Tutor in Chicago, Illinois

To whom it may concern: We have had the pleasure of knowing Candace McGuffey for the past three years as teachers in the same department at Mundelein High School and you will not find a better colleague and addition to your department. Candace teaches Chinese and World Studies. Though we teach different subjects, we have had many professional opportunities to work with Candace on developing curriculum as well as opportunities to get to know her on a personal level. Without a doubt, Candace is one of the most dedicated, creative and fun teachers we’ve ever had the pleasure of knowing. She will undoubtedly bring energy, passion and joy to your Chinese program and school community. As a coworker, Candace brings much strength to the department. She is extremely collaborative, even as the only Chinese teacher in the program. She shares ideas and documents and seeks to build a community quickly among teachers. She is also extremely positive. She boosts morale among teachers with funny stories and constant support. She is always positive with regards to her students as well, and puts in extra work to see that they are supported academically as well as emotionally. Candace has a ready smile and infectious laugh and her creativity and sense of humor go a long way in establishing good morale among her coworkers and students. It is very clear that teaching is Candace’s passion in life. Possessing both strong morals as well as joy for learning, she inspires trust and incites enthusiasm among her students and coworkers. Candace is also an extremely driven teacher and is very devoted to her students and to her profession. Upon completing the Star program, Candace developed the Chinese program here at Mundelein High School. Before doing so she took it upon herself to single handedly research Chinese programs at other schools through visits, networking and independent research, and proceeded to build the program from the bottom up. Candace reached out to prospective students in the middle schools and worked with Chinese parents in the community to ensure that the program would have a strong base. She carefully developed, designed and implemented three levels of curriculum. She applied for and received a grant to pilot an I Pad program in the classroom. The immersion-based units of study she has developed are not only impressive on paper but in practice as well. Her students go to other classes speaking Mandarin, even though no one understands them, for the pure joy of showing what they have learned. Candace speaks to students in the hallways exclusively in Mandarin and makes them feel safe using the language. Every day she encourages passion for a subject that many would fear is extremely challenging. The ways in which Candace encourages this passion for Chinese language and culture are multiple and varied. For example, she and her students created Chinese opera masks for the unit on the significance of celebrations in Chinese culture. They also created radical posters; researching the pictographs of the ancient Chinese and displaying these posters in the classroom so as to draw connections to new vocabulary words throughout the year. Candace lead a group of 30 of her students – the largest group in attendance- to participate in the Valpo University Chinese Speech Contest. Lastly, her students built a wall-size map of China, researched a Chinese province or state, and then created a 3D image of their provinces to display for the year in order to learn about Chinese geography and history. Candace has also continued to promote Mandarin within the community, inviting parents and community members on field trips to Chinatown, to New Year celebrations and into the classroom to share skills such as calligraphy. Because of her caring and intuitive nature, Candace knows her students very well. She is able to assess their needs and interests and create lessons tailored to them. Her greatest strength is making the classroom come alive through cultural activities and sharing her love for the Chinese language and culture with her students. Candace’s community building skills, caring nature, and drive to improve programs will surely benefit your school. Candace is also highly intelligent and brings a wealth of worldly experiences to her classroom. Her many experiences bring knowledge into her teaching that few others possess. She is very well-traveled and interested in a wide variety of subjects, teaching both Mandarin and World Studies with ease. Extremely intelligent without being arrogant, Candace has a broad base of knowledge that she makes accessible to others through her inviting manner. She pushes her students to not only develop skills, but also to question the world and be open to new cultures. Her passion for diversity has greatly benefited all types of students that she has worked with, and what is a great loss to the Mundelein community would be an outstanding gain for your school. WE cannot recommend a more highly qualified, passionate, intelligent, driven and kind teacher as a new member to your teaching community. Please contact us with any further questions and know that Candace will be greatly missed. Sincerely, Martha Ambrey – French Teacher Blair Winter – Spanish Teacher Mundelein High School (847) 949-2200 [email protected] [email protected]