Oh yeah...VICTORY!

Well. It's over. Done. Finito!

I got my life back as of 10:03 this morning. It took me just over 2 hours to take my test. I did not go the full 30 minutes for each exercise. I know me. I would overanalyze, think too much and mess up. So I went with my gut on each one, double checked my responses to make sure I had all of my criteria met and on to the next.

I thought I was going to pass out between exercise 2 and 3. I did not sleep well at all last night. I think I got about 4 hours of sleep and it was broken. I just couldn't relax. So I got up with a sore throat, a headache and hardly any sleep. Not exactly ideal conditions to take the biggest test of your life! But I powered on and I think I did okay. At the worst maybe a 2 on any of them but really I think I did alright. I'm so glad we practiced exercise 3 (Emergent Literacy) and exercise 5 (Visual Text) so much because I think I kicked some behind on those two. Here's hoping I'm right!! The AC chats were the very best thing I ever participated in, seriously. I would have been LOST without those.

You have to shut off EVERYTHING when you get there and are only allowed to have your ID and your locker key in the room. When I left, feeling tremendous relief and disbelief that it was finally over, I had two voicemails from school. One saying they needed me to come in because no one took the job. Um, not happening. The 2nd one said "oh we figured out what all of those letters mean and realize you can't come in, nevermind". I wouldn't have anyway! Not my issue that a sub cancelled last minute. And it's  not like you can just go "oh nevermind National Board, I'll put you off another day or week". Um, no.

SO glad to be done with this. I want my life back. It's been amazing, frustrating, invigorating, thought provoking and tiring all at once. I know that once school resumes for fall I will be much better off having done this -- because everything I learned will come with me. Everything I'm too tired to process right now will come back to me and I will be a better teacher because of it. But for now....it is rest. Rest and wait. Wait a loooooong time for score results. Honestly after today I'm sure I won't think about it much before October. I'm so ready to just have it behind me.

The End

Well, here we are.

In less than 12 hours now,  I will be at the Assessment Center, on the final leg of my National Board journey. From therein, it will be a waiting game. A big sigh of relief when it's over and putting it out of my mind so I can go back to a normal life: reading, writing, working on my books, getting my publishing house going, spending time with my hubby and kids, watching TV (which I rarely ever do) and not thinking about NB.

Come the fall when things are busy, it will continue to be pushed to the back of my mind. My frame of reference will be filled with starting the new school year, working out the kinks of the new system we're using for Reading Street and focusing on myself.

Then The Email will come. The email that announces that scores will be released soon. And anxiety will set in. Will my hard work have paid off? Will I become a National Board Certified Teacher or an Advanced Candidate?

I can prep no more. I either know it...or I don't. I'm not worried about whether or not I know it. I'm worried about remembering it when I'm sitting in that room, nervous that I will come off like a complete bonehead in my exercises. That some assessor somewhere will laugh at my entries and wonder who the heck I thought I was even attempting this.

Although when I did my very last practice chat on Thursday, the gal I've bonded with who has been with me every week for these chats said she thought I was one of the smartest people on the forum and would be crossing her fingers for me. That's super nice and super awesome. This is someone I don't even really know who thinks I am smart and will make it. I sure hope I do. I want this to pay off -- not in two or three tries, but in one. I want the pain, suffering and literal anguish I have been through this year -- not at the hands of NB but trying to push through the process and deal with it -- to pay off and be able to proclaim that I did, indeed, make it in one try. That I am worthy of the initials NBCT behind my name. 

Getting closer...

In one week, I will be freaking out. FREAKING.OUT.

Why? Because on Monday, May 14, I will be taking THE TEST. Not any ole test. The biggest test of my life. Really for five of the exercises, I feel confident. I have done well in our practice sessions. Whenever I have practiced on my own, I have always had extra time. That makes me feel better because everyone says those 30 minutes FLY in the Assessment Center. In all of my practices I have had at least 10 minutes when I've finished my responses to go back, make sure I haven't missed anything and make anything more clear if needed. I'm SO glad I've had the foresight to do those practices, and engage in all of the extra chats, because it sure has helped.

I am worried about Exercise 3 -- the Emergent Literacy one. I fear that I will choke when I'm in the AC. I have never taught K-1 (and never plan to). My certificate will span ages 3-12 bu I plan to stay in the late 6 year old and up ages (I had a few kiddos who were still 6 when school started this year). I will practice, practice, practice that one over the next week. 

Then it's test time...and freedom. No more weekends devoted to NB. No more scheduling my life around the AC chats we've been doing. No more worrying about how I will get everything done. Freedom to enjoy my last weeks of the school year and not have this hanging over me.

It's soooo close I can nearly taste it.

Assessment Center

After mulling through the thousands of emails I seem to get every day, I noticed that I had scheduled my assessment center on the day that happens to be Field Day. With any other group, I would have left it. With this one?  Nope. So I went to the site and looked to see what else is free....not willing to make it on a day when I would miss a prep period.

So Monday, May 14 it is. Kind of scary because it's coming up FAST. But...the last chat for the EMC Literacy group is May 13. Plus a few of us have been doing our own chats. The one I am most worried about is the emergent literacy since I have never taught K-1 and never plan to either. Fortunately one of my new pals in my certificate area IS a K-1 teacher and is steering me in the right direction on that one. So hopefully, I will be okay.

I'm not too worried about the change of day. It's a Monday rather than a Wednesday but I won't miss any specials, my kids aren't taking any tests, etc. If I really kick myself in the behind in the next couple of weeks, I will be okay. I really am not too worried. I have kicked some ass (if I do say so myself) in my practice work for the AC so I'm feeling MUCH better than I was at the onset of this part of the process.

In truth, I will be beyond happy to get that assessment over with and get on with the rest of my life. I have learned a TON in this process and I am so glad I have done it...but I also am looking forward to relaxing. Thinking about closing out the year, looking ahead to next year and NOT thinking about the test or practicing for the test. I will hang on until the end of May to help my fellow candidates but once May is over...I'm SO done until November when I get to panic about score release!

Support

I've made it no secret that when I make National Board certified status, I will be the only one in my district. Therefore I have no mentor or coaches or support groups.

I have my yahoo group and ecgen.org and that's it.

I am finding that I am good at thinking through the prompts and applying them to the stimulus. The issue will be when you only have 30 minutes to read and respond. The prompt doesn't change, just the stimulus, but that means you need to know 6 prompts like the back of your hand going in. No easy task.

I missed the first yahoo chat for exercise one but made it for exercise two. A fellow lit candidate wanted some practice with exercise 5 so we met tonight and it was just us but we got it done. Great thinking and we started sharing a brain after a bit. Good problem to have! We encouraged each other to back it up and find proof.

If we're honest I'm enough of a bossy pants that I kind of like leading the chat...pushing the thinking of myself and others. It's also helpful. Now the trick will be to be able to do all of the steps of the prompt in under 30 minutes!

First Chat!

I attended my first Yahoo! Chat today. I missed last week's because it was Monday night and I had too much to do that first day back.

I'm glad I made this one. It was for Exercise 2. I feel SUPER good about this exercise since I am an ELL teacher. Lots of folks were impressed with my responses. Yay me! Hopefully that serves me well in the actual AC! I am going to keep practicing so I get the time frame underway -- that will be the hardest part: answering everything in only 30 minutes AND backing it up.

The moderator of the Yahoo group said it was awesome that I used words from the stimulus and I said "isn't that what we're supposed to do?!" and he said "only if you want to pass" :)

I ALWAYS tell my students to show proof. It's how you prove you know what you're talking about. I can't wait to tell them that it's true even when you are my age!!!

AC Exercises 1 & 2

Despite my grand plan to work on Exercise 1 for the AC test this week, with going back to work and everything that goes along with being a mom of 3 and a wife, it never happened. I at least got some prep materials printed out but that was it. Oops.

So this weekend I am focusing on Exercise 1 and then hopefully this week I can work on Exercise 2. 

Exercise 1 focuses on Reading Comprehension. Since the Literacy certificate spans early and middle childhood children from age 3 to 12, the questions can (and should) cover a huge range of possibilities in terms of the age and grade level. Exercise 1 presents a scenario and teacher-student dialogue. The level 4 rubric consists of 4 questions:

1. Provide one STRENGTH and one WEAKNESS in the student's comprehension (based on the sample answers provided in the dialogue)

2. Cite specific examples from the student's response in support of the STRENGTH and WEAKNESS

3. Provide one developmentally appropriate teaching strategy to support the student's comprehension (based upon your response in steps 1-2)

4. Rationalize your teaching strategy with research or theory

Personally I think the last one will be the hardest because I do not have tons of research/theory memorized. However, if you assume that each of those questions is worth a point, as long as you do well on questions 1-3, you would earn a passing score on this exercise. 

I am practicing with several sample prompts that I found on the Yahoo! group for the Early/Middle Childhood Literacy certificate. Additionally, a fabulous NBCT Patrick has a site where you can practice the prompts as well. I especially love that he has a blank template so you can practice more than one prompt if it is available. BONUS. And it includes a timer -- essential for helping ensure that you can fully answer the entire prompt in the 30 minutes you get.

Exercise 2 focuses on Oral Language Acquisition Skills for Learners of English as a New Language. Considering that my master's degree is in ESL, I am the least worried about this one. I will still review the documents available of course and practice answering some prompts but I feel good about my knowledge of ESL so hopefully that will serve me well. In this exercise, you read a transcript an then provide evidence of the following:

1. An accurate identification of one STRENGTH and two WEAKNESSES in the student's oral language development

2. tightly connect examples of the strength and weaknesses from the transcript

3. Provide an in-depth description of two developmentally appropriate teaching strategies, other than teacher correction, connected to the identified strength or weakness in the language development

4. Provide an appropriate rationale for the strategies selected.

I will probably practice both of them throughout this week as I can since I am a little behind in the schedule I set for myself. However, I did provide myself a week of cushion so I will be alright. I'm more nervous about finding the time to practice since this is always a crazy-busy time of year at school as we wind things up and prep the students for the next grade.