National Boards Finale

Emily reminded me that I never posted about the end of National Boards! It is officially over and it feels so great to be done. The last time I posted, I had pre-packed my box with my family. The next night I went through it again with the people in my cohort. It was awesome to have it all officially ready to go. Here I am with Amy, she was also working on National Boards in the area of literacy so we supported each other through the entire thing. It was awesome to have someone to go through it with me!

And these are the wonderfully amazing women who mentored us through the entire process. Lana and Laura are both Nationally Board Certified teachers in our school district. They made the whole thing seem do-able. I just did exactly what they suggested throughout the entire process and it all worked out! I can't imagine having tried to do everything without their support. Can't you just tell from their faces how great they are? They will always have a special place in my heart.

So after that night, I took my box to the post office the very next day. It was stressful taping up my box and making sure it was addressed correctly. I could barely let the lady at the post office take it out of my hands. It was like sending my baby off to college. I literally left the post office, went to my car, and cried. And then I had to call everyone and tell them that I had actually mailed it between sobs.

Amy took her tests within the next week or two and we went out to Cheesecake Factory to celebrate. I didn't want to take my tests right away because I wanted some time to study and to destress from the portfolios and the "box" part. Last Monday was the day for me to take my tests at the assessment center. Can I just tell you, that place is hardcore? I had to go in and put my hand on a little box so they could take a picture of my palm vein. They also took my picture. I wasn't allowed to take anything into the testing room with me. They checked my palm vein again, to make sure I was still me before going into the actually testing room. There was a proctor watching over us all behind a glass partition. It was intense. I felt completely prepared for the tests though after all the work I have been doing this year. Once again, I left the testing center, went to my car, cried...and then called everyone to tell them I was officially, totally, and completely done!!!! It felt great. Amy and Kathy and Maddy met me for Cheesecake Factory to celebrate. It is an amazing feeling to know that I just did everything I could. I still have to wait until November, maybe even December, for my results. Until then I'm going to try my best not to think about it!!!!

Pre-Pre-Packing National Boards

I can't believe tomorrow will be March 15th. It will be our packing day with the cohort I have been working with all year while I have been working on achieving National Boards. Today was me pre-pre-packing day! I wore my teacher socks! They are upside down but you can see the chalkboards and the apples!

My parents came over to help me go through all the paperwork and get things in order. Jordy was awake, so actually my mom played with Jordy, Chad was upstairs watching my DVDs to make sure they played all the way through, and my dad sat with me and put everything in order. It actually worked out perfectly.

Can I just say that I have the best parents in the world? They came over, they brought my flowers and a card...AND Coldstone ice cream cakes! (I love Coldstone ice cream!)

Peanut butter chocolate ice cream cake

Mint chocolate chip ice cream cake

Everthing is all organized, paper-clipped, and filed in the proper envelope. Now I take everything in with me tomorrow and my cohort members will sit down and make sure I've got it all in order and everything is ready to mail! I'm so close!
After I mail in my box I have to get ready for the assessment center tests. There are 6 30-minute tests I have to take online at an assessment center. I signed up to do that on April 26th. Then I will be completely completely done...but getting this far with my box feels like a huge accomplishment already. Whee!!!!

National Boards

Here I am, sitting at Starbucks working on all the writing I have to do in order to earn my National Boards Certification. I'm taking a break to eat a yummy sausage and egg breakfast sandwich and to sip on a venti Calm hot tea and I just realized I have never really blogged about National Boards. I know I have tweeted about it but I haven't really talked about it on my blog.

Just because I should be devotedly working on National Boards and I need a reason to prolong my break I'll blog about it now!

National Board certification is a one-year process of analyzing and assessing and reflecting on my teaching. When I'm done I'll have written 4 15-page portfolio entries, video taped myself a million times, and taken 6 assessment center online essays...and hopefully I'll achieve National Board certification! I'll go from a standard teaching certificate to a master teaching certificate and it will be current for 10 whole years! (Compared to 5 years that a standard is good for.) One other little bonus is that the state will pay me $1500 every year for those 10 years...sounds nice but it used to be $3000 until they halved the budget this summer. But $15,000 is still a lot.

That's all the concrete stuff I'll get, but I have to tell you this is the most rewarding learning I have ever done. People say it's a ton of work, and it is, believe me. I also believe it's worthwhile work that is manageable if you just break it all down and do it a little bit at a time. Thus, my Saturday Starbucks work sessions! I was doing good at the beginning of the school year and I've gotten sidetracked lately. On Saturdays when Chad doesn't have a chiropractor appointment I sneak out of the house at 5:15 and head to Starbucks to get my work done. I love it. I was here this morning before the newspapers and when it was still completely dark and blissfully quiet (except for Starbucks' awesome music...).

Here I am:

Lovely, huh? I actually don't feel as beat up as I look in this picture!!! I think I just look tired...when I actually took a nap yesterday afternoon and then went to sleep at 7:15 after we put Jordan to bed. On another note, our house is a complete wreck seeing as it has been the last of my worries with everything going on like National Boards, teaching in general, the holidays, Christmas cards, spending time with friends and family...if you could see that you would realize, no, I am most certainly not Wonder Woman...although I like to believe I am sometimes. (No, I refuse to provide you with a picture of it...it's not pretty.)

Okay, I've spent enough time on this procrastinating post...back to work!