Does anyone have any advice on working on National Board Certification for Teachers?

Question

I am presently a candiate.

Answer 1

You need to be organized beyond belief. Do not let papers pile up on you. You need binders full of detailed information. Keep up on that and you should be all right.
It is important to brush up in all areas of your field before the test. I work with a teacher who normally teaches chemistry, but had to test in areas of biology and earth science. The same would be very true of history and math. If you teach algebra you may need to brush up on calculus, etc. She sat in on a couple biology classes just to refresh her memory.
Good luck.

Answer 2

Yes -- become a social butterfly in a way. I opened the portfolio and looked at the questions then sought others' ideas and thoughts on what the questions were looking for. It was this social activity (also known as collegiality) which made my portfolio entries so awesome. I was part of a support group in which we looked at one another's work to troubleshoot and question ... helping another makes you look at your own work in a different light.

My second piece of advice is to not stress. I wrote the entire thing in 1 week, but planned it and collected my artifacts over the course of the year. So I had this big box into which went student work samples, lesson plan ideas, professioanl and community supports, etc., and it helped greatly as I wrote, since I had all my artifact stuff right there.

Good luck! You'll do fine!

Answer 3

Be organized and keep on top of things. It is a pain in the butt, but it will be worth it, especially if it jogs your salary. Good luck!!!!