Letter Of Reference For Dakota Mattson

I had the privilege of meeting Dakota when he completed his teaching

practicum in my Grade 5 classroom in the fall of 2016.

Dakotas work ethic and organization skills are exemplary. Dakota came
to my classroom completely prepared to teach all subjects especially Science
(which he excels at) and knew exactly what he was going to teach everyday for
the six-week term. However, if circumstances beyond his control arose, he
quickly demonstrated flexibility in planning and adapted his program to best
fit the needs of the students.

Dakota communicates easily with students in large groups, small groups

and individually. He articulates his ideas clearly using vocabulary appropriate
to the age level of the students with whom he is working.

Dakota is an intelligent young man with a broad knowledge base. He is

more than familiar with the various Internet (technology) resources available
enabling him to acquire new and exciting materials to develop his units,
including teaching my students how to use chrome books. His diligent research
skills and mature approach to his work allowed him to acquire the necessary
background information on any given topic he was teaching the students. I
learned all about zebra mussels and their effect on the Great Lakes
ecosystem. During his practicum, Dakota took advantage of the opportunity to
teach content in a variety of areas including Social Studies, Science, Language
Arts, Math, PE and Computers. I was impressed with how easily Dakota takes
the necessary measures to master any content he is not already familiar with.

Dakota has a pleasant teaching voice that is easy to listen to. His questioning
skills are excellent as he leads students to go beyond the recall of facts and into
higher realms of thinking including reasoning, synthesis, inference, application of
knowledge, etc. Dakota implements a variety of strategies to facilitate the
learning board work, Smartboard, video, clear verbal instructions and
pencil/paper tasks.

Dakota demonstrates fair, proactive, and effective discipline in a

variety of teaching setting whole group, small group and partner activities.
Learning thrives in the comfortable yet Lets get down to business like
atmosphere he creates. The students respect Dakotas authority and view him
as a teacher.
 Dakota understands the process of assessment, as well as its importance as
one of the consequences of learning. In class, students are guided toward this
culminating task because Dakota stresses and reviews regularly the significance
of key concepts. His approach includes appropriate evaluation procedures for
formative and summative assessment.

The staff at St. Michaels came to view Dakota as a teacher and colleague.
Comments like good teacher, great with students and doing a great job were
expressed to me by various teachers and support staff regarding Dakota.

I am very pleased to provide this letter of reference and highly recommend

Dakota for a teaching position.

Sincerely,

Laura Hoffman
Grade 5 Classroom Teacher
St. Michaels School
Medicine Hat, AB