Reply to What do you think of HS teachers who tell kids to write their own letters of recommendation?

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[quote=Anonymous]OP, I think you've gotten a lot of good responses as to why this happens and in fact why it's a good thing.  The teen may have specific things she wants the teacher to highlight, this is a great way to make sure those particular things get mentioned.

I recently wrote a letter of recommendation for a colleague and I asked if there were particular things he wanted me to call out.  It gave me an idea of what was in his mind when he asked me.  Coincidentally, my middle schooler is about to ask a teacher to write a recommendation for his application for private school.  He is going to provide a list of all his in-school and out of school activities and explain why he wants to attend this high school.  I know you said this teen and teacher have a particular strong relationship, but it's still worthwhile to make it easy on the teacher.

The other thing to keep in mind is that this teen has no idea what's going on in the teacher's life.  Maybe that was the 10th request that day.  Maybe the teacher had a fight with their spouse, or has an issue with their own family life.  Or is fed up and considering leaving the profession.  What came across to the teen as a lack of caring may have been insight into the teacher's current struggles as a human.

Help the teen develop some sort of resume or activity sheet, and a draft of a letter that hits the highlights.  [/quote]

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