April 2011

Dear Chris:

I am writing a letter of recommendation favoring the selection of Allison Finn as the English Department Resource Teacher
for Blake High School. Allison has served in four capacities for our Johns Hopkins University (JHU) Montgomery ProMAT
partnership program, and I believe her varied roles working with Hopkins indicate how effective she can be in leading both
experienced and new teachers. Allison seems to continually strive to take on new challenges without compromising quality of
her current workload. She is eager to become a Resource Teacher who can continue to make a difference for the students at
Blake while she supports the English Department staff in an administrative capacity.

Allison was the school-based mentor for Juliana Davis. In this capacity, she supported Juliana with professional guidance by
conferencing with, advising, planning, and observing her in order to help her grow as a novice English teacher. Juliana has
mentioned to me, several times, how valuable a support Allison was to her at Blake when she first started teaching, citing her
helpful planning and advice.

The following year, Allison took on the challenge of becoming an instructor for one of the core reading courses at JHU. She
wrote a challenging syllabus, planning a class that would guide her new teacher students through an understanding of how
reading is taught in the content areas and how to support student literacy development at the secondary level. Feedback from
her graduate students indicated that they learned a great deal from her through the course, indicating her accessibility and real-
world classroom experiences. Allison strived to create a learning experience that would push the students to think about the
theory and art of teaching while remaining grounded in the reality of what teachers need to know and be able to do.

As part of our accreditation process, our School of Education sought the advice from an advisory board. Our administration
wanted to know how we were doing in terms of meeting our stakeholders needs as well as to seek input about what we might
consider improving upon for the future. Desiring input from a variety of constituents, we sought participation from all of our
professional development school partners. Allison was the only person from MCPS to serve on the advisory panel, which
required she attend a several-hour meeting after school in Baltimore. She offered her insights and followed up afterwards with
me about how the experience made her reflect about the mentoring she had previously done with Juliana. Allison offered
advice about what she saw as positive changes to make for the future, and I instituted one of the changes (to meet mentors
early on in the fall) the following fall with the incoming group. Her insight and confidence with sharing were appreciated and
show her initiative.

Most recently, as you know so well, Allison stepped in to work with her colleagueour struggling candidate, Page Salazar.
Page showed marked improvement during the time he worked directly with Allison. While the timing might have been
coincidental, I believe her previous efforts in the other roles indicate that she may have played a significant role in some of his
improvements because she may have provided just the right balance of support, directed guidance, and specificity of the
curriculum at just the right time.

From my time working with folks at Blake, it seems to be the kind of environment that applauds and encourages professional
growth. I think Allison, since she wants to be RT so passionately, will rise to the role and benefit the whole Blake community
should she be selected to serve in this capacity. I recommend her highly. Please contact me directly with any further
questions (301) 294-7198.

Sincerely,
Jennifer


Dr. Jennifer Locraft Cuddapah
Assistant Professor, Assistant Department Chair
Montgomery ProMAT Coordinator
Johns Hopkins University
9601 Medical Center Drive
Rockville, MD 20850
cuddapah@jhu.edu
(301) 294-7102