January 5, 2004
Looking back at the national certification process from the very beginning, I'd have to say that it's been harder than I had expected it to be. In all our pre-candidate courses, I remember the national board certified teachers telling us that it took about 400 hours to complete the process. I guess that amount of time never really registered in my brain. I've been saying from the very beginning that I've had a hard time working on my boards along with my daily classroom work -- stacks of papers to correct, journal entries to respond to, lessons to plan. I am on committees at school that require a lot of my time too. All those things didn't stop just because I decided to go for my Boards.
The four entries that need to be completed for the National Board are very specific in their makeup, which also has been very difficult. For example, a lesson I want to do with my students for the communication and literacy entry might not cover all the required standards; therefore, it is unacceptable. That lesson also needs to be videotaped. Even if I do a great lesson that does hit all the standards, if the person videotaping did not pick up the children's conversations, it's not valid and I must come up with a different lesson or tape the same lesson again.
In short, nothing that I thought would be easy has been easy, and everything that I thought would be difficult has been difficult.
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