E1 Progress

I am finally making some headway on E1. I actually had so much fun working on it tonight. Way easier than E3!! I am still up in the air as to whether or not I will retape E3...I am hating the write-up of it that much. 

Anyway I finally picked a kiddo for my E1 which is about writing. I picked my kiddo L who is an AMAZINGLY awesome reader whose writing is just not what you would expect for someone who reads so well. He started the year reading a Guided Reading level P (end of 2nd grade) and writing at an end of kindergarten level. Doesn't exactly align, huh?

I'm finding I have TONS to say about this kiddo. I'm only through the 2nd part of the entry (there are 7) and I've already written 4 whole pages and part of a 5th. They suggest by the end of the 2nd part you have 3 pages. So I may have some fluff-cutting to do! It feels GOOD to have so much to say though since that is not happening with E3 at all (just the opposite).

I have a math training tomorrow so I will be coming home earlier than usual and plan to (hopefully) get in 2-3 solid hours of writing. I would LOVE to finish E1's draft by tomorrow. That would be perfection. Then I can spend Wednesday-Thursday catching up on stuff for my actual job (although NB kind of feels like it should be my full-time job right now!) and then Friday since I have a day off, I plan to spend it all kicking E3 in the ass once and for all.

Let's just hope it all works out that easy!

And the Countdown Begins...

Wow. Unbelievable that there are only 5 weeks left until I pack up this bad boy and send it off to San Antonio!  It feels like I've been working on it forever....and yet I can't believe I only have 5 weeks left. I am still working on Entry 3. I have dragged butt on it so much. It is the one I feel least confident with. Life has gotten in the way, big time, over the last month so I have not done a ton of work on my portfolio. But it's crunch time now. I don't want to send off something that isn't my very best work and thus, I need to work on these entries daily until they are done, have a friend or two read them, and then make my own revisions. My goal is to be all set with my portfolio by March 23. Then I can spend that last week packing my box. I will do one envelope per day Sunday-Thursday. I am going to do them one at a time over the course of that week because there are SO many forms, papers, etc that go with each entry and I don't want to get a bad score because I was missing one paper or something.

I will be very, very, VERY glad when I am mailing that box off and it's out of my hands! April is mine. Allll mine. I am trying really hard to talk The Husband into taking March 30 and April 2 off as a long weekend and go open up our cabin. I have zero issue spending my entire Spring Break there, even if it is snowing. There is no phone, no internet, nothing to district me or bother me. I can SLEEP, relax and just catch my breath. He kind of laughed when I said that but I was so serious about the sleep part. 

Earlier this week one of my colleagues told me that I never should have done National Board this year with switching grade levels. In my mind, it was the smartest time to do it because who knows if Mrs. Principal will move me again. She doesn't consult people about grade placements, she just does it because she's unprofessional. And I know she has been targeting 4th grade like crazy this year so it isn't unlikely that she wouldn't put me there next year to split them up. I don't know. But I think this year, teaching 2nd grade, doing National Board has been the BEST thing I could have done. Yes it is challenging, time consuming and overwhelming, but I have learned so much about myself as a teacher and about making my lessons more developmentally appropriate for my younger students. It wouldn't have been any less of a challenge to have done it while teaching 5th grade that I know so well. This way, being WITH a younger grade, I'm much closer to the lower end of the developmental scale which means if I get a kindergarten writing sample on one of my assessment exercises I'm not going to panic that I don't know what to say about it because I have kids at that level this year.

I've kind of learned that to this particular colleague, if she doesn't see the value in something, it's "worthless". Well, to be frank, who asked you?? I sure as hell didn't ask for your opinion. I honestly can't wait for her to eat crow when I DO certify (she did NB years ago and didn't make it so she thinks it's a waste of time, even though she wouldn't redo the one or two parts she needed that likely would have allowed her to pass). I really have a hard time respecting people who think just because something wasn't right for them that it isn't right for anyone else either. I won't send something off that I don't think is my absolute best work. And I have two personal days coming up in March that will be used for the sole purpose of working on National Board so I am not too worried. 

It's only hard because when I'm home I am tired. When I am tired I don't want to work. On anything (NB or otherwise). Once this part of the process is over, it'll be relaxation time until I begin to study for the AC and honestly....I can not imagine those will be harder than the portfolio!

Yay! (E2 feedback)

My super good friend, and former colleague, K agreed to read E2 for me. This is the one where you have to show that you can help children construct meaning through reading. She didn't see the video, just my written commentary and sent me her feedback today. I had sent her the evaluation guide that NB uses because I thought it might be easier for her to gauge what they are looking for. 

She and I have not taught together in 2 1/2 years. She has never been in my current classroom or met my current students. She read the entry over the last week and her feedback is so helpful. She said I seriously NAILED IT in terms of showing knowledge of my students, the field and how to use assessments to guide instruction. She actually wrote her feedback on the evaluation guide which was really helpful to me as well. It helps me see where I can still make some tweaks but overall, I'm thinking this entry is probably going to be good to go by next weekend! Super awesomeness.

I am STILL putting my finishing touches on E4. Bah! It is all written and ready. I need one verification form filled out which I can probably get tomorrow since the gal I am asking to do it taught with me at  Former School and now teaches with me at Current School. How's that for luck? 

I am struggling with wording my reflection. I want to be clear and concise but not repeat myself or sound like I think I am all that. I am actually very good at reflecting -- I do it all the time. But putting those thoughts down on paper is not so easy for me. At least not when the words aren't just for myself. So I'm struggling still with that one a bit. It's next on my To Do list then after I get The Oldest from her church event, I plan on finishing up E3 and handing it over to my next reader. Time is ticking away. There's so much to do to make sure my work is the best I can possibly submit before that March 31 deadline.

Chugging Along

Yesterday was my glorious day off....and I spent a bunch of my morning sleeping. Oops. *wink* Apparently I needed that rest though. I'm not sad about it.

I did get some work done and E4's final draft is just about ready. I have a few things I want to finish up on it today but once I do that, that baby is going in the envelope. After reading and rereading info on ecgen.org and reading WhatWorks! and using Bobbie's "candy corn analogy", I feel confident in what I have.

My friend, K, is supposed to send me feedback for my E2 either today or tomorrow. The Husband is reading E2 also. He already told me one part didn't make sense to him -- "it doesn't flow" were his words -- but when I explained it in non-teacherese, he said "oh, I get it". Since it WILL be teachers reading it, I'm not too worried about them not understanding that part.

The Oldest said she would read E3 for me and I am sending it along to a friend as well to give me some extra feedback. I am not going to have a reader for E4 because as I said, I have read up SO much about this one and really changed so much of my original entry that I think I will be okay with it. 

I still haven't even started E1 (oops!) but I'm not panicking. If I can get E3 and E4 finished today, which shouldn't be a problem, then I can start focusing on E1 this week since I'm relatively appointment free, which never happens. I'm feeling really good about where I am right now, despite life getting in the way and not always allowing me to work on NB. Plus ecgen has been down for about 2 days with some internal server error and that's frustrating because I need my check-in fix. Amazing how you come to rely on that support.

I am ready for this part of the process to be over. I'm tired of worrying about my writing, wondering why I have to write in such a way that drives me crazy, worrying over length, did I include enough evidence, am I answering all of the prompts, am I making sense, etc. We have to mail our portfolio box by March 31. I have the 30th off as the start of our Spring Break (great timing!). I plan to pack up my box that week and have it all ready to go by the 30th and take it to the post office that morning and send it priority with confirmation so I can breathe a sigh of relief when I see it has actually arrived. If I'm really slick, I may even mail it the week before if I get as far as I would like to on my entries today and this week.

If I mail it early (the 23rd or 24th), I will have about 5 weeks that I can just relax and not think about National Board. If I mail it on the 30th or 31st (which is the deadline), I will have about 4 weeks to relax.  Once May hits, it's all about prepping for the assessment center. To me, if you know your content, that won't be the hard part. What will be hard is reading the prompt and the sample, providing a solid, clear response and proofreading and checking it all in 30 minutes because that's all the time you get for each prompt. Fortunately there are some great resources out there to help you prep for the AC so I'm not too worried about that part. I am going to take some time off to just relax and be myself (and enjoy my spring break!) before I worry about the AC end of it all.

I am taking my AC test on May 30 which is a Wednesday. I am super lucky that my school district allows me to take up to 2 days for the AC without taking it out of my personal time. I went as late as I dared to go even though I have until June 15. I wanted to get it done while I was still in school so that once school is done, so am I. Our last day is June 8 so once that hits, I'm home free. I won't have to think about National Board again until November when score release time is getting ready to come up. 

I think I am definitely going to go spend a couple weeks at my cabin when school is over....to be away from technology and anything school-related. Just to relax, chill at the lake and not think about anything at all.

Making some progress

I feel like the biggest slacker in the world. I haven't really worked hardly at all on National Board in almost two weeks. That is very, very bad. Again, I am not behind or anything, but I also don't want to wait until the last second to finish things up. I did do some NB work this week, just not as much as I would have liked. I cave at the thought of downtime and then don't get much accomplished. It's a bummer actually.

I sent my draft of E2 to my friend, K, who used to teach with me at Former School. She emailed me today and said that she would have her feedback to me by the weekend. Then she asked if I wanted feedback on grammar/style or just the content/criteria (I sent her a copy of the rubric and eval guide). I emailed back and said don't judge the grammar because the writing is sadly supposed to suck! It is all about the evidence and for someone like myself who loves to write...it is hard to keep it to a minimum and leave out "the fluff" as they call it. I'm interested in her thoughts. 

I am off tomorrow for a personal day and I plan to use the entire day to work on NB. We have no kiddos Monday at school (bonus!) so that will be extra nice too. I plan to spend tomorrow on NB, Saturday being LAZY with my family and Sunday finishing up the little bit of grading I brought home. Two hours max and that's set. My goal is to finish E3 & finish my revisions of E4 tomorrow and get at least half of E1 written up. I really, really want to have drafts of all entries by Leap Day. Then I can pour over my own entries to cut fluff, pack a punch with my wording and get this thing out of my hair! 

I think I am going to have a "I mailed my NB box" party on March 30th!

NB, what NB?

What's that old saying about the best laid plans???

Today my plan to spend most of my day on NB was derailed BIG TIME by a flat tire and errands that took about 2 hours longer than planned due to said flat tire. 

I now have a tremendous headache and feel like I am never going to finish my goals of getting caught up and ready to move on. I am rewriting E4 today because I have an epiphany in my sleep (funny how that happens huh?) regarding the "Candy Corn" analogy that I learned about through this process. I'm only doing 3 accomplishments because they are big ones. At least I think they are big ones. Rewriting them with fresh eyes is helpful. E4 is the only entry where I feel like I can write like a real writer. The other ones are SO not "real" writing and that's annoying. 

I have so much to do tonight and it's nearly 6 already. I just know I am not going to get it all done today :( I have so much I want/need to do and there just aren't enough hours!

Crunch time!

In seven mere weeks, the portfolios must be sent off to National Board. Scary!!!

I have 3 personal days coming up that I am going to use to take total advantage of working on my entries and the little stuff before that deadline. So hard to believe that it is coming up soooo quickly!

Due to conferences this week I have not touched National Board anything all week. Bummer. BUT all is not lost because I did not bring anything home from work, even though I probably should have, so I could focus on National Board this weekend. I finally have the last data I was waiting for so I should be able to finish my write up of E4 and I plan to finish E3 by tomorrow. 

I need to get them into the hands of my readers by tomorrow night so I can get some feedback from others who aren't teachers and make sure I answered all of the prompts. I am making The Husband and The Oldest read the entries too. I'm sure they will just love that! But they already promised so they can't back out now. Besides, to my mind, reading is the easy part!! I have to do the hard stuff *wink*

I actually have one former teacher who will be reading for me. I am going to send her E4 because it is all about the student impact and I think it will be much clearer to HER if I have shown that because she has taught before (she's currently staying home with her toddler). My other readers will be able to see if I have answered the questions in my other entries because I left all of the prompt questions in the write up (in red) until I do my final revisions and then I will take all of that out.

It is amazing how I don't feel stressed out right now. I think I have solid evidence for everything I have done and I know I have grown as a teacher. Kelly, who runs ecgen.org, said once that most people practically ace their assessment center after the focus chats they do on the site from April-June. I'm excited for that because you only get 30 minutes to answer the prompt and that can be tough! There is so much information on that site. Initially I was afraid it was not going to be much help since it primarily focuses on the early childhood generalist but I can't say enough how that $35 has been the best money I have spent on this journey. Everyone is helpful and willing to help you to see where you are following the right path or getting sidetracked. It's the best cohort I could have asked for.

Entry 3 Irritation

So before it was E2 and now it is E3 that is driving me crazy!!

The wording of goals vs. objectives, making sure you include enough description to paint the picture without wasting space, ensuring you have concrete evidence from the video. It is enough to give you gray hair! And I don't have any right now, nor do I want any!!!



I am happy with my video so that's good. It is the written part that is sooooo annoying. I chuckle because in the nightly chats, people are obsessing about their videos. HA! I did my videos well before the holidays on purpose. I knew that would allow me time to obsess over the written commentary instead. And obsess I am! Sheesh!


I have conferences this week so work time is a tad limited but I am planning to leave tomorrow right away since I have a doctor appointment. I don't plan to bring work home and would LOVE to get 2-3 hours of work on National Board tomorrow. It may not happen but it sure would be awesome!

Playing Catchup!

I had a super crazy week this week! I did not work on National Board AT ALL. This is problematic in that we're on the downswing to the deadline. 

Looking on the bright side, however, I am 99% sure my E2 will need minimal revisions so that's good. E3 is half done, E4 is 95% done and I am starting E1. So I'm not behind. If I can bust behind and get all of the preliminary entries done by the end of this month, I will be in a very, very good position. I will have 4 entire weeks to revise, review and make changes to my entries. I am hopeful to have E2 and E4 sent to readers by the end of next weekend for some feedback. I would LOVE to get E3 finished up this week as a draft but we have conferences so I'm not sure how that is going to work. I will try though.

My mom is taking the kids tomorrow for awhile and The Husband has to work so I will have some quiet time in which to get some school things done and work on National Board. I am hopeful for about 4-5 hours of alone time. I may well spend my Saturday night working on National Board (such a party animal, no?) and then spend my time tomorrow on stuff for work since I am behind there too. We shall see. 

I have a personal day coming up soon so that will be a huge help too. I will have 7 hours all to myself to just work. It will be a super big help!