I basically have three tiers of Letters of Rec dependent on the student.
1st Tier are students I know really well, I don't really need a brag sheet from them, but I ask anyway. I spend a fair bit of the letter focusing around some accomplishment or story from their time with me.
2nd Tier are students I don't know great, but I am still comfortable getting a brag sheet and returning a fairly generic Letter of Rec, that may or may not be drafted by ChatGPT.
3rd Tier are students I am uncomfortable recommending and I just tell them no. I only write letters for pathway completers, so it basically never comes up anymore.
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BrianBautistabbautista@rjuhsd.usCA------------------------------
Original Message:
Sent: 11-29-2023 10:12
From: Wesley Jeffries
Subject: Wednesday Discussion - Letters of Recommendation
UC/CSU applications are due tomorrow, and if your students are anything like mine, they waited until the last minute to ask for letters of recommendation. So,
- what are your practices on writing letters of rec?
- do you use a template?
- do you ever feel "good" about the letters of rec?
I tell the student to provide me a list of what they want me to talk about, then I use that with my own input to write the letter. I do not use a template per se, but I sometimes copy/paste previous letters to get a layout and change the necessary info so it saves me a bit of time. I feel I write okay letters of rec, but I have never felt I have written a truly great one. How many ways and times can you say "this student is awesome, you should take them and give them money"? Most students are all equally qualified/deserving; how do we differentiate ours students from the masses?
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Wesley Jeffries k12teacher
Riverside CA
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