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Waialae School

Celebrating Childhood

KAPONO CIOTTI
CEO/Head of School
Waialae Elementary Public Charter School
1045 19th Avenue Honolulu, Hawaii 96816
Phone: (808) 733-4880 Fax: (808) 733-4886
Twitter / Instagram / Facebook: @Waialae


December 28, 2016

For your consideration:

It is my pleasure to offer this letter of recommendation for Nicole Yamada. Nicole was a
student teacher at Waialae Elementary Public Charter School where I had the privilege of being
her professional supervisor as well as had the opportunity to conduct formal and informal
observations of her teaching. Nicole is a natural teacher, whose instincts are strong. She has a
strong work ethic, and creates meaningful connections with students.

Nicole is a natural teacher. During her formal observation, she set up a math mini-lesson,
followed by workplace games per the math program Bridges. While she skillfully delivered the
lesson as designed, my comments are less about her delivery, and more about her instincts. During
my observation I noticed that students were not creating the expected understandings to bridge
the mini-lesson and workplace games. Nicole caught this in the moment, as well as during our post
observation reflection. She was able to adjust and reflect on the experience, articulating that the
lesson, as written may have been appropriate in a theoretical setting, but with this particular
group of students, the workplace needed to be adjusted for students to reach the desired
understanding. This level of insight is rare among teachers new and experienced alike.

Nicole has a strong work ethic. Waialae is in the process of re-imagining our Integrated
Thematic Units, our version of thematic interdisciplinary project-based learning. This means
intense professional development and extra teacher work time. Nicole went above and beyond the
expectations of her course work and participated, not as an observer, but as a professional during
our sessions. Her insights and effort are appreciated.

Nicole made meaningful connections with students. During an informal observation, I was
able to watch Nicole adapt the brain-based techniques of her mentor teacher to fit her own style
and use them to create a classroom dynamic as well as individual relationships that supported
student learning. Her students responded with genuine reciprocation for her caring.

I highly recommend Nicole for a teaching position, and hope to be able to hire her here, at Waialae
one day soon.

Sincerely,


Kapono Ciotti

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