How to Interpret Your Scores

The National Board has announced that scores will be available on December 16th!

Here are screen shots of their scoring guide to help us understand the new system:

Agenda for November Cohort Meeting

There are still two meetings available to you this semester, if you'd like to attend.  Choose either Lincoln High School this evening at 3:30, or Mountaineer Middle School at 3:00 Thursday.

Here is the agenda:

Harrison County NBCT Cohort Support 

November 28, 2017                               November 30, 2017

Lincoln High School Library                     MMS Computer Lab 

3:30-5:30                                                3:00-5:00 

Purpose:  To build a cohort of accomplished teachers committed to further development of their teaching skills through the medium of reflective practice. 

Agenda 

3:30   Sign-in and Announcements 

3:45   Discussion of Component 3 Videos and Student Engagement 

4:45   Develop a checklist for Component 4 

5:25   Exit Tickets on Colored Notecards 

"Piglet noticed that even though he had a very small heart, it could hold a rather large amount of gratitude."  

--A.A. Milne 

What Are Strategies?

Here is an article that discusses a strategy for helping students appreciate their own growth.  It might be useful as an example for answering questions that ask, "What strategies..."  I will tell you right now that I am not the poster child for remembering and using many different strategies.

Your components 2&3 ask for strategies for differentiation and engagement.  Can you point to concrete methods similar to this one which you use to get the desired outcomes for your students?

What are some strategies YOU have used, heard of, or seen in other classrooms that you would like to try?  They don't have to be for differentiation or engagement, but they could be.  I'd love to see us brainstorming in the COMMENTS section.  

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!