January 10, 2011 To Whom It May Concern: It is with great pleasure that I am writing you this letter of recommendation for Lindsey Bruno. I am a parent at North Stafford High School & have 3 daughters that have been a part of the choral program. Mrs. Bruno has done a fabulous job with all the students in the choral program. When Mrs. Bruno began her tenure at North Stafford my oldest daughter was in her class. She was a little apprehensive about taking chorus because the last time she was in chorus was in elementary school. Mrs. Bruno immediately put her at ease with her approach to teaching. She instantly developed a rapport with my daughter and all of her students. I volunteered to help out in any way that I could and got the opportunity to watch her interaction with the students. She was well received by the majority of the students as well as respected. I was a chaperone on their major field trip to Disney World that year. I was amazed and very pleasantly surprised at the way Mrs. Bruno handled the entire field trip. She was a young teacher and it was her first year of teaching and wasn't quite sure how things would go but Mrs. Bruno did amazing. She was well organized which is key to leading such a large event. She made sure that all of her students were accounted for the entire time. She also made sure that they were aware of what was going on at all times. It was very clear to me that her students respected her authority and genuinely connected to her as a teacher. I must say that by the end of the trip Mrs. Bruno not only had the respect of her students but also the parents. It is rare to find a young teacher entering the work force with such confidence and knowing their role as a teacher, especially in the high school setting. When Mrs. Bruno arrived at North Stafford she encountered many challenges as a new teacher. She not only had to establish her authority in the classroom and-gain the respect of the parents she also to endure some challenges she never expected. Mrs. Bruno helped to produce a spring musical with the drama teacher her first year and that went very well. The following year the musical production was in full swing when suddenly the drama teacher had to take a leave of absence. Mrs. Bruno was left with the task of keeping the musical going without upsetting the students that were involved. It took quite some time to find a suitable replacement for the drama teacher. In the meantime Mrs. Bruno kept the musical moving forward. It was quite the task but she was able to accomplish it. When a replacement was found Mrs. Bruno caught up to speed on what progress had been made and what direction they still needed to go and the musical ended up being a huge success. This was my daughter's first experience being a part of a musical production. Thanks to Mrs. Bruno and all that she did my daughter had a great experience as well as all of the other students involved. Mrs. Bruno is an amazing teacher with many skills and talents.
Mrs. Bruno has also lead many events outside of the classroom. For several years now she has overseen many county and district chorus events. She has been the chairperson several times. Not only does she have to oversee the event she also has to make sure her students are prepared and supervised at the same time. She always makes sure there is enough parent chaperones so that her students are well supervised and have an understanding of where they need to be. It always astonishes me how well Mrs. Bruno does this. It is evident that the other choral teachers in the county respect her. I have been able to observe this as a result of being a chaperone at these events several times. Once again Mrs. Bruno goes above and beyond her duties as a teacher. I have also had the privilege to be an officer of the Chorus Boosters. I have been able to work with Mrs. Bruno very closely. I was the treasurer for the booster club for 4 years. Mrs. Bruno was able to communicate very clearly what her expectation and needs were to enrich the choral program at North Stafford. When she arrived at North Stafford there weren't very many funds available. She began to bring the booster club together to figure out ways to increase funds to support the various aspects of the program. She began to hold monthly booster meetings in order to communicate clearly the direction she wanted go. Mrs. Bruno has respected and continues to respect everyone's time. When conducting the booster meetings she starts promptly on time and manages to keep everyone on track so that the meeting ends on time. The parents of the North Stafford Choral program have become very fond of Mrs. Bruno. Mrs. Bruno deserves to receive the teacher of the year because she does embody the qualities of a great teacher. She doesn't just concern herself with her classroom dayto-day task. She goes above and beyond to make sure all of her students are leaving North Stafford with a love and understanding of music. It will be a well deserved honor if Mrs. Bruno was selected teacher of the year. Sincerely submitted,
Leola Houston