In August of 2008 I made the decision to pursue National Board Certification for Teaching. Little did I know that this would be a greater decision than pursuing my Master's degree. Now, my Master's pursuit was challenging at times, but nothing compared to the journey to National Board certification. Since August I have been forced to go through deep reflection of every aspect of my teaching. There were many late nights and long days of writing about what I did, how I did it, the result of what I did, and the things I would change. There were lessons taught, videoed and analyzed. Parents and students interviewed, artifacts gathered to support what I was doing, research read, and a slew of other things - all of which were placed into a portfolio with strict page requirements. At the end of that phase, I believe I had written 4 drafts of every entry - all which were reduced to 11 pages. My portfolio with all artifacts included ended up being about 100 pages. That phase began after my master's was complete in November and was mailed off in March. Then the most difficult portion began - studying for the assessment center. The certification I was pursuing focused on literacy development of students betweeen the ages of 4 & 12. I've remained quite removed, by choice, of students 7 and below because I prefer students who have some knowledge of reading already. I have since gained great respect for those teachers who have been in primary classrooms and shoulder the responsibiltiy of teaching a child to read. You are amazing!!! So, in order to prepare I logged MANY, MANY hours of studying primary literacy development. Yesterday, was my assessment day. I was a nervous wreck until my dear friend, Dawn Hawkins, talked sense into me this week telling me I've got this. However, after walking out of the test, I had the impression that it was too easy. In the back of my mind I've been rehearsing too reasons for that - either I wasn't prepared for it, or I was. I'm choosing to believe that I was really prepared for this day. Now, the hard part - waiting until November for my scores. When I signed up, I was given 3 years to complete the process, but I did it in a year. So, I entered into it with the mindset that if I have to re-do an entry because it wasn't good enough and didn't score well, then that would be fine for me. If that is the case, yes it will be disappointing, but I've never taught primary literacy and I would be okay with that. So, over the next few months, if you are the praying type, pray for the people that are assessing my entries and my assessment. Pray that they will recognize that what I do, although at times unconventional, is effective and works for my students.
Comments
Mom