November 29, 2016

To Whom It May Concern:

It is a distinct pleasure to recommend Alexandra Jeppson, a graduate student from Westminster College in education
and a student teacher at Olympus Junior High School, for her excellent teaching performance in the classroom this
semester.
Alex displays a deep passion and knowledge of content in mathematics. At the beginning of the semester Alex was
presented with an academic challenge: teach secondary Math I & II to eighth and ninth graders at a fairly upscale
socio-economic suburban junior high school in Salt Lake County. These classes consisted of students of varying
degrees of academic ability who have the expectations of their families and their community to be high achievers.
Alex more than met this challenge; she was exceptionally prepared in mathematics pedagogy, her units were
extraordinarily thorough, well taught, and she used a wide array of effective teaching strategies that employed
meaningful mathematical investigations at every level. Her students responded to her enthusiasm for math in a
positive way because she tailored her lessons to their real life experiences - students learned to see math all around
them in their daily lives.
An important trademark of an effective teacher is one that is over prepared and organized - Alex fit this bill in every
way. She was always ready, every class period, with clear objectives and a plan for implementation of these objectives
through a variety of teaching and classroom management methods. Math, in general, requires a great amount of
constant assessment, both informal and formal. As a result, her students were getting constant feedback, which
enabled her to note individual students' problems and progress. This is another hallmark of a master teacher. Alex
constantly worked to create a community of learning with her students. She had a professional, but approachable
manner in the classroom that in turn fostered a great rapport with her students.
Alex has a creative spirit. She was constantly trying new teaching methods - especially in scaffolding and
differentiating her lessons to reach all of her students. An effective teacher finds ways to teach difficult math
concepts by appealing to students' own level of knowledge and curiosity. For example she had students create
calculations to determine which cell phone plan was the least expensive. Alex created a positive, friendly, and safe
atmosphere in the classroom. Many of her students were sad to see her student teaching come to an end. Because of
her connection with her students, she built a great community of learning. Alex was accessible to her students and as
a result, she saw marked improvement in their performance. She was always available before school, during lunch, or
after school to help students who needed special accommodations, or make-up work. She modeled life long learning
for her students on a daily basis.
Finally, I must add that Alex is energetic, motivated, original, and caring. Becoming a good teacher is so important to
her that she sought suggestions and critiques from veteran teachers and attended teacher development meetings to
improve her teaching. She continually showed the professional dedication necessary to become a master teacher. I
wholeheartedly commend Alexandra Jeppson for her excellent teaching performance in the classroom this semester.
Sincerely,

Diana H. Gardner
Diana H. Gardner
Student Teaching Supervisor, Adjunct Faculty
Westminster College