rbk mama Posted February 2, 2017 Share Posted February 2, 2017 If the Teacher writing the recommendation is supposed to write about their personal experience with the student - how that student performed in class, what that student added to the class, their impression of the student, etc - why is the student supposed to give the teacher a list of his or her extracurricular activities? How does that fit into the recommendation letter? (Imagining a chemistry instructor talking about the student's piano interest... :huh: ) Or is that list just supposed to somehow help the teacher remember the student better? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Julie of KY Posted February 2, 2017 Share Posted February 2, 2017 Is this something your teacher is asking for? I expect a recommender to write from the standpoint of how he/she knows the student. I did give our recommenders some additional information, but only info pertinent to things they should already know. I gave the math recommender a list of all high school math courses as well as math competition scores (which he already had somewhere) - this was mostly to jog his memory. I deleted info I had given other recommenders as it was in no way something this math teacher would or should know. I think it's find for a chemistry instructor to talk about other interests if it is something that has been discussed over the years or for some other reason that teacher knows your student in more than a chemistry relationship. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rbk mama Posted February 2, 2017 Author Share Posted February 2, 2017 This is something I've read as recommended to students - to give the recommending teacher a list of their extracurricular activities. I know one place I read it was in the hs2coll files - written by a professor in a handout she gives to anyone who might want her to write a LOR. I know I've read it in other places, too. So that's good to hear that not everyone does it. It feels odd to me - like he'd be saying 'can you please pretend that you know all about my life even though you don't?' We're relying on teachers of online classes for these. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GoodGrief Posted February 2, 2017 Share Posted February 2, 2017 It's helpful for the teacher to have a few additional facts to throw in there, even if it's not directly related to the classroom experience. "Despite a busy season on the varsity track team, John always came to class prepared blah blah blah." You don't have to, of course, but if the teacher doesn't have much knowledge of the student outside the classroom, it can give them material with which to work. 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
regentrude Posted February 2, 2017 Share Posted February 2, 2017 It is helpful to have some additional tidbits to throw in, if they relate to the experience with the student, and to the student's overall goals. When I recommend a student for a research internship, I would not write about their piano playing - but I would mention that they do research with another faculty member, or that they are active in a student organization, because that paints a more three-dimensional picture of the student. I still focus on my personal experience with the bulk of the letter, but adding a few extra things helps characterize the student better. It can be as simple as the statement that the student successfully balances a full academic load with the demands of being a student athlete. 5 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rbk mama Posted February 2, 2017 Author Share Posted February 2, 2017 OK, thanks for chiming in - that is helpful. Sounds a bit less strange put that way. :001_smile: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.