To whom it may concern,

Deciding to become a teacher is a great responsibility especially considering the circumstances

that we currently find ourselves in. Through experience, I understand how difficult it is to teach a group
of students that you are unfamiliar with. As we began this new year via e-learning, I knew that the
challenge to reach our students was only going to be more difficult. Bria Simon is the first student
teacher that I have had the pleasure of working with and as the quarter progressed, Ms. Simon
displayed many different valuable skills that have allowed her to gain the full experience of student
teaching along with guiding students through curriculum in a brand-new way.

Throughout the quarter, Ms. Simon displayed that she could keep students engaged via an
online platform and deliver material that was relevant to students. This is an impressive feat because
there has been nothing traditional about the way the school year has gone so far. Many of the students
Ms. Simon taught were dealing with technology exclusively for the first time. She was able to guide
them through assignments and trouble shoot any problems that they came across to make sure they
were still able to engage with the curriculum. Ms. Simon was not familiar with Google classroom as a
platform but was able to familiarize herself with it to deliver the curriculum efficiently to the students.
Understanding that teaching is a career that will always require more learning, Ms. Simon was able to
demonstrate to the students that we are all learning during these unprecedented times.

Having compassion for students and their individual situations plays a large part in your identity
as a teacher and your ability to adapt with those situations in the classroom. During our discussions
about students, Ms. Simon expresses compassion for students for the right reasons. She wants them to
really understand the concepts behind the material, which also means she wants to make sure her
explanations are clear. When students were performing poorly, she would offer other opportunities to
help their understanding of the topic and to boost their moral in the classroom. Ms. Simon showed great
judgement in caring about student workload, which at our school was difficult for students. As the
weeks progressed, Ms. Simon would allow more time for students to complete assignments and help
walk through most of the assignments with students so that they did not feel as if they were being
overloaded with work and were able to deal with their home situations.

Overall, Ms. Simon proved to be more than capable of leading a group of young men and
women in a classroom. Throughout her time as a student teacher, Ms. Simon exhibited several qualities
that will make her a successful teacher: compassion, care for delivery of content, ability to engage, and
willingness to learn. If there is anything that this year has taught us about teaching is that you need to
be able to adapt and meet the needs of many different learners. I believe that Ms. Simon has done a
skillful job navigating this tumultuous year of teaching and will have much success in the future.

Sincerely,

Jimmy Velez