May 2, 2016

To Whom It May Concern,

It has been a pleasure to work with Amanda High, as she is a talented and generous
professional student teacher. I was impressed by her gentle and caring nature; students
enjoyed her friendly and positive spirit. She clearly excelled in the area of building
relationships with her students, and in planning impeccably detailed, highly differentiated, and
engaging lesson plans.
During her time at Nicholas Sheran Community School, she showed wonderful initiative and
passion for helping children. I was impressed with how she acted upon advice and worked to
improve her skills every day. I could count on her to arrive early and assist me in daily
preparations even though this was not required.
She continually showed genuine care and concern for students well-being and achievements.
Amanda is constantly analyzing the strengths and weaknesses of her strategies and how they
affect student learning. The results of her self-assessments seem to be immediately
addressed and guided her to improve her assisting practices and professional growth.
I appreciated how she showed interest to work with children that have significant behavioural
struggles or lagging skills. She was able to build relationships with these students and assist
them to learn some of the skills they need in order to meet classroom expectations and
learning goals. One of the ways she tried to build relationships was by offering to play games
at recess and included personal student interests and stories into her lesson plans. She was
knowledgeable and enthusiastic about teaching students and assisted in guiding them as they
worked through problems.
Amandas unit plans were highly differentiated and allowed every child to show his or her
understanding of a concept in a method that complimented their learning style and
capabilities. She created excellent learning materials. For example, she designed a Fur Trade
Monopoly that many teachers would be interested in using in their classroom. The game
incorporated all the curricular goals and content into an engaging student practice activity.
She was extremely thoughtful, knowledgeable and creative when designing every detail of her
instruction. Amanda was also careful to always beginning planning with assessment in the
forefront of her mind.
In closing, Amandas dedication, reliability and commitment to the children in our school were
admirable and appreciated. She continually demonstrated a positive and compassionate
approach and great commitment to student learning. Amanda has a terrifically sincere
disposition and generously shared her knowledge and talents which makes her an incredible
addition to any staff.
Sincerely,

Laurie Neher