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June 9, 2016
Dear Hiring Committee,
I am pleased to recommend Andy Peters for an English Language Arts teaching position. Over the past year, I have
worked as Mr. Peters Field Instructor during his student teaching at Skyline High School in Ann Arbor. In addition, I have
been Mr. Peters instructor for a weekly Reflective Teaching Practicum class at the University of Michigan. During this
time, Ive had the opportunity to observe his teaching practice, work style, and interactions with students and colleagues.
Mr. Peters is a talented beginning teacher, with an incredibly strong work ethic. Coaching him over the past year has been
an enjoyable experience, because he listens well, learns quickly, and has excellent insights about his students and their
needs. Mr. Peters has also been required to learn more quickly than most student teachers, and he has met that challenge
with determination. For the fall and winter trimesters, Andy was observing and co-teaching an Advanced Humanities
Literature course. From preparing a lecture on Sontags Notes on Camp to guiding students through difficult literary
theory and using canonical texts as comparative analytic tools, Mr. Peters was required to not only learn how to plan,
teach, and differentiate effectively, but he was also required to do so with very complicated material. Despite these
challenges, he demonstrated very successful lessons and enthusiasm about his teaching. Through his teaching, Mr. Peters
has shown his desire to value student voices, encourage critical thinking, and maintain high standards. Consequently, Mr.
Peters prepares thorough, backward designed and aligned lessons that scaffold difficult concepts and texts for students; he
has also learned how to navigate academic discussions so that learning is built collaboratively and students are engaged.
His use of student assessment data to inform future practice and to identify student misconceptions is also central to his
reflective practice. Students have quickly come to respect Mr. Peters as a source of knowledge and enjoy the enthusiasm
and creativity he brings to his teaching.
In addition, Mr. Peters has now taken over an English 12B class and a Creative Writing class as the primary instructor. In
both classes, he has continued to be extremely thorough in his planning, and has incorporated a great variety of classroom
routinesmodeling, peer and group work, quickwrites, versatile graphic organizers, etcboth to maintain rigor, but also
to create multiple entry points for student learning. Mr. Peters goal in the English 12B class, which hosts mainstream
seniors who are working toward their final English credit, is to engage students critically with texts and scaffold the skills
needed to create strong, analytical claims and research. He has done an excellent job of breaking down these skills into
observable and manageable steps that can be improved with practice. He also incorporates multi-modal texts, like
advertisements, to pique student interest and demonstrate the need for students to engage critically in their day-to-day
lives. Via modeling, partner practice, peer review, substantive feedback, and aligned assessments, Mr. Peters students
have demonstrated growth in their writing and analytical skills. As someone who is very invested in strong writing
instruction, I am pleased to say that Andy excels in this area. Through his past work as a writing tutor at the Sweetland
Center at the University of Michigan and his professional work at conferences on the same subject, he has fostered strong,
growth-minded attitudes about writing and the instruction of writing. His creation of writing assessments and scaffolds
demonstrate his belief in writing as a process, and his feedback for students is constructive and thorough.
Mr. Peters is one of the most reflective, hardworking, and professional student teachers I have worked with. His strong
interpersonal skills, intelligence, and love of writing and literature will make him an excellent asset to any English
Department. Thank you for your time, and please do not hesitate to contact me with any questions.
Sincerely,

Elizabeth Tacke
Field Instructor
University of Michigan
etacke@umich.edu
610 East University Avenue, Room 1228
Ann Arbor, MI 48109

T: 734.615.1528 F: 734.647.9158
te.program@umich.edu