To Whom It May Concern,

It is my sincere pleasure to write this letter recommending Rachael Del Boccio for elementary
school positions. Ms Del Boccio recently participated in a placement at Elm Park School in New
Zealand. This was the JCL (Junior Classroom Learning) program for the final practical aspect of
her teaching qualification. I am a teacher working in the collaborative innovative learning
environment with Ms Del Boccio’s supervisor. Ms Del Boccio was placed in our modern
classroom environment of 44 year 3 (7-8 year old) children, and co-taught our classroom
programme between February to April 2018. This included all areas of literacy and numeracy,
as well as art, science and social sciences. As I have closely worked with Ms Del Boccio, I feel
qualified to comment on her potential as an elementary educator. She is an outstanding
candidate for elementary school teaching positions, and will be an asset to your staff.

During the placement, Ms Del Boccio had the opportunity to work closely with her mentor
teacher, myself, our school and the university to put the pedagogy she has learnt as part of her
degree into practice. She implemented a series of creative and engaging literacy lessons aimed
at extending and enriching the class’s comprehension, vocabulary and phonological awareness
through drama and art. For example, she encouraged students to add actions to poems and
grouped them to come up with performances about the text for the week. The development of
these integrated lessons required a sound grasp of the class’s prior knowledge, and a good
understanding of other curriculum areas. Ms Del Boccio showed flair in integrating her strong
background in science in other curriculum areas, such as demonstrating and explaining the
science behind how shadows form in relation to the poem the class was reading one week.

Ms Del Boccio also strongly demonstrated the skills necessary to thrive in a collaborative
innovative learning environment. Within the classroom context, she displayed strengths in
digital technology by taking on lessons which included using websites such as Flipgrid and
uploading student’s work onto their individual blogs on Blogger. Her lessons were collaborative,
and encouraged students to work with different people each time. Within the professional
context, Ms Del Boccio was reliable, reflective and committed to developing her pedagogy and
practice. Her mentor teacher and I have thoroughly enjoyed working with Ms Del Boccio, as
was always prepared for the day, and made sure to understand the plan for the week and how it
was to be taught. She willingly helped set up the classroom each day, participated in our team
and whole school staff meetings, and made powerpoint resources and worksheets to share with
other staff.

Throughout the placement, Ms Del Boccio also demonstrated a calm, warm and confident
teacher presence. She adapted well to our PB4L (Positive Behaviour for Learning) systems,
which aim to use positive reinforcement to manage behaviour. She used a variety of techniques
such as proximal praise, non-verbal cues, redirecting and reteaching expectations and providing
choices for positive behaviour to manage behaviour in whole class and group settings. She
also had restorative conversations with challenging students to develop positive relationships
with all children. Ms Del Boccio also strived to include all students in the learning, differentiating
lessons according to students’ academic needs, and also facilitating discussions in a manner
that showed the children all their ideas were valued. She spent lunchtimes with struggling
students to help them grasp mathematical concepts. Her passion for teaching was clear as she
was enthusiastic and genuinely interested in getting to know each student. As a result, the
students clearly respected her, and responded well to her teaching.

In short, Ms Del Boccio is an excellent beginning teacher. She able to plan lessons that are
engaging and differentiated, thrive within a collaborative learning environment, and effectively
manage classroom routines and student behaviour. In the context in which I have had the
pleasure of working with Ms Del Boccio, she has demonstrated her strong sense of teamwork,
willingness to take risks, and genuine interest for children and their learning. I feel confident that
Ms Del Boccio will make a significant contribution as an elementary educator, and I give her my
highest recommendation for teaching positions.

If I can provide additional information to support Ms Del Boccio’s application for a position in
your district, please contact me (jamie@elmpark.school.nz).

Sincerely yours,

Jamie Kim
Year 3 Teacher
Elm Park School