Monday, March 24, 2014

To Whom It May Concern: I write to you with the purpose of highly recommending Heather Levine as an excellent candidate for a teaching position. While at Huntsville Intermediate, Mrs. Levine taught Social Studies to our 6th grade students. Mrs. Levine demonstrated excellent communication skills, superior classroom management, and an innate ability to get students to perform beyond expected levels. To achieve superior levels of success with her at risk students she has: Collaborated with team members to design engaging lessons Organized activities and grouped students for data driven instruction Brought exciting ideas and new insight to her instructional teams by introducing lesson design and project base learning Has turned her social studies team into a team that shares, helps, works, supports, and cares for each other Created a strong Professional Learning Community for the grade level: 1. Analyzing assessment data 2. Creating a positive culture through collective inquiry 3. Openly reflect on practices that welcome a change from isolated teaching to collaborative teaching. Increase student engagement in her classroom by teaching her students to be proactive by allowing them to choose their actions, attitudes and moods. She Taught students to plan ahead and set goals. She helps students come up with a plan for when they get home, so that they can set priorities (homework) and organized their time through a schedule. She taught students to make deposits on each others emotional bank accounts while being respectful of each others words. Mrs. Levine has consistently demonstrated commendable performance in all aspects of her job. As an educator she has a unique ability to motivate and connect with students and peers. She developed a positive rapport with parents, students, and community members, and was highly respected by them. Mrs. Levine had high expectations for her students and worked diligently with them to ensure those expectations were met. She truly has a gift for teaching. Mrs. Levine is a person that I consider a consummate professional educator, and a leader of children. I feel fortunate to have worked with her and to have seen her inspire others. I greatly recommend her to you. She will be an asset to your campus. Should you need additional information about Mrs. Levine feel free to contact me at (713) 562-2628. Respectfully,

Ivan Velasco, Ed.D. Principal Huntsville Intermediate School Huntsville, Texas