To Whom it May Concern;

This letter is in regards to Shelby Crawford, a candidate for

acceptance to your school. My name is Tobias Seiple 8th Grade
English Teacher here at Dana Middle School and I have had the
honor of working with Shelby throughout her eighth grade school
year.

Shelby is a student who in the truest sense fits the word

exceptional. Her writing ability, comprehension of abstract
concepts, ability to work with and guide others in a collaborative
process, and most importantly her innate intellectual curiosity
and open mindedness are the things teachers hope for in all their
students. A recent demonstration of Shelby’s ability was her 94%
score on the district wide expository periodic assessment; Shelby
scored the highest marks in the entire 8th grade class; this
achievement is even more impressive when one considers that
expository literature is usually the most difficult part of a
student’s Language Arts School year.

Putting aside her exceptional performance on standardized

tests, Shelby is more importantly an active student who takes
charge in her own learning; she needs little external motivation
from the teacher to complete her work and more importantly to
complete her work with quality. There are many students who
receive good grades based on nothing more then the competent
completion of assigned work, but Shelby invests herself in the
work, in particular, in work that is challenging and requires
imagination. From her original historical narrative on the
Japanese Internment, to her Web Portfolio, to her collaborative
work on our class network, Shelby without exaggeration is the
best our school has to offer.

Sincerely,

Tobias Seiple
8th Grade English Teacher
Dana Middle School