Hello Mrs Sykes

If you are on the path to National Board Certification , you're on a crazy journey!  I certified EMC-Literacy in 2010, and it was a huge undertaking.  Here's a bit of advice that was super helpful to me when I was working on my portfolio.   (Disclaimer:  I'm not an expert, just giving friendly advice.) Click to visit the National Board of Professional Teaching Standards Set yourself a schedule.  Enlist support from family/friends to stick to that schedule.  My kids were 2 and 7 when I took NBs, and it was difficult.  One day each weekend, my kids would visit grandparents for the day or my husband would take them out and about for the day.  I spent at least one full day every weekend working on this from Jan-March.  April and May were spent studying for the Assessment Center.  I had a fabulous study group, and we would meet, have coffee, commiserate, and make flashcards together. Make sure you are collecting work samples from sever...

Hello! I'm proud to say that I am a National Board Certified Teacher.  It's the time of year when many people are frantically finishing up "The Box," where they send their hard work, videos, and artifacts off to be scored as they strive for National Board Certification.  If you are in the midst of this process, just know that I understand how crazy difficult this process is for you!  I still have my pictures from when I packed my Box in March 2010.  Here's a glimpse for those of you who have no idea what I'm talking about... If you are considering pursuing National Board Certification, you need to do a lot of research and soul-searching beforehand.  For me, this involved a lot of serious conversations with my husband and my parents about how to provide support for our family while I worked on NBs.  Since we have 2 kids (ages 2 & 6 at the time), this was no small task; my amazing husband loaded the kids in the car practically every Satu...