March 14, 2017

1To Whom It May Concern:

It is a distinct pleasure to recommend Abby Mietchen, a graduate student from Westminster College in
education and a student teacher at Evergreen Junior School, for her excellent teaching performance in
the classroom this semester.

Abby is, in my judgment, one of the best and brightest prospective teachers I have had the pleasure
to supervise. Abby was presented with a challenge: teach Eighth Grade Core and Honors English
Language Arts at a very diverse suburban junior high school. These classes consisted of students of
varying degrees of academic ability to non-English speakers, and ESL students. Abby proved to be an
incredible academician. She was brilliantly prepared in Language Arts pedagogy. Abby's units were
incredibly thorough, well taught, and she used a wide array of effective teaching strategies. In fact,
through the use of technology, pop culture and an overhead projector, students were immediately
engaged with topics that taught the content, but were a part of their real lives. She was also
constantly adapting her daily lessons to fit her students needs, including recognizing many students'
poor home circumstances.

Abby's passion for literature and writing, her tireless attention to making the curriculum accessible for
students, and her professionalism are the hallmarks of an exemplary teacher. However, Abbys best
quality is her desire for making the classroom a meaningful and practical experience for her students.
Abby has an astounding ability to create a positive, friendly, and safe atmosphere in the classroom.
She created a deep rapport with her students by inquiring about individual students interests and
activities and using humor as a teaching tool. Abby collaborated with her mentor teacher to find ways
to make special accommodations for struggling students. And she always provided choices for a
student who could not complete the work in class she was never negative or punitive. The students
always understood that they could choose to fail or succeed. Having students take responsibility for
their own behavior is an accomplishment some teachers never attain.

Abby is an outstanding spirited teacher. Her entire student teaching experience reflected her care in
planning for instruction, willingness to try new techniques, and implementation of a variety of
teaching methods and classroom management skills. Abby has a natural teacher presence in the
classroom and, through the use of pop culture, she made connections with students' real lives. She
also demonstrated the effectiveness of kinesthetic learning: Instead of just reading the play, "Anne
Frank," Abby had students rotate recurring dramatic reading roles which infused real knowledge of this
work. Abby conveys to her students the idea that she is a lifelong learner - always sharing her latest
acquisition of knowledge that she learned just for them! She is always quick to point out to her
students that they teach her new ideas every day. Abby forged lasting relationships with her
students.

Abby is motivated, original, clear, and sensitive. Becoming a good teacher is so important to her that
she not only seeks after suggestions and critiques from veteran teachers, but she attended several
after school and PLC teacher development meetings to improve her teaching. She continually showed
the professional dedication necessary to become a master teacher. I wholeheartedly commend Abby
Mietchen for her excellent teaching performance in the classroom this semester.
Sincerely,

Diana H. Gardner
Diana H. Gardner
Student Teaching Supervisor, Adjunct Faculty