I'M CONFUSED! WHAT IS THE PROMPT ASKING? National Board Vocabulary

The wording in National Board prompts can be confusing! There are many posts on the various Yahoo! Groups sites expressing this frustration and asking for clarification. Here are some phrases found in prompts from a variety of certificates that may benefit from discussion:

Big Ideas of Science
Relevant characteristics
Relevant features
Instructional challenges
Overall (instructional) goals
Social Studies/History theme, issue, topic
Featured period of instruction
Perspective other than their own
Instructional sequence
Integration
Overarching math and science goals
Nature and flow of the learning sequence
Rationale
Intellectual engagement
Technology
Substantive mathematical idea
Conceptual understanding

Here is a question and response I found on the MC Gen Yahoo Group recently. Q: What does the term overarching math and science goal(s) mean (MC Gen and EC Gen Entry 3)? R: If I have an overarching goal to live a long and healthy life, I have to do a number of things to achieve that goal. I need to eat healthy foods, exercise regularly, and reduce stress (Unit Goals). But first I need to accomplish smaller goals (Lesson Objectives) such as eat fruits and veggies each day, take a 30 minute daily walk, and get enough sleep.

Which terms are giving YOU trouble? Be brave and share! Who out there can shed some light on a few of them and share your interpretations? Be brave and share!

The beauty AND frustration of NB prompts is that there is no one way to respond to them, and that there is no one way to respond to them. Yet the wording calls for a common understanding of what the terms mean. Find a fellow candidate and have a discussion about some of the terms. You will both be better off for the dialogue!

Frozen Finger Syndrome vs The Never Ending Story

This is a tale of opposites. A candidate has already admitted that she has a very common National Board malady: Frozen Finger Syndrome. She sits down at the computer, puts her hands over the keyboard - and has no idea what to write. Does this sound familiar to you? If so, here are some suggestions to help you get started:

1. Whenever you start an entry, type in the prompts (in their entirety). Type them in a color in 12 point font. This will ensure that the prompts are highly visible and that you will answer ALL PARTS of the question. Then, as you write and begin to polish your drafts, gradually lower the font size until you are down to 8 point. This will help you gauge your space and page count more accurately. When you reach 8 points, you will be on the verge of being able to eliminate the prompts.
2. If you still can't get started, try writing something else to get your thinking flowing. After Entry 4 in your portfolio are additional forms and sheets you will turn in with each entry. One of them is called Contextual Information. This form is a place to write general information about your school district and school clientele. This may be a good place to start writing. The piece is mainly description - the easiest writing style - and contains information you already know well. Having this done early, even if you tweak it from time to time, will be a godsend in March when you may be scrambling to polish your entries. A word of caution: PAY ATTENTION TO PAGE LIMITS - they matter.
3. The third suggestion to get you started writing is to look at the Instructional Context prompt in Entries 1,2,and 3. This is similar in many ways to the Contextual Information, only this is specifically about your teaching situation and the class you are using for the entry. Here you describe the class, its personality, special needs and other characteristics of the group. You can likely start on this section soon after school starts and you've had a chance to get to know your class(es). In some certificates you will use the same class for every entry while in other certificates different classes will be featured in each entry. Read each entry's directions carefully to determine your requirements. Then, as above, PAY ATTENTION TO THE PAGE LIMITS!

Now, the opposite of not being able to write anything is The Never Ending Story Syndrome. No one has reached this point yet, but some of you will find yourself facing this dilemma - which can be as frustrating as its opposite counterpart. The candidate who faces this issue is the one who writes 30 pages and has to whittle it down to 15. It is usually a good idea, when starting to write, to get every idea and thought down on paper so you can pick and choose which to feature. But if you find yourself facing this dilemma down the road, chances are you have gone overboard with description and don't have nearly enough analysis and reflection. I'll elaborate on this another time - just be aware of the amount of description you put in the entries. Writing "just the facts" should be your descriptional goal. Save valuable space for the more important analysis and reflection.

Hopefully you've now picked up a few tips to help you get started writing. Warm those frozen fingers up by trying one of these suggestions. HAPPY WRITING!

LESS MAY BE MORE IN ENTRY 4

CHOOSING ACCOMPLISHMENTS

Candidates always want to know how many accomplishments they should write about. And the answer is that there is no set answer to that question. You can write about UP TO EIGHT and some candidates have been successful doing so - IF the really have eight strong activities and IF they are able to write succinctly. Writing well about eight activities in ten pages is not easily done. If you can do it - GO FOR IT! But if not, consider that LESS MAY BE MORE IN ENTRY 4.

A general rule of thumb to follow is to focus on 4-6 strong accomplishments. How do you know if an activity is strong enough? First and foremost IT MUST CONNECT TO STUDENT LEARNING. That said, the connections can be direct - your own students, or indirect - other teachers' students. If you can make either of those connections, the accomplishment might be a keeper.

In your writing, you must do four things:

1. DESCRIBE the nature of the activity. Tell whether it showcases you as a learner, leader, collaborator, or shows 2-way communication with parents. This part should be short and direct, It should take only a few sentences to describe the nature of the activity.
2. ANALYZE the significance of the activity. Tell why this accomplishment is important - how it made a difference. This part should be longer than the description , but shorter than the section to follow.
3. ANALYZE and REFLECT on the IMPACT ON STUDENT LEARNING. This is the most important part of your writing about the accomplishment. Here is where you connect it to learning - your students and/or other teachers' students. This must be the longest part of your writing because it is the most important.
4. DOCUMENT/VERIFY the accomplishment using one of the verification forms in your portfolio or some other artifact such as a letter, photograph, certificate, or other evidence.

Think of a pyramid. The tiny little pointed tip is the description of the accomplishment (WHAT), the thicker middle section is the analysis (WHY), and the big, heavy, wide base is the analysis and reflection (HOW/IMPACT). That visual will help you gauge how much to write to answer each of the prompts.

One way to choose your accomplishments is to create a 5-Column Chart with this information:

• Column 1: Name of the activity or 2-way parent communication strategy
• Column 2: Impact on student learning; if you can't fill this in you can't use the activity
• Column 3: Evidence to document the accomplishment: letter, verification form etc.
• Column 4: Your role: learner, leader, collaborator,parent communication, or a combination
• Column 5: Standard(s) the activity demonstrates

If there is any column you can't figure out a way to fill in, let it go. It isn't strong enough. But do talk with others before eliminating an activity (POSE THE QUESTION ON THIS BLOG!). Sometimes we can't see connections that others can and two heads are often better than one.

DOCUMENTING YOUR ACCOMPLISHMENTS

You can always use the verification forms found in your portfolio. They are there for you to use. National Board and assessors I have talked to insist that no one form of verification is stronger or weaker than another. Here are some suggestions for additional types of documentation:

• Letter or note from parent/principal/colleague/student
• Copy of student work representative of the accomplishment
• Photo of student(s) utilizing the product of the accomplishment
• Certificate/syllabus etc. of your attendance/participation/completion of an activity

Letters can be a powerful verification but can present a dilemma for the writer because they don't know what to write that will be helpful to you as a NB candidate. There is nothing wrong with helping the process along by letting the writer know what information you need. Start with a note or conversation such as:

Dear (Colleague),

Thanks for sharing your observation about how my workshop on sharpening pencils improved the student performance in your class. Could you please take a few minutes and write a note or letter describing how the presentation impacted how you teach pencil sharpening and what your students learned? Because I need specific information for my National Board entry, I have enclosed some sentence starters that will make your writing easier. Please include:

• My name and the date of the presentation
• A few lines that describe how the workshop impacted your teaching, such as: Lulu's workshop showed me that I can ...whereas before I ... OR Learning to sharpen pencils the way Lulu showed in her workshop changed the way I teach my students to sharpen their pencils because... and as a result...
• A paragraph on student impact such as: I saw the impact of what I learned at Lulu's workshop when my students... OR Before I attended Lulu's presentation, my students would ..., but now they... OR In years past my students would ..., but after this pencil sharpening presentation, my students ...which helps them to ...

Tweak the sentence stems to fit the person writing the letter. Ask for letters as early as possible to avoid scrambling for them in March when you will likely be super busy polishing your entries.

IN SUMMARY

• Brainstorm every activity/accomplishment you can think of from the past 5 years. If you list includes something that doesn't seem particularly unique, such as a newsletter, think of how yours might be different from others or how you could make it unique this year.
• List ways you are involved in 2-way communication with parents and or the community. Think: newsletters, web-page, Friday Folders, Communication Log, guest speakers, content materials that go home with students to do with their families (reading books, math games etc.), Family Math (science,reading etc.) Night.
• Re-read the standards and take notes on key phrases and important ideas.
• Know that you will write many drafts of this (and every) entry before you finish.
• Use first person pronouns and strong verbs in your writing such as: I, me, mine, myself, I planned, I designed, I organized, my students etc.
• Don't be modest or shy. Take credit for what you have done. This isn't bragging; it's simply laying out your professional activities/accomplishments.
• TIE EVERYTHING TO STUDENT LEARNING. If the accomplishment doesn't show an impact - you can't use it.

So get busy asap and start putting your accomplishments to paper. You can do it!