DEPARTMENT of TEACHER EDUCATION

Education First emich.edu/coe/ted

April 1, 2014 To whom it may concern, I highly recommend Rebecca Hawkins as an outstanding art educator. I had the pleasure of working with Ms. Hawkins as her university supervisor during the Fall of 2013. Of all of the hundreds of student teachers with whom Ive worked since joining the faculty in 2000, I would rank Ms. Hawkins in the top 5%. Ms. Hawkins is an exceptionally knowledgeable beginning teacher of art. She excels at identifying appropriate learning targets and then intentionally attends to establishing a variety of instructional and curricular lesson plans to provide for a variety of pathways of learning for her students. She possesses a clear command of the principles of teaching art to the full spectrum of readiness, interests, and ability as found in the elementary, middle, and high school classroom. In each of her lessons, she forefronts the design principles and concepts that students need to know in order that they understand and learn the larger ideas across each curriculum unit and project. Throughout her lessons, she incorporates formative assessments as a routine of the daily lesson to find out what her students are learning and are able to create. These assessments allow her to provide regular feedback to students based on their own artifacts of learning, make immediate changes in her instructional design and plans, as well as inform her weekly or long term plans for meeting the identified standards. Ms. Hawkins is also a real cheerleader for students. She treats every student with respect and kindness and actively works to get regular and full participation from all students each and every class period. Her approach to teaching reflects her deeply held valuing of the learning process. She routinely models her own reflective stance about her own artwork and how to provide instructive and constructive feedback to others. In this way, Ms. Hawkins is demonstrating both her expertise but also creating a space for students to develop their own opinions, products, and thinking about specific types of art. Her relationships with students is caring, trusting, and affirming and because of them, she has few management issues in her classroom. Ms. Hawkins would be exceptional art educator to hire for your district. She will meet all of your expectations and then create new ways to impress you through her relationships with her students, her love for teaching, and her command of the art classroom. I know you will find her to be highly collaborative, dedicated, and professional in every way. Sincerely,

Wendy Burke, Ph.D. Professor Department of Teacher Education Eastern Michigan University Ypsilanti, MI 48197
313 Porter Building, Ypsilanti, Michigan 48197 734.487.3260 Fax: 734.487.2101

DEPARTMENT of TEACHER EDUCATION

Education First emich.edu/coe/ted

(734) 487-3186 wendy.burke@emich.edu

313 Porter Building, Ypsilanti, Michigan 48197 734.487.3260 Fax: 734.487.2101