The first step

Well, folks. I guess I'm officially crazy. I have decided that during the upcoming school year, I will be working toward my national board certification in early/middle childhood music. I will submit my scholarship application to the state by this coming Tuesday at 5:00 p.m. Here is a primer for some of the terms/acronyms you may be seeing in the coming year:

NBCT - National Board Certified Teacher
EMC - Early and Middle Childhood
NBPTS - National Board for Professional Teaching Standards

Now a rundown on what I will be doing over the course of the next 1-3 years of my life.

• If I get the scholarship from either the state or my school district or both, I'll register on June 14 to become a candidate for my boards.
• Between June 14 and the end of March of 2008 I will be putting together 4 portfolios: one classroom-based with accompanying student work, two classroom-based which require video recordings of me interacting with my students, and one that provides evidence of my accomplishments outside of the classroom and how that impacts student learning. (This information was taken directly from the NBPTS website.)
• My "Box", which will contain all four of my portfolios and accompanying written bits (description, reflective analysis, etc.) will be sent to Texas (I think...) by March 31.
• Sometime after April 1 I will be assessing at a test center. This will be a written assessment. I'm not quite sure what all that will entail just yet. But there's time.
• Around November of 2008 I will find out whether or not I passed all of my parts. If so, I will be a National Board Certified Teacher, if not, I will be a retake candidate.
• If I become a retake candidate, I will only have to redo and reassess in the areas which were lacking at the end of the 2007-2008 school year. I have three years total to complete this endeavour.

You may be wondering, "Why would an otherwise sane individual do this?" I'll tell you. When I get my NBTC, I won't have to recertify for 10 years (unlike the 3 years required by the state). I will also get a hefty bonus each year.

Keep looking here to see if there's anything new, like if I get the scholarship(s).