DEPARTMENT OF SPEECH,

LANGUAGE, AND HEARING SCIENCES

1131 E. Second Street
PO Box 210071
Tucson, AZ 85721-0071
Main: 520-621-1644
Fax: 520-626-1364

November 28, 2016

To Whom It May Concern:
I am writing this letter to document my observations of Ms. Genesis Arizmendis teaching. Ms.
Arizmendi taught during several class sessions of my course: Developmental Language
Disorders: Birth Five this semester. This is a graduate-level course of students training to
become clinically-certified Speech Language Pathologists.
Ms. Arizmendi approaches her teaching with great care. Although she had taken this course
several years prior, she did not make assumptions about the content or goals of the course.
She made sure to meet with me to be certain that we were on the same page in terms of the
learning objectives for the students. It was clear that she was looking at her sections as part of a
whole, and was thinking about how to integrate what she was planning with the other
experiences the students had.
Each time she taught, she demonstrated a mastery of the content. When students asked
questions, she was not only able to give them accurate answers, but she was able to draw upon
experiences to give examples that applied the concepts under discussion. It was clear that
students responded to this approach.
During each of Ms. Arizmendis classes, she used principles of active learning, incorporating
different types of strategies to enhance student engagement. For example, after providing some
information about cultural and linguistic diversity (a topic in the course), she devised some
problems that students needed to solve in groups. Not only did she divide students into groups,
but she gave them roles (e.g., researcher, note taker, reporter, organizer) so that students
would not be tempted to sit back and let others take the lead, or conversely, dominate the
group. As an observer in the class, I was so appreciative of the activity, because I really got to
hear and understand where the students were in their thinking in a way that doesnt happen with
a traditional lecture technique. It was amazing to watch the students put forth ideas, and then
use their readings and their discussions to either accept or change those ideas. It was clear
that the roles she provided improved the typical dynamics of a group, resulting in a truly active
learning experience. She ended the session by regrouping the class to share their results,
providing an opportunity for synthesis and the ability to clarify any misconceptions.
In another class period, she structured the class well, using a short, easy-to-follow PowerPoint
lecture, the use of videos and other visual materials, and small group participation. In a format
I plan to steal imitate in the future, she did a phenomenal job having students re-cap the section
of the course they just finished and integrate the important take-home points. She used the
well-known memory technique of effortful retrieval and had students work together to come up
with take-home points. She then used a beautiful visual framework to help students facilitate
connections between the take-home points. The beauty of the framework was in the
connections it allowed the students to make not the actual appearance. It allowed me to see
the material in a new way, and it was very exciting to sit with the students and watch them

DEPARTMENT OF SPEECH,
LANGUAGE, AND HEARING SCIENCES
1131 E. Second Street
PO Box 210071
Tucson, AZ 85721-0071
Main: 520-621-1644
Fax: 520-626-1364

engage and offer up their observations. This activity created a lot of real energy among the
students and consolidated several weeks worth of information in a creative way.
Ms. Arizmendi has many tools in her educational toolbox. I know that she will be an excellent
educator as she moves forward in her career due to her intelligence, her knowledge of the
subject matter, and her knowledge of principles of learning. My students absolutely benefitted
from her time in our class.
If you have any questions about these observations, please feel free to contact me.
Sincerely,
Mary Alt, PhD, CCC-SLP

Associate Professor