates a climate in which students respect each other for their ideas and are encouraged to share their ideas. She develops and implements lessons and units in which concepts build upon each other smoothly and show successful student learning along the way.

Caitlin is a leader and is socially minded with an interest in addressing the inequities in education. She researches information and uses her leadership skills to raise attention to issues in the name of advocating for public education. I have observed Caitlin collaborate with not only faculty and staff but with members of different school and organizational communities. She is a natural and inclusive leader.

I cannot say more about Caitlin’s knowledge, commitment and reflective nature that make her an exceptional teacher. She will be a most thoughtful, positive and collaborative colleague and leader at your school.

Please feel free to contact me at (312) 413-3904.

Sincerely,

Marlynne Nishimura

Clinical Lecturer

Curriculum and Instruction

The University of Illinois at Chicago

Letter from Cooperating Teacher

To Whom it May Concern,

It is with great pleasure that I write a letter of recommendation for Caitlin Sheehan. I have been fortunate to have had Caitlin all year. First, she was my clinical observer from September- December 2013. Then as my student teacher from January 2013-April 2014. During this time, I have had the opportunity to observe and work with Caitlin and I believe she has the qualities to become a distinguished teacher. She developed a positive and nurturing rapport with the students, families, and staff. She became a committed and respected team member.

As I observed Caitlin instructing and interacting with the students, it is easy to see she approached teaching very naturally. She implemented many wonderful ideas into the classroom, ensuring that she was reaching the needs of all the children. I have seen her use a variety of management techniques when dealing with the students throughout the day. She also was able to differentiate her instruction due to students with learning challenges.

While working at New Field, Caitlin created and implemented thematic units that integrated our social studies. We were studying African American Blues musicians for Black History Month and she truly motivated my students to research and learn about these famous people. She also decided to teach a literature circle unit where she downloaded the story in their IPADS, which allowed them to increase their technological skills. The novel she used was above 3rd grade level, so it challenged my students yet they were very involved in the story. Also, in my class we studied the country of Japan. A country study is something in my school’s curriculum. She divided the students in groups and each researched a specific topic in Japan. Then, she recorded them as a news show and invited parents to watch. Her use of technology was impressive and it truly made my students excited to learn. Caitlin created several hands-on activities for the students to complete that scaled Gardner’s Intelligences, Bloom’s Taxonomy and Common Core and gave choice using different modalities. She developed student friendly rubrics that allowed her to assess them accurately.

Caitlin is always eager to integrate new ideas into her teaching. She reflects on every lesson to make sure that her instruction was developed accurately, scaffold the students, differentiated instructions, and challenged student minds. The students felt safe and cared for when Caitlin taught them and they were always excited so see what else she was going to expose them to.

Leigh White

New Field Elementary

3rd grade teacher

CS