My Why

The beginning of anything is difficult. Taking the first uncertain step towards something is scary. We take a step, and then we pause to see what this new world is. We take another step, repeat. We know that the world won't be the same, whether we know it or not. Some steps are less important, less life changing. I'm dipping my toe in the sand of National Board Certification. 

The common theme, the thread that holds this all together, is my why. In the blogs that I have seen about the key to success in National Board Certification, this is the thing that kept speaking to me. Yes, the 5 Core Propositions are important (see below) and yes of course the four components of course are what are you graded on. But in 200-300 hours of work, its important to latch on to something to keep yourself moving. One can easily get lost, depressed, or even give up on a goal when it is wrapped in hard work. 

So, what is my why? My why is the me. God that seems selfish to type out. But wait, just hear me out. After getting my Master's Degree in 2014 (before my children were born) I really felt like that was it. I had achieved all that I could achieve. And let's be honest, there is not a ton of AMAZING and PERSONALIZED professional development out there. Yes, EdTech does some good stuff, and yes SummitTree knows how to run a well organized PD. But something that requires me to think, to grow, and to give me something to work towards, ehhh not so much. The closest I have come to that was the AVID training I received back in the early 2010s and it did require me to think and grow professionally. And it was amazing! 

As my children have grown in the last 6 years I have found myself stagnating as we can do. I have done my best during the hours that I am required to work to be the best that I can be and to keep myself relevant professionally. But to be truly challenged and reflective? Who has the time! 

Many New Years Resolutions fail due to the simple fact that if I didn't have time last year to do X, what makes me thing that I'll have time now to do X. Instead, I'll try to do X, start to fail, feel back about myself, and then give up. However, if you write about it, and dedicate yourself to do it with accountability, you are far more likely to continue and to succeed with the work that has to be done. COVID and 2020 has forced so much change on us that it can be easy to get lost in the survival mentatility that we all have experienced. So now its time for a reset in 2021. It is time to find our way back to some of the old things that made us amazing teachers. In some ways education is better because of COVID (its hard/impossible to see now but I know that those good things are there - they have to be because something good has got to come out of all of this destruction) and so now its time to blend the good we've learned with the old we knew and be the most amazing educator that we can be for our students. 

Each week I will update this blog to document the work I am doing toward NBCT and, if you've found this, I hope that it provides you with hope and helps you to understand why you yourself should become a NBCT Candidate.