Jeffrey Stanzler, Ph.D.

Faculty, Educational Studies/Secondary MAC Program

Director, Interactive Communications & Simulations (ICS) Group

SCHOOL OF EDUCATION

610 E. UNIVERSITY AVE., ROOM 4007

ANN ARBOR, MI 48109
734-763-5950 734-647-9158
stanz@umich.edu

May 30, 2017

Dear Sir or Madam,

My name is Jeff Stanzler and I am a faculty member at the University of Michigan

School of Education. I write this letter on behalf of Janelle Kariniemi, who was my
student on two occasions during her 2016-2017 program year in the Master of Arts in
Education with Secondary Certification (MAC) Program, based here at the University of
Michigan School of Education. As a member of the program faculty, I taught Janelles
Teaching with Technology course, which ran the duration of her program year.
Janelle was also a student in a fall course I teach (Web-based Mentorship: The Arab-
Israeli Conflict Simulation) that is jointly sponsored by the Center for Middle Eastern
and North African Studies and the School of Education, in which she was called upon to
be a mentor to high school student participants in a political simulation.

As a student in the Teaching with Technology course, Janelle did some notable work.
She was part of a team that did an outstanding webinar presentation for her colleagues
exploring an array of issues in world language education. She was also a part of an
interdisciplinary team that presented a notably excellent hands-on lesson exploring the
uses of the Google Voice tool across the curriculum. Finally, in March 2017, Janelle and
her classmates attended the annual Michigan Association of Computer Users in
Learning (MACUL) Conference, our statewide gathering of teachers interested in
professional development around leveraging technology in the service of student
learning.

I had another opportunity to work with Janelle in the fall. I direct the Interactive
Communications & Simulations group, which sponsors several web-based curricular
activities connecting middle school and high school students with peers and university
student mentors for term-long, highly interactive discussion forums, writing workshops,
and simulations. In the Arab-Israeli Conflict Simulation course, Janelle served as a
National Security Advisor to groups of high school students representing stakeholder
nations in the Middle East, trying both to support their work, as they learn about and
ultimately become actual leaders from the various countries or organizations, and to
teach the students, through this experience, about the richly complex diplomacy of this
volatile and fascinating part of the world. Janelle worked with students from the across
the United States, and she acquitted herself beautifully, holding her students to high
standards, and offering them thoughtful feedback on their work.

Over the course of these two classes I have seen the quite impressive array of
characteristics that Janelle possesses. She is a hard worker who takes her teaching very
seriously. In the Arab-Israeli Simulation class, for example, Janelle asked the kinds of
incisive questions that helped me to better explain the ins and outs of the mentoring
task, and that helped clarify matters for her classmates as well. She is a focused and
well-organized thinker, and the fruits of her abilities were very much on display in the
impressive presentations she gave in both of the classes. Time and again she
demonstrated a knack for seeing the bigger picture, and for being able to describe and
cogently communicate that vision. I believe that what manifests itself as Janelles well-
organized approach also evinces a willingness to put in the work necessary to grasp the
broad arc of an idea, or a set of ideas, and to see and convey the kinds of connections
that lead to greater understanding on the part of her students. Janelle is a deep and
clear thinker who has also cultivated the ability to see things through the eyes of others,
and this combination is a powerful asset to any teacher.

Janelle is a delightful person to be around, with a winning personality and a kind spirit.
I believe that she will be a memorable teacher and an outstanding contributor to your
school community. I hold Janelle Kariniemi in very high regard and it is a pleasure for
me to recommend her to you without reservation. Please dont hesitate to call on me if I
can be of any further assistance.

Sincerely,

Jeffrey Stanzler, Ph.D.