Last updated: July 9, 2015
When I began the National Board certification process in the 2012-2013 school year, I was quite surprised to discover that there was not a single National Board Certified Teacher in my school district. Not one. Since we have about 1700 teachers, this surprised me. What it really meant was that I was more or less on my own in terms of support. I did not have a mentor, cohort or "support group" that I could meet up with in person to toss ideas around, vent frustrations and just generally try to figure out what was going on with this process.
Therefore I had to find my own support and thanks to the fabulous internet, there are plenty of resources out there, many of which you can access for free on your journey. (Please know I would not put a recommendation here if it hadn't been truly helpful to ME.)
When I began the National Board certification process in the 2012-2013 school year, I was quite surprised to discover that there was not a single National Board Certified Teacher in my school district. Not one. Since we have about 1700 teachers, this surprised me. What it really meant was that I was more or less on my own in terms of support. I did not have a mentor, cohort or "support group" that I could meet up with in person to toss ideas around, vent frustrations and just generally try to figure out what was going on with this process.
Therefore I had to find my own support and thanks to the fabulous internet, there are plenty of resources out there, many of which you can access for free on your journey. (Please know I would not put a recommendation here if it hadn't been truly helpful to ME.)
These are my favorite resources that I found to be invaluable as I worked through my Boards.
The Official National Board of Professional Teaching Standards website -- lots of great info here about the process, what you have to do and explanations of all of the different certificate areas. It's a must see for anyone even thinking about the process because you can download EVERYTHING that would come in your kit (except the labels) so you would know well before you ever decided if you wanted to pursue this process what you will be expected to do.
The Cornerstone for Teachers - National Board page -- I can actually say that Angela Watson is where I first learned about National Board. She certified the year that I was student teaching and I remember her writing about it on her website (then mspowell.com) and thinking it was something I would definitely want to do some day. She also assessed for Entry 4 before she was a candidate so she has a lot of great advice.
EC-gen.org -- Incidentally this is a site that I learned about also from Angela Watson. It is really geared for the Early Childhood Generalist certificate but has been expanded to include the Middle Childhood Generalist certificate and the Early/Middle Childhood Literacy certificate. Just looking through the library resources they have and reviewing the forums, I have already gained a ton of insight into how to best "punch up" my writing and make it better. There is a fee but it is WORTH IT.
This is a MUST HAVE resource. It gives you guidance and tips regardless of what area you are in. I bought the kindle version so I would have it immediately but there is also a paper version if you know you will be starting the process.
The National Board process is under revision but the tips and tricks on the above resources STILL apply. Mostly the names of things and the timeline is what has changed.
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