Avondale High School 2800 Waukegan, Auburn Hills, MI 48326 248.537.6100 www.avondale.k12.mi.us Julie Lublin Sean Fisher Principal Assistant Principal Sharon Hyde Assistant Principal April 21, 2015 To Whom It May Concern, | have had the pleasure of having Mandy Chin as a student teacher for the 2014-15 school year. She began in the fall semester at Avondale High School observing but quickly became an active member of the classroom. She helped students individually, even though that was not yet her responsibility, and taught a genetics lesson on how fertilization brings about diploid traits/organisms. She began her official student teaching in January full-time, teaching 4 Biology Micro classes and co-teaching 1 Academic Center and 1 Chemistry class. Mandy split her time working with two cooperating teachers, Christine Mathes, and myself. This was no easy feat, as she was teaching out of two classrooms. A clear advantage to Mandy's student teaching involved her working with 9""-12" grade students. in Academic Center, she mentored all grade levels, in Biology she taught primarily sophomores and in Chemistry she taught 10-12" graders. Avondale Schools are well known for their great ethnic and socioeconomic diversity. Mandy worked flawlessly and caringly with students of all backgrounds. Mandy was great at recognizing the unique needs of students, including ESL and special education students and never hesitated to find ways to ensure their success. She established high, yet reasonable expectations for students that were developmentally appropriate. Mandy has a very approachable and warm personality. Students were often seen popping in before and after school to work with her to receive additional help ‘Mandy has an exceptional knowledge base in both Biology and Chemistry. She was able to access this base when planning and teaching her numerous classes. Mandy met with Christine and | to develop lesson plans for each unit. Her lessons were well organized and she used an online lesson book that will allow her to revisit, reuse and tweak these lessons in her future teaching. She has a wonderful tool box already at her fingertips. She was a wonderful team player. She not only used some of our existing lessons but often times brought in new and innovating ideas to add to our science curriculum. Home of the Yellow Jackets!She was never afraid to try out a new lab or teaching method and Christine and | were fortunate to learn from her as well. In Biology, she took her classes outside and tapped a tree, as part of our photosynthesis unit, to show students how a plant receives energy in the winter. In Chemistry, she led students in making rock candy, as part of our solutions unit to show how solubility changes with temperature. Both of these lessons are just a couple of examples of the many active learning lessons she brought to the classroom. Mandy truly believes and lives by the saying “it takes a village.” She did an amazing job at forming strong and positive relationships with students and parents, as well as other staff in the building. She was sure to contact parents when needed and would often seek and utilize advice from school staff and administrators. She worked closely with the Science department, Counseling department, Special Education department and ESL staff. Without a doubt, Mandy Chin has fulfilled all requirements of her student teaching experience in Biology and Chemistry at Avondale High School. | recommend that you strongly consider her as a future teacher at your school. | have no doubt that she will be a fine educator and colleague in the future. She exhibits warmth, passion, responsibility, dedication and knowledge. Please do not hesitate to contact me for additional information. Sincerely, oo Amy adn Science Teacher at Avondale High School amy.brown@avondale.k12.mi.us 248-537-6100 (work) 586-822-7891 (cell)