Calling for Guest Posts!

There you are!  Do you have ideas for differentiation or engagement strategies for our NBCT candidates? Would you be willing to share your expertise?  What other amazing resources have you found for teachers?

Send me your guest blog posts in a Word file and I'll share your post right here on Harco NBCT.

Include a short bio and profile picture, please.

Celebrate!

Scores will be returned soon... our renewal NBCTs received theirs last week.  Three of them passed!  That’s important because they don’t redo just a section like first timers do.  My experience is that renewal is also easier than the first certification because we’ve done it before, but just as much a reason to celebrate!

If you or a teacher you know achieves NBCT status, please let me know so we can honor them at the dinner in April.

What if you are too modest or don’t want to be honored?  I would ask you to do it for the team...for me and the mentors as well as your peers who’ve invested as well as hoped for the best for you; for the cause of increasing NBCT awareness. If you can fit it into your busy schedule.  If you just can’t, it’s okay, of course, we can honor you in absentia.

If you are a first time submitter who has to resubmit a Component, congratulations on what you’ve accomplished so far!  If you had us read for you and you were WAY off track we would have told you.  Be brave and persevering just like you want YOUR star students to be.  Set your cap.  Utilize chat boards, discussion boards, and mentors.  Realize it’s not you, there are many reasons you might need to re-do... the difficulty of getting the right video, etc.  I can and will tell you a million reasons you might not achieve this first time.  How about, “They rolled out Component 4 in November!”  You could have had three more months on Component 4 if you’d waited till this year to start it.  But no, brave souls, you jumped in to test the waters!  Thank you.

So we celebrate all your success— privately.  Passed most of it? Awesome.  Passed any of it? Good job.  It’s a developmental process— stay open to it.  Some of us learned to walk a few months later than others, but we walk just as well as they do now.  Same thing; if you need a few more months to achieve, take it.  Your final efforts will probably be a higher total score than someone who achieved the first year, because the more times you do it, the better you get.  I loved our very first ever meeting when I started.  We went around the room telling National Board stories and one NBCT said she hadn’t made it on her first try.  I thought, “How important it was for her to say that!”  With a first time pass rate of 30-40%, wasn’t that important for potential candidates to hear?

Enough encouragement?  Call if you need anything!    I’ll be sending out an anonymous survey monkey for scores and feedback in January so we can fine tune our support.  

Component 4 Support is Online!

Announcing the new online cohort for Component 4!  You need a Schoology account.  Once you have created your free Schoology account, use the access code, WCT2B-PXFDR, to join the course. Search for "NBCT Component 4." If you have any trouble, let me know!  We will officially begin the cohort work on October 30th, so try to sign up before then.  

Of Halloween and Being Afraid...

The NBCT Journey is a process.

Speaking of our process-- we've had our first cohort meeting at each of our 5 settings.  We have 9 candidates who have completed the process and are awaiting results, 11 candidates finishing their process this year, and 19 new candidates just starting.

The first meeting was about getting started with Component 2.  Thanks to Taya Trent and Lesley Morgan, two of our advanced candidates, for their presentation:  "Getting Started."

Our October meeting will be about planning for Component 3, and an online cohort support for Component 4 will begin before the end of October.

My philosophy is to allow you glimpses of each component before January 31st when you need to commit and pay for any components you want to attempt.  Please feel free to pursue your candidacy in any way that suits you.  Please ask for any support you need.

Another thing-- one candidate mentioned that she knows some teachers who are thinking of National Board candidacy but aren't sure they are ready.  Consider suggesting they come to some of the meetings as a non-candidate.  It's a great forum for discussing good teaching and having a growth mindset.  It's heterogenous grouping, with those of you who are actual candidates as the models.

Thank you for all you do to improve your teaching and impact your students and communities. :-)

Finalized Dates for September Cohort Meetings

These meetings have exactly the same agendas, so just choose one!

• BMS September 12th, 3:30-5

• Lincoln HS September 19th, 3-4:30

• RCB September 21st, 3:30-5-- Note: after September the RCB attendance area meetings MIGHT be at NFP... we will let you know.

• MMS September 28th, 3-4:30

Note the different starting times at different sites.  There is a South Harrison cohort, but at this time it is already full.

Email Joetta if you need more information or use the comment box, below.
jschneid@k12...

An NBCT in Action

Thanks to Jenny Santilli for submitting this link featuring some work by Candice Phipps, from Adamston Elementary: A Harrison County NBCT in Action

Nice work, Candice!

New Cohort Sessions Starting Soon!

Cohort meetings will begin meeting the week of September 11th!  This year the actual meetings will be unpaid, but more locations will be offered for your convenience.  There should be cohort meetings in each attendance area, and I'll get those exact dates, times, and locations out to you by the end of the month.

What can you be doing now to prepare?

1- Familiarize yourself the NEW site, nbpts.org --this became live on Friday, July 28th.

2- Send home a cover letter and a permission slip to each student in all your classes now because it's easier to get parents to returned signed papers right now and it won't hurt anything if you don't need them.  Here's the link to the permission slip.

Note*  There is a form letter available on the website, but many teachers revise it.  Then, they attach the National Board's Student Release Form to their more personalized and family friendly letter.

3- Follow Lesley's suggestions for choosing your certificate area--this can be changed later so just make your best choice now and get started.

4- Print your certificate area standards; hopefully you can print them in your school's computer lab!

5- Plan to attend a meeting from 3:30- 5:00 somewhere in the county the week of September 11th or on September 18th.

Onward!

https://teachingcrossroads.com

Lesley Morgan was one of our first NBCT candidates in our Harrison County cohort.  She began the process with us when the National Board hadn't even finished developing the new process, so she's seen this new process from the beginning!  Lesley is one of our cohort members who has experience with all Components 1-4, and she's started a website for teachers!

Here's a link to her awesomeness!  Let us know if you have resources you want to offer to our teachers, and we'll be glad to post them for you.

Information for New Candidates--Cohort 3

If you have friends or colleagues who are curious about the process, there will be an informational meeting on Thursday, May 25th, at the new BOE board room from 3:45-4:45.

If any school would like to offer this same presentation at their school for their faculty, please have them contact Joetta at extension 7262.

Thank you!

You Can Do It!

It's the home stretch!  All of us as mentors have been privileged to see your thoughts become more polished and refined; your reasoning and thinking about your practice becoming more laser-focused!

What a gratifying process for you!  You are growing by leaps and bounds!

Congratulations on your completion of this year's work--both in the classroom and your National Board journey.

Persevere.