<p>CC Parent/Faculty members:</p>
<p>One of my son’s adjunct profs has asked for a LOR to add to her portfolio for future job hunting. [It’s a small dept. in a small college, with no one retiring soon, so she needs to look elsewhere for a tenure-track position.]</p>
<p>While I am familiar with letter of recs for business purposes, what sort of things should/could a student write about that would be helpful for a post-doc who is seeking a tenure track position?</p>
<p>More and more businesses are requiring “360 evaluations” meaning you are evaluated not just by your supervisor, but by your peers as well as those you supervise. Perhaps this is related to that trend.</p>
<p>What’s the field?</p>
<p>Really the student can only write about what they know about, so even though research tends to be more valued than teaching if what your student can write about is teaching that’s what he’ll write about. But basically things I might put in a recommendation is that the person can teach well, knows their material, points students to the right research materials, makes useful comments on papers or homework, is responsible (grades work in a timely matter is available at office hours etc.), and gets students excited and inspired about the subject. Bonus - cross disciplinary knowledge.</p>
<p>I was asked to write a letter about one of my freshman professors when she was nominated for a fellowship.</p>
<p>I agree that the student should focus on what he knows. Honestly describe the instructor’s strengths in communication, being available to students, unraveling difficult concepts, etc.; whatever is worthy of praise.</p>
<p>Wow, your S should be flattered to be chosen above all other students! I would be SO happy to write for my own advisor (not that she needs it- she’s a full tenured prof). </p>
<p>Get the S to meet with this faculty member a little more to understand her better and where she’s coming from. What’s her background? He should definitely discuss with other students to get more opinions on this faculty member to find her strengths and weaknesses. He should highlight and demonstrate her strengths. Weaknesses should be coveted but can be pointed out if she overcame them (Like if she’s always so late on papers and a student complains about it, she’ll get right to it and hand back the papers ASAP). Talk about her personality and how well she interacts with students- ESPECIALLY if she’s applying to LAC schools where teaching is more important than research.</p>
<p>Just some ideas. Bottom line: How would you recommend her to another serious student?</p>
<p>I wrote a letter of recommendation for a professor when they were up for tenure. I had done research with them over a summer and had taken two classes with them, so they probably felt I had a good understanding of how they worked.</p>
<p>I mostly wrote about his style of teaching and how it helped me retain information really well, and how his homeworks were really well designed and it was obvious he put a lot of work into his class to ensure students got the most out of it. I also wrote about his style as an advsior and how it was a please to have worked with him.</p>
<p>thanks all for your input!</p>
<p>He’s a Language major, mathmom.</p>
<p>One way might be to think of his experience with her as an arc. When he met her he was at one level in his thinking/working/researching but thanks to her influence he’s now at a different/deeper/higher/more engaged level. I think that gives a framework to hang all the other things other posters have mentioned as her skills (meaningful homeworks, etc). </p>
<p>He might also describe in just a phrase the type of student he is so they can realize she was a powerful influence on that kind of student. He might also make observations about other students, but I wouldn’t poll or interview them about her. Better to primarily represent what he knows first-hand. Secondarily, mention what he observes around him re: student participation and if students tend to linger after class to talk with her. </p>
<p>If he finds her teaching style dynamic, thoughtful, reflective, or engaging, say which one. There are many teaching styles, and all have merit. I think the next university can size up her professorial achievements through her degrees and publications. The student, however, is witness to her ability to get ideas across, to choose interesting materials, to inspire students to enter the field. Does she ask a wide variety of questions during the class? That’s very important. Some questions elicit factual answers, while others generate more discussion. A variety is a good thing.</p>
<p>What an honor to write such a letter!</p>
<p>For a language major you could talk about the specifics of techniques that helped the student learn the language, or at a higher level, about how a reading list was put together to help students get insights about the author and/or culture. You could talk about how he facilitated conversation and made people feel comfortable about speaking.</p>