Dr. Jerry A. Caster 932 29th Street West Des Moines, Ia 50265 515-225-2016 cjeanjerry@aol.

com April 10, 2012 To Whom It May Concern: Re: Nicole Eberhard

It is a pleasure to write a letter of recommendation for Nicole. I am her student teaching supervisor at Drake University and, prior to working with student teachers, I was a principal in the Des Moines Schools. Nicole is having a successful student teaching experience at Monroe Elementary School in the Des Moines Schools. It is a typical urban school in that it is very diverse socially, ethnically and economically. Nicole has completed student teaching in a first grade classroom that had about 22 students. In this group were students receiving special education services and ELL services. The school faculty has been working to universally acquire ELL certification and Nicole has been involved in some of the training. She is now completing her student teaching in special education. Nicole is benefiting from her student teaching. It has been a pleasure to watch her develop skills in individual and group instruction in all subject areas and also in classroom management. As a pre-service teacher, she has had the chance to student teach in a first grade classroom with many behavior issues. As a result, she has had to develop and apply strategies to manage the learning environment. She has looked at classroom arrangement, structure within lessons and use of reinforcement as tools to help students to be successful. Her special education placement is permitting her to experience the variety of tasks associated with special education. These include writing IEPs, having parent meetings, and problem solving meetings with general education teachers. Since she is working with upper elementary students in special education, she is getting a nice balance across all ages in elementary education. I have observed some very good lessons that Nicole has taught. Perhaps two of the most important things about her is that she is reflective and is very coachable. She is sensitive to the subtle things that might not be working and she seeks solutions. When presented with ideas, she refines them and quickly has them in place. I dont know that Ive ever encountered any student teacher who is more eager to learn new skills or more open to suggestions. She is a hard worker and wants to be an excellent teacher. I think you will enjoy meeting Nicole. It is a pleasure to recommend her to you for your consideration. Sincerely, Dr. Jerry A. Caster, Student Teaching Supervisor, Drake University