TO:

WHOM IT MAY CONCERN

FROM:

Ronald Sallade, Student Teacher Supervisor, School of Education, Drake

University, Des Moines, Iowa

SUBJECT:

Employment Recommendation for Bandy Borg, Student Teacher, Drake

University, Des Moines, Iowa, Spring Semester 2015

DATE:

March 15, 2015

This is a letter of recommendation enthusiastically supporting employment for Brandy Borg, a

student teacher at Drake University, Des Moines, Iowa, who will be a fully certified teacher in May
2015. I have been supervisor of Brandys student teaching during this Spring Semester, 2015.
For her first placement of two, her student teaching placement has been in 7 th grade math at
Callanan Middle School, Des Moines, IA. Callanan serves the near west side of Des Moines and
feeds into Roosevelt High School.
In brief, Brandy is a very successful, intentional teacher: setting her lessons in context; providing
direct instruction in a stimulating and effective manner; engaging students in an exciting,
purposeful way; using a variety of instructional approaches; appropriately checking for students
understanding; and re-teaching as needed.
Brandy has an strong teacher presence. She creates an orderly, active, positive classroom
environment and puts forth considerable effort to achieve her desired outcome. Her students are
engaged, and her classroom is well managed. She conducts herself as a professional in every
respect. She holds herself accountable for learning and accomplishes a great deal. She
intentionally seeks opportunities to communicate with students on a very personal level and has
strong rapport with them.
Ms. Borg's lesson plans are well prepared and interconnect appropriately with the course
curriculum. In preparing lessons, Brandy has a thorough knowledge of the text and relevant
vocabulary, as well as seeks and uses supplemental materials from resource books, the Internet,
and the library. For her 7th Grade math classes, she planned and implemented a unit plan
concerning random sampling through both individual and group work. Students engagement with
concepts relating to producing a random sample and making inferences on the data was
supplemented with discussion of how individuals work with math. She consistently expects
students to think critically by relating classroom activities to the approach of real-life users of
mathematics.
Brandy very ably employs a variety of instructional strategies. Each lesson includes a variation of
learning activities such as experimenting with materials, reading, writing, watching a
demonstration, or participating in group and class discussion. She has students consider
concepts in multiple avenues to acquire a deeper understanding and then apply their knowledge.
For example, in preparing for a unit test, students reviewed by rotating through different tables
and answered questions posed at each table as a group. This review expected students to
discuss the material with peers and gain a deeper understanding of the content.
Students are quite responsive to Brandy. Students benefit from positive, spontaneous, interactive
rapport with her. Brandy demonstrates a measured self-confidence. Students know that she is
helping them and the students readily accept her instruction. Brandy and her students obviously
benefit from mutual respect. Her students like her, are comfortable with her, have a high opinion
of her, and willingly follow her instruction.
Brandys mentor, Jennifer Davis, has assessed her at the Competent level on the Final
Evaluation for 3 of the ten standards and "Exemplary" for the other seven standards established
by Drake University. In addition there are dozens of positive comments on every category on
page 4 of the instrument is marked "Excellent." I expect Brandy will have comparable ratings in

her second placement when that time comes. For her Midterm evaluation, Brandy received
"Competent" in all but 2 standards, which were labeled "Exemplary."
Ms. Borg's interpersonal skills (active listening, clearly understood voice, effective eye contact)
are especially effective and obviously an important part of her communication with students. I am
quite impressed by Brandys easy, interactional repartee with students, her ability to capture and
synthesize students ideas during discussion, as well as her ability to concurrently record
students ideas on the board. Typically, those abilities are evident later in a teachers career.
Brandy is quite collaborative in her approach. She has been part of an instructional team, which
includes other professionals, and she has shared resources very effectively with those teachers.
She meets with these professionals to share ideas, evaluate lesson plans, and discuss behavior
management of individual students. This collaboration has allowed her to expand her knowledge
of education resources and enabled her to create professional relationships. Brandy also readily
accepts input and guidance from her mentor teacher as a means to improve her professional
practice in the classroom.
In short, Brandy is an exceptionally effective, successful teacher. Her mentor remarked, "Brandy
is a strong planner, presenter, and relationship builder with students," in her final review. I would
rank Bandy Borg in the top ten percent of beginning teachers. She has the decided commitment
and will make a major difference. As a student teacher, Brandy is impressive.
Brandy is talented academically, earning a 4.0 GPA as an undergraduate with a GPA of 3.78
during her Master's program at Drake University. She has successfully completed a degree
earning a Masters of Arts in Teaching. Her endorsements will include Middle School, Biology (512) and Math. Concurrent with her intelligence and teaching abilities, Ms. Borg is a mature and
socially appropriate professional. I believe Brandy is an exceptionally good candidate for
placement in that she is certified in Middle School science and math. She is also interested in
getting involved with any student program that involves leadership and math and/or science
groups.
I very enthusiastically recommend Bandy Borg for any teaching position for which she is qualified
and certified. If representatives from school districts have questions or would like more
information, they are invited to contact me personally.
Ronald Sallade, Ph. D.
3715 SW 28th Street
Des Moines, IA 50321-2024
515.249.5627 Daytime Mobile; Messaging Is Available
RonaldSall@aol.com