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

March 25, 2018

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 Charles Posigian, who has been my
student on two occasions during his 2017-2018 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 teach the
“Teaching with Technology” course, which runs the duration of the program year.
Charles 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 he was called upon to
be a mentor to middle school student participants in a political simulation.

As a student in the Teaching with Technology course, Charles did some notable work.
He was part of a team that did an outstanding webinar presentation for his colleagues
that presented some innovative practices in world language teaching and learning. He
was also a part of an interdisciplinary team that presented a hands-on lesson that
explored the uses across the curriculum of a web tool called Flip Grid, designed to
facilitate student reflection and flipped classrooms. Finally, in March 2018, Charles and
his 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 Charles 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, Charles served as a
“National Security Advisor” to groups of middle 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. Charles acquitted
himself beautifully, holding his students to high standards, and offering them thoughtful
feedback on their work.

Charles was an excellent student who did thorough and meticulous work, and he was
also a marvelous contributor to our class discussions. Charles actually had to work with
our youngest participants ever, and it would have been easy for him to grow impatient
with his young charges as they got accustomed to the simulation, and as they made their
share of missteps. He showed great patience with his students though, and even more
importantly he clearly derived great pleasure from their inventive if immature work.

Not only was he a terrific mentor to his young students, he was also a great team
member and colleague. Charles possesses an impressive combination of intellectual
curiosity and playful spirit, which made him the ideal mentor for his students. Like the
best teachers, Charles focused his attention on the work that he was presented with, and
not on what wasn’t there, and he calmly and meticulously helped his students on their
way, serving as a mentor in the truest and best sense of the word. I vividly remember a
web conference we held with some of his students in Toronto, Canada, and how
apparent it was that his students had had a grand time and learned a lot as well.

Charles has been a splendid member of his MAC cohort, showing dedication, warmth
and great good humor. He is a community-minded person who actively cares about the
people around him, and he is also a deeply curious person with an incisive mind. His
pedagogical inclinations are sophisticated, and I am confident that he will be an
excellent teacher and an outstanding member of his school community, just as he’s been
a respected and valued member of his cohort. Finally, I would be remiss if I didn’t say
that Charles has a winning personality, a generous heart, and the kind of charisma that
will make him a memorable and compelling teacher. It is a pleasure for me to give
Charles Posigian a heartfelt and unequivocal recommendation. Please don’t hesitate to
call on me if I can be of any further assistance.

Sincerely,

Jeffrey Stanzler, Ph.D.