October 20, 2003

On our first official day off from school devoted entirely to working on the Boards, Stephanie B., Nikki, and I made plans to work together at a study lab at the town library.

I brought the materials I needed for the day, along with my agenda. My plan was to review and reread the NBPTS materials Part 5 Tips for Videotaping and Part 6 Video Practice. In order to keep pace with the suggested monthly schedule for accomplishing the National Board process, we need to begin videotaping now. Tips and suggestions were plentiful in those sections of the board's materials.

I also referred to a book recommended at a support session conducted by the Rhode Island Teacher and Learning Center. The National Board Certification Handbook edited by Diane Barone, offered a number of additional tips:

1. Tip 1: Get the class used to seeing the video camera by setting it up in your room well before you're ready to begin taping.
2. Tip 2: Videotape several practice lessons -- but not one you plan to use as an entry. If a lesson already has been done, it will appear staged in the video, and not accurately spotlight teaching and learning at its best.
3. Tip 3: Set up the camera on the side of the classroom so the entire class can be seen.
4. Tip 4: Use an external microphone to pick up more of the students' conversations and less background noise.

I decide that I need to do two things before I start videotaping: reread the standards that need to be addressed in each videotaped entry, and check out the microphone capabilities of our school camera.

Meet Stephanie Capalbo Stephanie Capalbo received a bachelor's degree in psychology with a concentration in elementary education from Rhode Island College in May 1995. She became certified in early childhood education in August 1997. For the past six years, Stephanie has been teaching kindergarten at Bradford Elementary School in Westerly, Rhode Island. In the fall of 2000, the kindergarten at Bradford became the first and only kindergarten in the district to receive accreditation by the National Association for the Education of Young Children (NAEYC). In 2003, Stephanie was named Westerly's Wal-Mart Teacher of the Year.