Friday, March 26, 2010
Sunday, March 7, 2010
The Gauntlet
National Boards. Good heavens.
The expression "biting of more than I can chew" comes instantly to mind.
I've been whining about this for awhile now, but I haven't fully explained it. So, for those of you not in the teaching biz, National Boards is a process akin to "super certification," a sign that the teacher in question's at the top of her game. To become an NBCT, teachers must meet rigorous standards--mostly through intensive study of their own classrooms. It involves videoing oneself (and one's students), analyzing those videos through a series of essays, and then submitting it all for peer review. That's right. Total strangers get to watch me teach.
(Commence emotional vomiting here.)
It's great professional development, but it's also incredibly nerve-wracking. There's only so much navel-gazing I can handle before I turn into an epic freak show. I'm so worried that my evaluators will confirm my worst fear: that I'm actually a horrible teacher. (Bonus worry: they'll be so distracted by my terrible taste in clothes that they won't even be able to evaluate my teaching.)
What's been really fun is having my teaching insecurities bump up against my writing insecurities. I've put off writing my essays because I fear showing them to anybody--much like the latest draft of my novel. This has made for some extreme stress!
Most candidates put in 200 to 400 hours of work in the course of their candidacy year... on top of full-time teaching responsibilities. Which is somewhat insane, considering that I grade 121 essays every two weeks.
Well, in theory. I've told my students they're not getting any work back until April.
It's true! The end is in sight. No matter where I'm at in the revision (don't lie: writing) process, my National Boards portfolio must be postmarked by midnight on March 31st.
Yeah, if you see a crazy lady at Kinko's/Fed Ex that night, it's probably me.
I'll be working down to the wire on this one. It's definitely time to assume crash positions and wait for the frantic e-mail. Any words of encouragement would be appreciated!
At this point, I'm trying to remind myself that projects are never done. They're just due.
The expression "biting of more than I can chew" comes instantly to mind.I've been whining about this for awhile now, but I haven't fully explained it. So, for those of you not in the teaching biz, National Boards is a process akin to "super certification," a sign that the teacher in question's at the top of her game. To become an NBCT, teachers must meet rigorous standards--mostly through intensive study of their own classrooms. It involves videoing oneself (and one's students), analyzing those videos through a series of essays, and then submitting it all for peer review. That's right. Total strangers get to watch me teach.
(Commence emotional vomiting here.)
It's great professional development, but it's also incredibly nerve-wracking. There's only so much navel-gazing I can handle before I turn into an epic freak show. I'm so worried that my evaluators will confirm my worst fear: that I'm actually a horrible teacher. (Bonus worry: they'll be so distracted by my terrible taste in clothes that they won't even be able to evaluate my teaching.)
What's been really fun is having my teaching insecurities bump up against my writing insecurities. I've put off writing my essays because I fear showing them to anybody--much like the latest draft of my novel. This has made for some extreme stress!
Most candidates put in 200 to 400 hours of work in the course of their candidacy year... on top of full-time teaching responsibilities. Which is somewhat insane, considering that I grade 121 essays every two weeks.
Well, in theory. I've told my students they're not getting any work back until April.
It's true! The end is in sight. No matter where I'm at in the revision (don't lie: writing) process, my National Boards portfolio must be postmarked by midnight on March 31st.
Yeah, if you see a crazy lady at Kinko's/Fed Ex that night, it's probably me.
I'll be working down to the wire on this one. It's definitely time to assume crash positions and wait for the frantic e-mail. Any words of encouragement would be appreciated!
At this point, I'm trying to remind myself that projects are never done. They're just due.
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