I ask my students who want me to write a letter of recommendation for them, to give me a mind map of the things they want me to say, grouped into four areas:
- English ability as I would have experienced
- academic record in my class
- personality/social skills as seen by other students and me
- anecdote or story about interaction between me and the student
Writing a letter of recommendation should not only be an exercise for the writer, it should be one for the subject of the letter too: an exercise in self-reflection, and questioning who they are.
