August 21, 2015

To Whom It May Concern:

I have had the honor to work with Alyssa Erickson as my student teacher in the
spring of 2015 for the full 14 week session. In my many years of being a
cooperating teacher, I have never had a student teacher with more drive, heart, and
love of educationthree characteristics of an excellent teacher. I would
recommend that any school hire Alyssa Erickson, but my real hope is that she will
eventually teach with me at Central.
During our time together, Alyssa taught Academic (Lower) Level Senior Rhetoric,
Drama, Advanced Senior Literature, Acting, and supervised my hall duty. She cotaught the lower level course of Senior Rhetoric and did an admiral job working with
someone who was not always on task. Despite having so many preps, Ms. Erickson
created wonderful lesson plans including mental illness case studies for her
literature course. For the lower level Rhetoric students, Alyssa taught research
skills and brought in professional adults so that students could simulate actual job
interviews with their resumes in hand. I am sure those students will never forget
that experience.
Although she has done so much in the classroom, Alyssa has contributed a great
deal to our extra-curricular theatre program, as well. As a choreographer for Grease
AND The Addams Family Musical, Ms. Erickson created dances with strong
formations that often had over 30 students on stage at a time. She managed
rehearsals that were challenging, yet enjoyable, and contributed to a very
successful spring semester. She also assisted my Acting class in their learning of
poetry recitation, and two of our students went on to compete at the District level,
and one advanced to State. She also worked with Acting students on a production
of The Laramie Project, and created a Weebly that was so thought-provoking and
moving that students who were normally boisterous were left speechless for an
entire period. Alyssa will be a strong asset to any school because of her willingness
to work with students in and out of the classroom.
I would be remiss not to mention how well Ms. Erickson immediately became a part
of the faculty here at Central. It is rare to find someone so young who contributes
so sagely to both professional and personal conversations. Alyssa is a unique young
woman who is very confident and self-aware.
Clearly you can tell that I whole-heartedly recommend Alyssa Erickson to ANY
school administrator. If you have any reservations, please contact me immediately.
I still hold out hope, however, that Ms. Erickson will return to Champaign Central
and become one of my colleagues.

Sincerely,
LaDonna Wilson
English/Drama Teacher
Central High School
217-351-3911
wilsonla@champaignschools.org