Eastern Elementary

Wednesday, November 23, 2016

To Whom It May Concern:

I feel extremely proud to say that Allyson Bowers was a student teacher in my third grade class at Eastern
Elementary School for a six week internship. During that time, she worked with a class of 21 students, 5 of whom are
special education students with an IEP, 1 student who is part of the GATE program, and 2 students who are English
Language Learners. Allyson was responsible for planning and teaching the subjects of Writing, English Language Arts,
Math, Science, and Social Studies. She also attended and contributed to Parent-Teacher conferences, participated in
Supervisor-led and Principal-led Professional Development, and chaperoned our Field Trip to the Maryland Science
Center. Ms. Bowers excelled in all aspects of her internship. She effectively planned, implemented, and assessed Common
Core aligned units that met the diverse needs of our learners. Ms. Bowers also established a classroom environment
which was caring and supportive by developing a strong rapport with each student. She had excellent classroom
management, in part because her lessons were well-planned and engaging, and also because she always maintained a
calm, respectful demeanor and held high expectations. Ms. Bowers instilled in our students a desire to learn and the
confidence that they could.
Ms. Bowers worked collaboratively with the members of our third grade team to long-range and short-range plan.
She was willing to listen and draw upon the expertise of other team members, as well as, contribute creative ideas which
enhanced fellow teachers lessons. One of Ms. Bowers greatest contributions to our team was her creation of a Social
Studies unit on Civic Rights and Responsibilities. This unit integrated technology, allowed for students of varying
academic needs to engage in hands-on learning, and included a service learning project in which students wrote thank you
letters to the Veterans of Morris Frock American Legion Post 42. This project received recognition from the Herald-Mail
newspaper and our students were honored to be recognized for their work. Additionally, Ms. Bowers demonstrated
flexibility in monitoring and adjusting to various schedule changes in order to complete her unit during this fast-paced
internship.
Allyson had the experience of maintaining full instructional responsibilities for two weeks of the internship,
during which I was completely confident in her ability. Throughout this time, Allyson maintained classroom routines and
behavior management systems effortlessly. She planned and implemented curriculum aligned instruction that allowed for
differentiation to meet the extremely diverse needs of our learners. Allyson used formative assessment data to help drive
her instruction, and planned using the UbD template to unpack standards and plan with the end in mind. Additionally, Ms.
Bowers collected student data through pre and post-assessments to analyze student success. Allyson successfully
demonstrated her awareness of different learning styles and effectively adjusted assignments to meet the varied needs of
students. Her units were thoroughly prepared and implemented.

1320 Yale Drive, Hagerstown MD 21742 | P: 301-766-8122 | F: 301-739-5066 | www.wcps.k12.md.us

 Eastern Elementary

Ms. Bowers possesses many positive qualities and I highly recommend her for an Elementary teaching position.
She is motivated, determined, and a truly gifted teacher. Allyson has high expectations for her students and for herself and
is committed to completing every task well. I can honestly say that I was sad to see Ms. Bowers move on to her second
internship as I thoroughly enjoyed working with her each day. I often felt that she was my co-teacher rather than a
student- intern, as I found myself learning from her innate teaching ability, daily. I am confident that Ms. Bowers will be
an asset to any staff. She is confident, flexible, and has the skills of a seasoned teacher. I believe that she will continue to
grow and become even more effective as a teacher with further opportunities. Please feel free to contact me for more
information at 301-766-8122 or madroche@wcps.k12.md.us.

Sincerely,
Chelsea Madron

1320 Yale Drive, Hagerstown MD 21742 | P: 301-766-8122 | F: 301-739-5066 | www.wcps.k12.md.us