Merrie Blunk

SCHOOL OF EDUCATION
610 E. UNIVERSITY AVE., #1600 ANN ARBOR, MI 48109-1259 (734) 615-7632 fax: (734) 615-7441 mblunk@umich.edu

February 25, 2013 To Whom It May Concern: Kristen Welton was a student in my Teaching Children Mathematics course, EDUC 411 in the fall of 2012. As part of the course, Kristen worked on, among other teaching practices, explaining mathematical ideas using accurate and appropriate mathematical language that is geared toward the learner, analyzing student work to uncover student thinking and possible misconceptions, and modeling and representing common algorithms of mathematical operations in ways that make clear the meaning of the steps. One of the major emphases of the course was for the teacher interns to learn how to plan for and lead a whole class mathematics discussion. This is often a difficult goal as many children are not used to listening to their peers and talking about mathematical ideas. However, participating in discussions provides a rich opportunity for students to share ideas and engage in reasoning about and explaining mathematics while using mathematical vocabulary- all important mathematical practices. As part of her course assignments, Kristen lead four whole class mathematics discussions in her 4th grade classroom. In the first two discussions, Kristen was provided with the discussion plan and the mathematical task to be discussed. In the final two discussions, Kristen chose the mathematical task, planned for the discussions, and chose and planned for a brief written assessment of student learning in addition to leading the discussion and implementing the assessment. Kristen also carefully planned for and developed explanations of important mathematical ideas relevant to the content of the discussion. Because Kristen videotaped all her discussions, these activities not only provided Kristen an opportunity to learn and practice important skills in teaching, they also provided me with opportunities to observe and learn about her as a student and as a teacher intern. In the final assignment for the course, Kristen planned and taught a lesson with a mathematical discussion on using partial products to solve a multiplication word problem. Her lesson planning showed thoroughness and thoughtfulness with regard to both the students and the mathematics. In her lesson plan, Kristen carefully detailed series of questions designed to engage a wide range of the students in her classroom. Her questions included a variety of ways to elicit student ideas, support students in listening to and responding to other students ideas and probes to follow up on anticipated student ideas. In the actual teaching of her lesson, Kristen used a variety of teaching moves to orchestrate the discussion and include a wide range of students in participating productively in the discussion. Another focus of the course was to help students develop a disposition towards reflecting on and improving their own teaching. Throughout the semester, Kristen was always very diligent in looking back at her teaching and considering how she might continue to improve her teaching practice. Several times during the semester Kristen made appointments with me to talk about and receive feedback on her lesson plans and the videos of her discussion leading. I believe that one of Kristens real strengths is her commitment toward reflecting on and improving her practice a disposition that will support the ongoing development of her teaching skills.

In summary, through my interactions with Kristen, I have found her to be hard working, thoughtful and careful in her planning and instruction and strongly committed to the continual development of her teaching skills. I believe Kristen to be well positioned to be a new teacher in her own classroom and I strongly recommend her for this position.

Merrie Blunk, PhD Instructor and Researcher