March 10, 2015

To Whom It May Concern,

It is with pleasure that I write a letter recommending Lexi Farr for employment as a Secondary
Mathematics Teacher. I have been Lexis Site Teacher Educator at East High where I teach
mathematics and am acting Department Chair. Lexi began working with my students in October
2014, while she fulfilled field hours for her Teacher Candidacy. However, Lexi went above and
beyond her required hours and volunteered in my classroom weekly, so that she would get to
know the students, be exposed to their learning strengths, and begin to develop curriculum to
help them when she was teaching.
Lexi has a deep knowledge of mathematics and pedagogy, is an excellent communicator who
listens and collaborates well with others, and is an exceptional teacher who understands that
teaching is about student learning. As a district facilitator of the CCSS, I am very concerned if a
teacher new to the profession is capable of integrating mathematics and following the
progression of the objectives. Lexi has shown knowledge that she can prepare her students in
the integrated approach of Utahs core, using both math fundamentals and conceptual based
tasks.
When teaching, Lexi communicates vocabulary to students through her guided notes, uses a
graphing calculator, provides online support through Delta Math and has successfully created
activities for the students that they consider fun. She is able to present the content in detail and
in many forms. I believe that Lexi shows her students daily her enthusiasm for teaching and for
the subject. She also makes herself available for both parents and students before and after
school, and will even give up her lunch period to help students.
Lexis focus on student learning is evident in how she designs lesson plans to ensure student
mastery of standards. For each lesson she plans, she has a content objective that she aligns to
core standards to keep her students aware of what they are learning. While Lexi considers this to
simply be part of good teaching practice, she also has a high percentage of English Language
Learners in her class that benefit from her practice to build understanding. Lexi also knows it is
imperative she accesses a students background knowledge and provides the right schema for
students as they learn new material. She knows students need to have both conceptual as well as
procedural knowledge to make sense of the mathematics. Lexi introduces appropriate academic
vocabulary at the right time, and uses tiered intervention to keep students on grade level. Her
tenacity to have all students be successful are part of what makes her well respected among
students and parents.

Lexi is working hard to implement tasks that provide opportunities for students to reason about
the mathematics they are learning and to justify their answers. Lexi pushes students to be their
very best and has a strong mathematics foundation. Her influence is felt beyond the classroom
and I find that it motivates me to be a better teacher. She uses all of this knowledge to plan and
implement clear, motivating lessons that empower her students to do their best. It is for these
reasons and more that I enthusiastically recommend Lexi Farr for employment as a Secondary
Mathematics Teacher.

Sincerely,

Sarah K. Lea
Mathematics Teacher and Department Chair
East High School
840 South 1300 East
Salt Lake City, Utah 84102
sarah.lea@slcschools.org
801-583-1661 x3408