National Boards

I recently accomplished something very exciting that was quickly overshadowed by the birth of Piper. On November 17th (the day before Piper was born), I found out that I had become a National Board Certified teacher (NBCT). This certification was the end to a 2-year long process of videoing, documenting, and writing about my teaching. It was a lot of work that seemed overwhelming at times, but sometimes fun in a weird way. I really like having a finished product at the end of a long-term goal. It’s such a great feeling. To submit my entries for NB, I had to mail a box of several 12-page papers among other things by March 31st. It felt really good to put it all together and send off what I had been working on for so long… even though I knew it would be 7 1/2 months before I would find out if I passed.

On March 7th, they had a recognition ceremony for all Kentucky NBCTs who certified in 2012. I went and listened to the governor and many representatives offer congratulations. It probably wasn’t worth the 2 1/2-hour drive, but it still felt like an honor. I’m pretty proud to be one of only 102,237 NBCTs in the country and one of only 3,752 who share my same certification (Early Adolescence Math). I don’t set too many goals, but this was a big one for me and I’m happy to share that I reached it. I know I would not have been able to do it without Chad. He was a huge help and motivator the whole way!