Five Years a Candidate: Maryland Teacher’s Story of GRACE for the Journey
By: Angela Killebrew, NBCT A Science Teacher shares her five-year journey to National Board certification culminating in December 2021. I want to share my story with hopes it will inspire someone else to find their confidence to stay the course and accomplish their goal of National Board certification. In the Spring of 2016, I celebrated…
From Teacher to Hunter
By: Maria Peterson, NBCT I’m a Spanish teacher in Montgomery County, MD. Our 160,000 students come from more than 50 countries and represent hundreds of languages and cultures. This diversity is one of the reasons the district has been an ideal place for me to teach for more than 28 years. Coming from the small…
It Takes a Village
By: Megan Jenny, NBCT Like most National Board Certified Teachers (NBCTs), I consider myself internally motivated and self-sufficient. When I entered the teaching profession 15 years ago, I set two goals for myself—earn my National Board Certification and complete my PhD in Education. The goals I set were for me, myself, and I…
My AP advocacy journey with College Board
By: Mirta Valdés-Bradner, NBCT I am a World Language teacher at North Caroline High School, in a small rural county on Maryland’s Eastern Shore. This past year I was recognized as one of only 23 state leads in the national Advanced Placement® (AP) Advocates Program. Through the Advanced Placement® Advocates Program, AP teachers…
How Are You Advocating for School Librarians?
By: Jamie Gregory, NBCT According to SLIDE: The School Librarian Investigation—Decline or Evolution?, a new study conducted by Keith Curry Lance and Debra E. Kachel, our country has experienced a 20% decline in the number of school librarians employed in American school districts in just the last ten years (starting well before the COVID-19 pandemic).…
Be an NBCT to a T (as in Traveler, not Tourist)
By: Carol Hofer, NBCT If you bet that seeing themselves on video is what most terrifies candidates pursuing National Board Certification, pay up. It’s the editing. But it’s a double whammy- trimming both the video AND the writing! First, it’s “How am I going to fill up all those pages?” then it becomes,…
When Schools and Pixar Collide: The Value of a Postmortem
By: Danny Hollweg, NBCT I picked up Ed Catmull’s 2014 book, Creativity, Inc.: Overcoming the Unseen Forces That Stand in the Way of True Inspiration. Catmull, who is the President and CEO of Pixar Animation and Disney Animation, uses stories of Pixar projects to reveal what he’s learned about managing a company, and its creative…
Tales from the Pandemic: Lessons learned as an administrator during COVID-19
Starting the School Year. As a school-based administrator entering my 3rd year in a building, I have experienced very little “normal.” I thought this year would be different. Er, rather, I hoped. Here we are on the Friday before teachers return. COVID-19 numbers are surging. Mask wars are on full-scale. Staff members are stressed already.…
Why administrators should consider National Board Certification
Is NBCT for me? Of course! In the year 2000 when I achieved National Board certification, nobody in my district had attempted nor had achieved certification. So I decided to take that plunge! I initially sought National Board certification because I wanted to continue to build my mastery of teaching and I thought going through…
