Second Time Around

Today I mailed my National Boards portfolio! For the last 2 years,
I've been working on my National Boards certification, which includes a portfolio and assessment to prove that I'm an excellent teacher.

In November 2011, I learned that I needed 4 more points to pass. Over the last 4 months, I've been revising one part of my porfolio, as well as preparing to take a 30-minute assessment on April 28.

When I mailed my portfolio today, it only contained 12 pages of writing and 16 pages of artifacts (as required), but I've easily invested over 100 hours into reading, writing, and researching during the last 4 months.

In my portfolio, I strived to implement the assessors' comments and provide evidence that:

• I'm a leader.
• I'm a learner.
• I'm a collaborator.
• I involve parents and the community.
• I reflect on my teaching practice to increase my effectiveness.
• I use 2-way communication.
• I share my expertise with others.
• I impact teaching and learning.

This has been a long journey...full of late evenings, long weekends, and sleepness nights (along with some tears along the way). National Boards has consumed my life for the last 2 years (and most of Savannah's life). I'm so ready to complete this chapter in my life and have more time...to relax, to sleep, to exercise, to spend time with my family.

For now, though, I wait...for 7 months. In November, I'll find out if I earned the 4 points I need to pass National Boards. Hopefully, all of my hard work will pay off (literally) when I earn my 10-year certification and a 12% pay raise.

I'm praying for good news in November!

P.S. Savannah is at Grandma Barbara's house this week, so tomorrow Tal and I are having a date night to celebrate the completion of his "project" and my portfolio. :-)