What exactly should be included in a teacher recommendation?

Applying to College
1

<p>My teachers usually write very vague, generic "hard-working, good boy" kind of recommendation letters (small British school in Thailand :P, we hardly get anybody going out of the country for uni), since both me and my teachers have great doubts about what to include in the content of quality letters of recommendation, can somebody point out the style, approach, and content for me? Are they supposed to stick largely to academics or are they supposed to comment about impact on school community as well (or is that the counselor's job?) They shouldn't list my involvement around school because that's going to be in my ECA list anyway right? What kind of things do your teachers put into the rec? Most of us really have no idea, I'm actually probably the school's first Common App student in many many years. Thanks a lot in advance for your reply :D</p>

<p>PS: I'd be awesome if someone could post an example! :)</p>

2

<p>My daughter’s teachers talked about academics and class participation but also about involvement in the school and community, character, and contributions to the school. They tried to show those qualities that are not reflected in the grades.</p>

<p>An approach would be to look online at the forms universities have for teacher recommendations and use those as a starting point. The ones we saw were all similar.</p>

3

<p>Anything that shows your academic passion and contribution to the class, as well as personal qualities that distinguishes you from others.</p>