Back in 2007 when I first joined the ranks of public school teachers everywhere, I had a mentor. He was a lovely older gentleman who also taught government to high school seniors. He was very wise and came from a family of committed teachers with a sizable reputation in my county. I looked up to his impact on education in our community. Anywho, he introduced me to the idea of becoming a National Board Certified Teacher (NBCT). He was one, and when he talked about the number of teachers across the county who were also NBCT, I was impressed. These individuals were often leaders in our curriculum, as well as other folks I looked up to. This process also appealed to my innate drive... see, waaaayyy back in the day, I was a NCAA student-athlete. If you ever want to know why I do the things I do, I would tell you that I really responded well to the idea of goal setting and self improvement. It was, after all, what I was trained to do for close to 16 years of my life and it afforded me the opportunity to earn a degree. But by 2007, I had traded in my goggles for a baby bottle. I spent quite a bit of time momming so hard while holding doing a mediocre job of teaching government to high school seniors. It was more than enough. I also had finished my M.Ed that year, and I was ready for a break. An additional wrinkle in this story is that the County I worked for stopped helping individuals pay the $1975 it takes to even apply to become a nationally board certified teacher, and between diapers and daycare... it was too rich for my husband and I. Kids grow up, daycare ends, and fiscal situations for employers improve. In the spring of 2016, my employer advertised that the school board was willing to support a cohort of teachers financially and logistically in their quest to obtain NBCT. I checked my schedule: I only had three kids, a husband, a dog, a cat, baseball practices and games, basketball practices and games, swim practices (coaching and driving), girl scouts (I am a troop leader to a bunch of juniors/cadettes), boy scouts, music practices, room momming, working 40+ hours as a teacher, and my first two Master's degree courses on my plate. (I am in the course of getting my M.A. from Virginia Tech in Political Science.) It seemed like a perfect time. I point this out because when opportunity knocks, don't we all say I am too busy? Everyone is, it's not a competition... but the point is that if you really want something, you have adequate support, background knowledge, and experience, and you plan well, you can make it happen... And if any of those things are missing, you make goals and work towards them. You may not get all of your goals, but you will end up with a few! Flash forward to the end: at 12:24am on Saturday, December 16th, 2017 I was notified by National Board for Professional Teaching Standards that I had achieved NBCT status. I want to tell you how I did this, with the assistance of some near and dears. Game Plan
Final thoughts?It takes the reflective professional in me to realize that this achievement is less about me and more about my students. I can say that this was more meaningful to me than my own Masters in education; I had expertise and experience in the practice that I had not had when I was getting my M.Ed. I had also forgotten about a lot of the things I learned during the M.Ed. This was my opportunity to make my education and my experience line up. I have found myself thinking critically about many of the things I ask my kids to do in class... is this fair? Does it promote learning? Will my kids be challenged and have adequate skills to do what I ask? Will this help them feel accomplished and learn meaningfully?
The goal-setter and competitor in me has to take a back seat and realize that the reason I look up to masters in my profession is not because of the window dressing on their resume, but because these professionals are making meaningful strides in educating and impacting students in their classroom. Students are learning, thriving, and finding meaning through the process of education. I can turn my sights towards thinking of myself less as a competitor, and more as that coach on the sidelines... investing effort and time into each of my students as I done that critical role as mentor. And that is the right reason to do anything. Good luck to you and your endeavors! I hope you consider this to be a worthwhile goal to set in your near future.
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Jen's bookshelf: nerdcation
I want to start by thanking Mr. Snowden and Mr. Greenwald for their uncompromising dedication to giving the NSA violations air time and transparency.
I wanted to share some of the most important things I have learned from this book bef...
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nerdcation
tagged:
nerdcation and to-read
tagged:
nerdcation and to-read
tagged:
nerdcation and to-read
AuthorI lovgov. LOVE IT! I love teaching government, learning about it, debating, discussing, asking questions about government. And not the standard boiler plate questions, but the hard ones that are NOT in the books. Archives
August 2018
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