Update on THE BIG ONE!

Tuesday I took the exam portion of my National Board Exam for Professional Teaching Standards in Literacy ages 3-12. I was very stressed prior, but am glad it's over. The test was approx. 4 hours. I left early (9:20) for my arrival at 10:30 -to beat the traffic and am glad I did. There was traffic due to tree trimming on 22-it was literally stopped and I sat or cruised at 15 MPH on Rt. 22 W. The facility is in a corporate center near OLLies' on Tilghman in Allentown, I did manage to arrive by 10:15 and they took me right away. The testing facility also does testing for doctors, lawyers, and I believe Indian Chiefs :) LOL! They do a lot of testing! In fact, that is ALL they do!

Your ID is checked then you are photographed and fingerprinted. They want you to show your pockets-I had yoga pants on-no pockets! Everything but your license and a locker key are taken away(& placed in your locker, hence "the Key")-that is all you are allowed to enter the room with (except for tissues-so you KNOW I took those, just because I was allowed to, not because they were needed). Then you ENTER the room which is kind of soundproof-so it sounds weird. There are rules-no walking around, talking, etc. AND you are watched on a video camera-I considered picking my nose and teeth just to see if I could gross 'em out-but I was too stressed by the exam even to try it. You cannot even put your legs up or they walk over just to see if you are cheating. I cannot divulge any of the test prompts, since that isn't allowed, but it was LONG! Some of the questions seemed easy, others I felt I was searching for reasoning and embellishing my explanations. One was actually out-right stupid and would have been better to have been placed on a marketing exam. Each prompt addresses a different area of literacy-you are allowed 30 minutes for each exercise. On the first exercise(it was a 2 parter) I answered the prompt, then realized I answered the next prompt and tried to cut & paste, then lost the first one, and had to start over with 7 minutes left! This is often a problem for me because I now work on a Mac and the computer was a Dell! The cut and paste buttons just cut but didn't paste. I thought I'd melt down on the spot-instead I typed like a maniac, hopefully I hit the key issues I was hoping to address!

As I said the test was LONG!!!!!! There was only one optional 15 minute break-so you KNOW I took it! I think my butt went numb at one point. I also thought the guy was going to smack me 'cause I kept stretching my arms behind my back-he thought I was raising my hand...Tee! Hee!

I wonder if I'm the only candidate who managed to fit a bathroom break, a brief jog up and down a hallway and two yoga sun salutations into a 15 minute break?-yes I did! After break they fingerprint and check your ID -the place was like Ft. Knox. Who knows-I am sure someone tried to cheat somehow, sometime! Hey.... I could have my sister Kathy, who resembles me, take my test-who knows, maybe she would do better than I did.

I can honestly state now that it is over I have honestly no idea how I did. Is that normal? My mentors tell me yes! I think I prefer the portfolio portion over the exam -yet the portfolio was like a dissertation in length. I thought I would have a melt down, but I managed to survive......so now -let the waiting begin......Remember folks, I don't know the results until December and if I don't pass (& many don't) I do have an option to re-submit ~which means more work and time, but hey..... I've gotten this far-I'm not stopping now-though I admit I thought of quitting (& Knocking Out Jean M. for talking me into it!). But overall, it DOES make you a BETTER educator and you will NEVER think about your students and teaching the same way again...but if you do and you're slacking on the job....I'm sure that God will make sure extreme guilt will settle in.

ROADBLOCK!

ACK! I've hit a snag! I am doing pretty well on the composition portions of my entry #4 entitled "Documented Accomplishments" but I've hit a roadblock. For entry #3 I must show strong evidence of speaking,listening, visual, and technological resources integrating a multi-disciplinary formatted lesson in a literacy setting. At first I was fine with this, much of what I do is quite diverse.......THEN I started to really delve in and was questioning myself. The video is segmented .......meaning clips, but the total minutes can be no longer than 15 with only 2 sections of start/stop. Fortunately I have friends who have been hearing me out all week on this (thanks Jean, Louann, & speech lady Karen) who have convinced me it can be done and the best way to approach it. Unfortunately I cannot tell you since National Board Certification is very serious about confidentiality. One good thing though.......I've also got a plan for entry #1 in the works-documenting and making educational plans for writing-I've even selected my student-but alas....I cannot divulge that either. Mums the word!

A small room with a lot of promise...

This is my classroom-I am re-organizing it-so 'scuse the slight messes.

The room is tiny about 5' x 8'. I have a kidney shaped reading table somewhat centered. I do not have a desk. There are large shelves-(pictured) to contain my intervention supplies, resources, all reading manuals K-4(I don't use them-why are they there?? 'cause someone may need them!) and the top is all curriculum manuals from K-4. I share 2 shelves with our literacy coach since she has no shelves in her room. To the right of the shelf (or your left as you view it) there is another door which leads to our school nurse and central office area. In the foreground (it's evident in both pics which helps to show scale) you can see the side of a printer-it sits on a smaller shelf which holds my "bins"- everything I need for each group I see-I see 9 groups each day from k-2. I formally had a table, but it made the room MORE crowded. I've moved it to the hall for book displays-don't tell the fire department, it's probably a hazard.
I do have a filing cabinet and glass windows (notice my cute curtain-cat & the hat of course) with a door leading to the hall. (see picture). My tripod is there too 'cause that's where I set up the camera-it has captured a side view-which is quite acceptable, but I am hoping with the creation of space, I can pull the table out more to capture a frontal view. I am in the process of re-arranging because I can't stand the clutter and I want my videos for NBCTS to be outstanding.
So far the only critique I am hearing is to see the kids faces and work area more-so I assume my teaching & planning is effective. As you can see, I function in crowded quarters-some of my friends say I was hired for my position because I was the only one who could fit behind the table- my weight obsessive self loves that ~but my professional self questions this idea and hopes that they are really only kidding-they do say they are.

On Instructions.....

Tonight I decided my instructions guide for National Bd. (NBCTS) would be put to better use in a notebook. I punched holes for quite some time. I actually created 3 notebooks- one contains my standards (the "bible" of my certification area- which is literacy), one is just for the forms that must be completed, and finally this notebook-the PORTFOLIO instructions. It is more than 300 pages by itself. I decided not to bore with photos of each. I did manage to tab many areas and create a mish-mosh of sticky notes-a system only I can understand. Another teacher in my school is in my support class (the class total is 4 candidates with 2 teacher-leaders) and he told mes that he broke a hole punch creating his notebooks! Update on my videos....they are both good and not so good. The one I did show in my class got high marks and I was told not to erase it-it was actually the first one I recorded. After that I had a few glitches, mostly technical-but my classroom is only about 6'X 8' so I am doing the best I can. My friend has offered to tape me too. She'll be able to get some closeups, and show some movement-let's hope she fits in the room!