November 20, 2012 To Whom It May Concern: My name is Jennifer Rico and I am writing to recommend Robert Tyler for

any ELL teaching position he is seeking. Mr. Tyler was my student teacher from, August 22, 2012 through October 12, 2012. He was responsible for grades K-5 ELL students. McKinley has a total of about 153 ELL students. Mr. Tyler started earlier than scheduled and came the first day teachers came. He attended all meetings whether or not they were within contract time. He was very engaged and stepped right up in order to understand and utilize the new material with the core curriculum. Mr. Tyler demonstrated many skills and abilities that are needed in an ELL support teachers position. At the beginning of the year there are several steps to take to identify, assess, and determine service for students. Bob was able to navigate through different computer systems to find all the necessary information and record it on various forms and documents. He created an instructional environment that was comfortable, visual, and adjustable for the 34 ELL students that he would be instructing throughout the day. Mr. Tyler decisions on instructional strategies reflected the time frame for each group, the number in the group, and the different abilities of each student. He understood the importance of urgency, to close the gap as quick as possible. Therefore, his instruction was explicit and direct. Students responded to him as a member of our community not a visitor but an invested teacher. They continue to ask about him. As a member of the school community team work is important. He was able to work with all classroom teachers, perform duties and requests that go beyond what is required. His professionalism was evident and he maintained a positive attitude throughout his student teaching assignment. It is without hesitation that I recommend Mr. Tyler for an ELL teaching position. Bob would be an asset to any school. Sincerely,

Jennifer Rico ELL Teacher McKinley Elementary School 1610 SE 6th St. Des Moines Iowa 50315

November 16, 2012

To Whom It May Concern:

I am pleased to recommend Bob Tyler for a teaching position. Mr. Tyler is one of the top five students I have encountered since I started teaching in 1998; as such, though I write many recommendation letters, this one means a lot to me. I first met him in fall 2011, when he was enrolled in a writing seminar I taught at Drake University. Since that time, I have learned a great deal about his thoughtful approach to education, his work ethic, and his overall character. As a college professor as well as a parent with a child in a Des Moines public school, I recommend Mr. Tyler with full confidence and enthusiasm. Indeed, I would like all of my sons teachers to share Mr. Tylers devotion to guiding, encouraging, and educating young people of all backgrounds and ability levels.

As part of Drakes MA in Teaching program with English endorsement, Mr. Tyler regularly takes undergraduate courses in the English department, completing extra work in each one to earn graduate credit. He has taken two such courses with me: the aforementioned writing seminar, and a spring 2012 upper-level seminar called Topics in Cultural History: Work and Capital in American Literature and Culture. The first month of the writing seminar focuses on theories of writing pedagogy, and Mr. Tyler excelled as a careful analyst of complex works by David Bartholomae and Min-Zhan Lu. Moreover, he deftly applied these theories to his own experiences working with English Language Learners and other students in Des Moines schools. Many of my students struggled with the theoretical texts at first, and Mr. Tyler was an invaluable peer reviewer, generous with his praise but always able to provide constructive criticism when his classmates needed help expanding and revising their essays. I noticed this same generosity of spirit each time we met to discuss his own writing; he genuinely welcomes feedback and challenge. During the writing seminar, he told me that some of my assignments were pushing him out of his comfort zone, and I can attest that he met the call to experiment with great enthusiasm and success. He earned an A on each assignment, demonstrating his remarkable ability to shift between genres (from textual analysis to personal narrative to research-based essay).

Mr. Tyler is clearly a leader in the classroom, always willing to volunteer and engage, but he is also open-minded, carefully considering others points of view. While some

students of his caliber might become arrogant or even disruptive during class discussions, his contributions to the Topics in Cultural History seminar were so impressive that I asked him to co-teach a unit of the course with me. Together, we planned lessons and activities focusing on Richard Powerss Gaina historical novel about corporate capitalism. Teaching a college class is a challenge, and this particular cohort included students passionate about proclaiming and defending their political beliefs. Mr. Tylers energy and charismaas well as the open-minded attitude I mentioned earliermade the Gain class sessions some of the best of the semester. I saw the students looking forward to his contributions each day, wondering what kinds of interesting activities he might have planned. He works hard to vary strategies and approaches, to keep students engaged while considering different learning styles and areas of interest. Also, after each class, we discussed which approaches seemed to work best, and talked at length about how we might improve activities that did not work as well. In this way, Mr. Tyler showed himself to be a reflective teacher as well as a reflective student.

I see Mr. Tyler as a colleague as well as a Drake student. I know that he is ready for the challenge of leading his own classroom, and I would welcome the opportunity to meet him again, in the future, as my sons teacher. I strongly support his application. If you have any questions about this letter, please contact me at megan.brown@drake.edu. Thank you for your time.

Sincerely,

Megan Brown

Megan Brown Associate Professor of English Drake University