I made myself a personal deadline to have Entry 2 finished by January 8.
It is January 12 and I am working on it. I'm guessing this means I am not going to have entry 3 done by the end of this month either. I am finding it difficult to really get myself going during the week. It's difficult because while this is important to me, I do not want to feel like I am completely neglecting my family obligations either.
The best thing, to me, about National Board, is that it is all about the clear expectations. While some of the portfolio directions feel at times like they may as well be written in Greek, for the most part, they are very, very clear on what they want you to do. I find that is one of the only things keeping me sane right now. I know that when push comes to shove, everything I am required to do is spelled out for me, I just have to do it.
For the EMC Literacy certificate, Entries 1-3 require instructional context information. Since the assessor is not in your classroom with you, you have to "paint a picture". For the literacy certificate at least, all of the instructional contexts will be a bit different because of the scope of the entry. Entry 1 focuses on writing, entry 2 on constructing meaning through reading and entry 3 of the integration of speaking, listening and viewing. In my classroom, for sure, my instructional context changes for each of those things. Yes, the number of children in my class is the same, but how I frame my classroom is not.
I read somewhere (either at ecgen.org or in WHAT WORKS!: Successful Strategies in Pursuing National Board Certification
) that one of the smartest things to do is write your prompts out in red in your word document and then go through and write your answers (in black). This way you can be sure you answered all of the questions and when you present your entry to a reader -- if you choose to have one -- they will know what they should be looking for. It makes it simple for them to see if you answered the question/prompt or not because it's right there.
Example the red prompt in the text (blurred obviously so as not to violate NB rules).
It sounds kind of funny but it really does help. I have found it especially helpful when I am feeling stuck. The prompts keep pushing you. Sometimes it feels as though you already answered the question but you haven't -- they are all carefully framed to be just a bit different and that gets tricky sometimes as well.
I have been working pretty steadily on Entry 2 today and have found myself making it farther and farther with the prompts to keep pushing me (and not having to ruffle through my instructions to find the next question is really nice!).
I rewatched my video and made some notes. I made my own form based on one I found in here:
I have probably watched this video 8-9 times now and every time you get a little more out of it. Here's my form:
The columns are blank because I'm just not that far yet!
This entry would be driving me insane if I hadn't read What Works. Seriously the ideas, positive message and encouragement are very helpful. Especially to someone like myself who has no mentor or cohort to bounce ideas off of.
I will keep chipping away at this entry. I am bound and determined to put this one to bed by Monday night (the 16th). Crossing my fingers I make it, only a week after my original goal!
