Osama Zakaria

Letters of Reccomendation 

 Anthony Pellegrino- Professor Geoge Mason University

November 8, 2010

To Whom It May Concern:

It has been my true pleasure to be one Mr. Zakaria’s colleagues and research partners over the past four years.  I met Mr. Zakaria when I joined the faculty at Paxon School for Advanced Studies in Jacksonville, Florida. During my time at Paxon, he and I worked closely as social studies teachers who sought best practice methods to improve student achievement. In the time I have known and worked with Mr. Zakaria I have seen a dedicated teacher who has content knowledge and pedagogical skills far beyond teachers with many more years experience. He is well respected by other teachers, administrators and especially students. Moreover, as a research partner, Mr. Zakaria has demonstrated effective and practical research skills that have contributed to the field of social studies education.

As I arrived to teach at Paxon, I was fortunate to share office space with Mr. Zakaria. It was there that I first noticed the true passion and dedication to his role as teacher. Mr. Zakaria gave tremendous effort to the courses he taught and his creativity and knowledge was demonstrated in his lessons.  We would often share lesson ideas and discuss methodology to improve our classroom delivery. During that time I often borrowed ideas from Sam and saw firsthand how potent his lessons were.  He made me a better teacher.

Perhaps his effectiveness manifest most clearly in the test results from his Advanced Placement students. His students far exceeded scores of those around the entire school district, and his results were discussed as exemplary by all. These results cemented my belief that Mr. Zakaria is an exceptional teacher who can and will excel at any endeavor he attempts.

During the winter of 2009, I was offered the opportunity to develop a research project related to civics in education for consideration to a special issue of the journal Action in Teacher Education. My first instinct was to ask Mr. Zakaria to join me in this project. As a research team, which also consisted of another teacher, we began to brainstorm ideas about civics and civic education. Our project consisted of the development of a survey related to student perceptions of civics, which was distributed to over 600 students from more than a dozen states across the United States. We successfully completed the project, which was accepted into the journal. Mr. Zakaria was instrumental in development of our research methodology as well our instrument. 

My firm belief is that Mr. Zakaria is an exceptional teacher and scholar who has intellect and work ethic to reach admirably high standards in his work. He will certainly be an asset to your institution and he comes to you with my highest recommendation. If you have questions concerning Mr. Zakaria, please feel free to contact me at apelleg2@gmu.edu or 904-377-3428.

Sincerely,

Anthony Pellegrino, Ph.D.

Assistant Professor of Secondary Social Studies/History Education

George Mason University