High Plains Elementary School

6100 South Fulton Street Englewood, Colorado 80111 720.554.3600 720-554-3688 FAX

To Whom it May Concern:

April 28, 2014

I had the privilege of acting as the cooperating teacher for Caryn Sowders student teaching experience. As a student teacher at High Plains Elementary School, Ms. Sowder was responsible for teaching general music to every student in the school. Classes included students with special needs, gifted & talented, and those with physical limitations. In addition to the general classroom duties and weekly staff meetings, Ms. Sowder took part in Positive Behavior Intervention and Support (PBIS) and school safety committee meetings. She also assisted with afterschool choir and band each week. Ms. Sowder is a highly skilled musician and is extremely knowledgeable in our field. She worked diligently to integrate additional subject matter into each lesson plan she created. She was always prepared to teach students of various ability levels and was thoughtful in her grouping of students. Ms. Sowders use of technology and research was also impressive. Her skills in this area improved dramatically during her time at High Plains. As a young teacher, Ms. Sowder faced a challenging schedule of age groups and musical abilities. She was able to adapt to our schools PBIS model and utilize all of the strategies and alternatives for classroom management that were suggested. She successfully managed 95 second grade students on stage for their yearly musical performance, which was attended by over 500 community members. Ms. Sowders classroom and time management continue to improve and are very well suited to this age group and teaching style. The power of personal connection is one of Ms. Sowders greatest strengths. She made each student feel significant by memorizing all 547 of their names. Her fantastic sense of humor and timing created a fun and creative learning environment. She was very calm and flexible with scheduling and adapted to the numerous interruptions that occurred. Ms. Sowder was always reflective about her teaching and open to suggestions and revisions. Her communications with staff and parents was consistently professional and well written. She was particularly well-received by parents and the community after planning, preparing and implementing the yearly musical performance for our 2nd graders. In my opinion, Caryn Sowder is an outstanding teaching candidate. By always being focused on the best interest of the students, she possesses the skills and knowledge to be very successful in this field. She is open to suggestions and criticism and uses it to guide her work. This demonstrates her drive to meet the needs of individuals and see every student succeed. Ms. Sowder teaches with style and enthusiasm. I highly recommend her for any music teaching position she seeks. Respectfully,

Dallas A. Merrihew Music Teacher High Plains Elementary