recommendation

[ateolf]

yesterday Mary Beth and i went to the "Monet to Matisse" exhibit thingie at the Dixon...it was good, mostly them just displaying their whole (or most of?) their permanent collection...they also had a lot of information about the ownership history of the paintings...i mostly just looked at the pictures and didn't pay much attention to that...it was worth it just to see that Mary Cassatt they have that is completely awesome...there were some more good ones, i like their two Monets...anyway...later we went all out and called Jimmy's ahead and had their crazy deep dish pizza...just had some more cold for breakfast...(it was better cold, i think...) so i emailed a couple of professors about letters of recommendation that i need to apply to the masters program...kind of weird 'cuz i have only taken one class in person so far and that was an accelerated course that met six times total...and that teacher asked me to write a letter of recommendation myself and she would "amend" it...i thought that was kind of weird and now i have work to do damnit! anyone have some good pointers for letter-of-recommendation-writing?

Comments

[lararules.livejournal.com]

Since I teach 12th grade, I write a billion of these every year. Just try to be personal.. because whoever is looking at your letter of rec has probably already seen your resume. so there's no need to list accomplishments or anything like that. usually mine goes something like:

It is my distinct pleasure to recommend _____ for ______. ______ has been a student in my course, ____, this past year. ____ is an exceptional candidate for your program/scholarship/whatever.

Then I tell a story about the person- a paper they worked on or a project/presentation. Just some anecdote to show that I know him/her and that they do good stuff.

Then I end it by repeating that so-and-so's intelligence/creativity/determination/personality, or whatever shining characteristic he or she has, will take him far in life. The end :) Three paragraphs usually, never more than a typed page.

[ateolf.livejournal.com]

hey, thanks for the tip! i've been following this template i found online...i should have finished last night but i kept getting writer's block, but i don't think i have too much left to finish (even though i was aiming for like four scant paragraphs...) the trouble is this was an accelerated half-semester course that only met six times (this being the only teacher i've actually met in person out of my mostly online courses...) so i don't have a huge wealth of actual anecdotal material...but i can hopefully scrape something decent together...and since i'm applying to the MAT program, i have a hard time envisioning a real letter that would make U of M not want to take my money...and "It is my distinct pleasure to recommend" sounds better than the "It is my pleasure to recommend" i have so far! "distinct" is good...it sounds professional without being over-the-top!

[ateolf.livejournal.com]

oh, wait, i had "I am pleased to recommend"...either way yours sounds much better, that feels very abrupt...