NBPTS: My Personal Journey Toward National Board Certification
Who Am I and Why Do I Want to Do This?
I am a high school English teacher. I have never won awards for my teaching. I am not my department chair. I could very well be the teacher down the hall from you. I enjoy my job. I love it when I succeed, but I am by no means infallible. I believe that, as a teacher, I am constantly prototyping my approaches and strategies. I am willing to try things that sometimes fail miserably. I am also constantly reflecting and refining my practices. I want to be the best teacher that I can possibly be.
I am a high school English teacher. I have never won awards for my teaching. I am not my department chair. I could very well be the teacher down the hall from you. I enjoy my job. I love it when I succeed, but I am by no means infallible. I believe that, as a teacher, I am constantly prototyping my approaches and strategies. I am willing to try things that sometimes fail miserably. I am also constantly reflecting and refining my practices. I want to be the best teacher that I can possibly be.
February 15, 2012:
My first step towards becoming National Board Certified was to commit to the process by officially filing an application (and paying my $65 application fee). Hooray! No backing out now. I promptly also applied for a subsidy that I qualify for through Illinois State University; the subsidy will cover $2,000 of my fees if I am accepted.
My first step towards becoming National Board Certified was to commit to the process by officially filing an application (and paying my $65 application fee). Hooray! No backing out now. I promptly also applied for a subsidy that I qualify for through Illinois State University; the subsidy will cover $2,000 of my fees if I am accepted.
February 17, 2012:
I get an e-mail from the subsidy provider saying that I did not provide my social security number on my NBPTS application. I get mad at myself for not realizing that, although it is not required for NBPTS, it is definitely required for the subsidy. I call the NBPTS hotline for help. I am informed that, in order to add my social security number, I have to now scan my social security card and post it as an attachment on My Profile on the NBPTS website. Arg! How frustrating! Why can't they just change it online for me? I promptly scan my identification and post it to My Profile. I receive a responding e-mail later in the day notifying me that the attachment did not post properly, so I will need to repost it. I hope that this is not a harbinger of things to come. I repost my social security card to My Profile and receive notification only an hour later verifying that my information was received and that I should get a reply later once my social security number appears on my application. In the meantime, I am of course imagining other applicants draining all of the available subsidy funds and leaving me in financial hardship. I start hoping that there are not many teachers out there wanting National Board Certification in Illinois... selfish, I know, but we're talking about money. Money that, in my mind, is rightfully mine.
I go to my local ROE's Tri-County Institute (our county is small, so we share our ROE and our annual Teacher Institute with two other counties). I decide to go to a workshop for teachers working on their NBPTS. It's a small group of eight teachers who are all from the same school and appear to be a very supportive community. I am warned to "Run!" before it's too late. One teacher lets me look at her CD-ROM, which I know I'll probably be receiving in the mail in the next month. I'm also advised to work on prompt #4 over the summer because, once next year starts, time is going to fly by. I read over the guidelines for prompt 4 and worry that I do not include the community enough in my teaching, but I have a really great idea that I want to implement that I have been "shelving" so far this year and I now have the incentive to put it into action during the upcoming months.
I get an e-mail from the subsidy provider saying that I did not provide my social security number on my NBPTS application. I get mad at myself for not realizing that, although it is not required for NBPTS, it is definitely required for the subsidy. I call the NBPTS hotline for help. I am informed that, in order to add my social security number, I have to now scan my social security card and post it as an attachment on My Profile on the NBPTS website. Arg! How frustrating! Why can't they just change it online for me? I promptly scan my identification and post it to My Profile. I receive a responding e-mail later in the day notifying me that the attachment did not post properly, so I will need to repost it. I hope that this is not a harbinger of things to come. I repost my social security card to My Profile and receive notification only an hour later verifying that my information was received and that I should get a reply later once my social security number appears on my application. In the meantime, I am of course imagining other applicants draining all of the available subsidy funds and leaving me in financial hardship. I start hoping that there are not many teachers out there wanting National Board Certification in Illinois... selfish, I know, but we're talking about money. Money that, in my mind, is rightfully mine.
I go to my local ROE's Tri-County Institute (our county is small, so we share our ROE and our annual Teacher Institute with two other counties). I decide to go to a workshop for teachers working on their NBPTS. It's a small group of eight teachers who are all from the same school and appear to be a very supportive community. I am warned to "Run!" before it's too late. One teacher lets me look at her CD-ROM, which I know I'll probably be receiving in the mail in the next month. I'm also advised to work on prompt #4 over the summer because, once next year starts, time is going to fly by. I read over the guidelines for prompt 4 and worry that I do not include the community enough in my teaching, but I have a really great idea that I want to implement that I have been "shelving" so far this year and I now have the incentive to put it into action during the upcoming months.
February 18, 2012:
I find a group on the English Companion Ning dedicated to discussing NBPTS Certification. I join and read all of the advise that people are offering. Great advise is offered, including recommended reading, and the group members appear very supportive of one another. I make a list of books that I want to read this summer and I order one on Amazon (Mechanically Inclined). I can't believe I'm getting so excited about reading nonfiction!
I find a group on the English Companion Ning dedicated to discussing NBPTS Certification. I join and read all of the advise that people are offering. Great advise is offered, including recommended reading, and the group members appear very supportive of one another. I make a list of books that I want to read this summer and I order one on Amazon (Mechanically Inclined). I can't believe I'm getting so excited about reading nonfiction!
|
February 20, 2012:
So, every source that I've encountered so far says that the first step to National Board Certification is to get organized, so--without further ado--I made my first NBPTS purchase... *drum roll, please* ...a "tabletop file storage box"! Go ahead, admire it! I also downloaded the Kindle version of So, You Want to Become a National Board Certified Teacher by Jerry L. Parks for $3.00 because, hey, it's only three bucks and for that low price, I'm willing to take a gamble. It's actually quite short and I breezed through it in one afternoon. It's also pretty good in terms of advice and it presents the requirements in a simplified manner (much more concise that trying to read through the NBPTS standards themselves). It's also written by a National Board Certified teacher. |
|
February 22, 2012:
Despite my (as yet) unresolved technical difficulties posting my social security number on the NBPTS application, my name has nevertheless appeared on the subsidy approval list... so, I have officially been accepted for the $2,000 subsidy. Hooray, free money! Now, I am "buffing up" on my pedagogy. I do have a graduate degree, but is in English, not education, so I feel that I may be at a slight disadvantage because it's been a while since I've formally studied pedagogy. Now, I'm not trying to say that you have to be a pedagogy expert to receive NBPTS certification, but I figure that it couldn't hurt. The worst case scenario would be that *oh no* I learned strategies about teaching that I didn't know before, even though I didn't end up talking about them in my portfolio. Not exactly the end of the world, right? Besides, I'm reading about things that I really want to learn anyway. National Boards has just given me that extra motivation to go out and actively pursue the learning. |
|
My To-Read List:
- What Works! Successful Strategies in Pursuing National Board Certification by Bobbie Faulkner
- Doing Literary Criticism: Helping Students Engage with Challenging Texts by Tim Gillespie
- Making Thinking Visible: How to Promote Engagement, Understanding & Independence for All Learners by Ron Ritchhart
- Fresh Takes on Literary Elements: How to Teach What Really Matters about Character, Stting, Point of View & Theme by Jeffrey Wilhelm
- Write Like This: Teaching Real-World Writing Through Modeling and Mentor Texts by Kelly Gallagher
- Because Writing Matters by NWP
- Write Beside Them by Penny Kittle
- Socratic Circles: Fostering Critical & Creative Thinking in Middle & High School by Matt Copeland
My Read List:
- Readicide by Kelly Gallagher
- Literature Circles: Voice and Choice in Book Clubs and Reading Groups by Harvey Daniels
- Mechanically Inclined: Building Grammar, Usage and Style into Writer's Workshop by Jeff Anderson
- Image Grammar: Teaching Grammar as Part of the Writing Process by Harry R. Nodel (March 2012)
- Critical Encounters in High School English: Teaching Literary Theory to Adolescents by Deborah Appleman
- Mini-Lessons for Literature Circles by Harvey Daniels & Nancy Steineke
NOTE: These are NOT books recommended by the NBPTS or any other organization. They appear on no known reading list as "must reads" for the NBPTS. Reading them will not guarantee passing the NBPTS Certification process. They are books that have piqued my personal interest, and that I think may be helpful as I reflect on my own teaching practices.
February 26, 2012
My social security number was successfully added on Thursday, and Debra, the Director of the NBRC was very helpful and understanding about the entire situation. My application can now move forward in the process. Success! I really hate technical issues, and I am not used to being the person having the tech issues, so I'm very relieved that the problem has been resolved.
Lately, I have been a little "stir crazy," not knowing what to do in the meantime while I wait for what I'll just refer to as the Amazing-Box-o-Stuff. Realistically, I should probably just be sitting back and enjoying my free time while it lasts, but I'm anxious to see just exactly what I've gotten myself into. I want to delve in and start to unwrap this great mystery, portfolio entry by portfolio entry. :)
I've also noticed that my local four-year university is offering graduate classes for teachers preparing for certification. While that would be nice, it's pricey, and I don't have an extra $2,000 lying around for two classes that don't necessarily guarantee that I'll pass. Plus, it seems that plenty of people pass without taking these classes, so I'm going to skip on the school.
Lately, I have been a little "stir crazy," not knowing what to do in the meantime while I wait for what I'll just refer to as the Amazing-Box-o-Stuff. Realistically, I should probably just be sitting back and enjoying my free time while it lasts, but I'm anxious to see just exactly what I've gotten myself into. I want to delve in and start to unwrap this great mystery, portfolio entry by portfolio entry. :)
I've also noticed that my local four-year university is offering graduate classes for teachers preparing for certification. While that would be nice, it's pricey, and I don't have an extra $2,000 lying around for two classes that don't necessarily guarantee that I'll pass. Plus, it seems that plenty of people pass without taking these classes, so I'm going to skip on the school.
My professional library continues to grow.
|
March 15, 2012...And the professional reading continues! I've read three more books on teaching pedagogy to help improve my instructional practices, or to at least make me think more about what I am doing in my classroom and why. Currently, I have read Critical Encounters in High School English by Deborah Appleman, Image Grammar by Harry Noden, and Mini-Lessons for Literature Circles by Harvey Daniels & Nancy Steineke. I especially enjoyed reading Image Grammar because it offers some good ideas about integrating grammar instruction into the writing curriculum. Critical Encounters is also a good book; I picked it up at some point during my Master's degree work, thinking I would like to integrate some literary criticism into my new honors class. I was hoping that the book would contain simplified explanations of multiple theories that I could distribute to students, but it contains mainly ideas for why literary theory should be taught and a few examples of how it could be used (but not with any of the books that I currently teach). Still, it's a nice resource to have, it just requires more work on the part of the teacher. I'm going to buy Doing Literary Criticism and see what it offers; it seems more "ready to go" for teachers. However, it costs approximately $25+ dollars, even used, so that purchase will have to wait for now. Mini-lessons for Literature Circles is also a great book, with ideas for topics to cover in book groups, including lessons on group dynamics and classroom management tips.
|
May 1, 2012
Yesterday, I paid $500 of my assessment fee. I qualified for a grant that should pay the rest. Once that payment has been processed, I should be receiving my box! That little brown box that changes everything! I'm looking forward to sifting through its contents. In the meantime, I've been reading up on professional literature, remaining active in my local chapter of the NWP, and reading the available materials on the NBPTS website. (Most of the instructions and standards are listed for free.)
