Golden Apple Scholars of Illinois 2013 Observation/Practicum Exit Evaluation of Cathy Davila It was a pleasure watching Cathy teach in the Golden Apple Scholar East Aurora Math and Science Summer Camp this summer. Cathy demonstrated many of the qualities of an excellent and experienced teacher. Cathy connected quickly with her students. She exuded a natural comfort teaching middle school students (sixth and seventh grade) students, having developed a friendly, but professional rapport with them. Whether working with a small group of students or the whole class to clarify an important concept, or asking thought-provoking questions to a group of students to extend their thinking and challenge them, Cathy captured the attention of her students and had them engaged throughout each Tesson. Cathy's lessons were well-researched, well-written, well-executed and showed great creativity. In her lesson, Bee Informed, Cathy invented The Silent Game in which her students had to indicate silently which of two fruits or vegetables, or other foods they liked better when she showed them a series of food pictures on Powerpoint slides. This opening activity to her lesson quickly got her students engaged in the Jesson. Later in the lesson, Cathy had her students work in stations, reading articles about different kinds of bees and then comparing the similarities and differences of the bees. Cathy’s lesson materials were well-organized and easily accessible when she needed them. And if students didn’t seem to understand a concept or ideas that she wanted them to learn, she would explain the concept in a different way andor ask a student to rephrase the big idea in his or her own words so that students had multiple opportunities to understand the concept. Cathy’s ability to connect with her students, to create and carry out captivating and well-planned lessons that engage her students, and her ability to integrate mathematical and scientific ideas are several of the many traits of an excellent teacher that Cathy exhibited in her teaching. I know that she will be an Outstanding teacher, and I have no doubt that Cathy will continue to blossom as a teacher in the years ahead and become a valued colleague of any schoo! he works at Sincerel AR hae 7) afm Patricia Trafton l Program Leader for the Golden Apple Summer at IMSA Offsite Program