National Board Certification

You Can Do It!

When my partner and I first thought of becoming National Board Certified, it all seemed so overwhelming. The task, when looked at as a whole, just seemed to be too much! In researching it further we discovered that there was only one other physical educator in our entire state (New York) that was national board certified! Did I really think that I had what it took to actually make it through this process? I started to think that there was no way.

This whole idea began with three of us all doing this at the same time and helping us through the process. As it turned out, the other two teachers decided not to do this after all. My main concern then was if I didn't make it, how would I be perceived by my administration? Would they see me as a "failure," or someone that went out on a limb for the profession? A collegue made a good point. He said that when we were all coaching we constantly told our athletes to shoot for being the best; and that would make them better athletes, no matter the result. It was time for me to follow my own advice as a coach. So I went for it!

Everything starts with the "box." All I heard about was this box. The "box" contains everything you will need to go through the process. The actual box itself is important also. You need to save it to send your final work in to be assessed.

I am in New York State. One of the teachers unions in New York sponsored a class during the school year. This class met once a month, usually after school for a few hours. It would also meet on selected Saturdays and go all day and act as a work session. I cannot say this strongly enough. These sessions were invaluable. There were two people that ran this class. They were both national board certified, so they knew what we were going through. This class was set up to completely guide us through the entire process. We would spend time going over each of our videos of our classes (I was required to submit two videos, one on teaching a skill from beginning to end and another on my classroom management). We would also be able to throw ideas around among ourselves. 12 heads were better than one!

The two teachers in this class were not physical educators. That in itself was a good thing. This forced me to put together entries that were presented clearly. One thing they told us was to write as if a physical education teacher was not reading it. It should be able to be understood by a teacher in another discipline. These teachers would allow us to e-mail our drafts to them before the next monthly class. They would then see us at the next meeting and have their feedback ready for us. I know that kept me motivated! I wanted to be able to write clearly enough that they could understand my answers.

Another thing that this class did was to make sure that we all followed the correct formats. Someone that went through this process before me said that if you are supposed to be good enough at a national level, that you should be able to follow directions exactly. Sounds pretty simple on the surface, but there were plenty of "I's" to dot and "t's to cross. It was good to have another set of eyes watching over us.

My advice is to see if there is anything like this offered in your area. This is certainly a doable thing on your own, but it is so much more manageable when you have someone that has "been there" to guide you through it. An added bonus of this class was that it was also worth 3 graduate credit hours!

Another resource that I found helpful was a listserv dedicated only to physical education teachers pursuing National Board Certification. Go to http://groups.yahoo.com/group/NBPTS-PHYS-EDUCATORS/. This is a great way to bounce ideas off others doing the same thing you are. Also, the moderator of this listserv is a national board certified physical educator. If I remember correctly, he either scored an almost perfect score, or he did in fact score a perfect score. Either way, this moderator will be able to answer any questions you may have!

As I said, on the surface the process seems very daunting. If you are someone that likes to put things off, I wouldn't recommend this. If you are someone that is able to stay organized and stay on a schedule, then this process is very doable. When I got onto this, I was told to be prepared to put in about 400 hours into everything. I just couldn't believe that! I did put in a lot of time. It amounted to about 250-300 hours.

I am an early riser on the weekends. The rest of my family usually isn't up for a few more hours. I took advantage of that time to do a lot of work with nothing but my dog there. I was able to get a lot done at these times. I would also spend time at school during lunch, or planning times to stay ahead of things. Again those classes once a month which served as guided work time were invaluable. I won't kid you; there is a lot of work that goes into this, but if you can stay on top of it, you can do this! I was also able to borrow a laptop from our local "teaching center." I was able to use this throughout the process. This allowed me to work at home, as well as at the monthly meetings.

There are four areas that you have to address: Instruction to facilitate learning, assessment for student learning, creating a productive learning environment and documented accomplishments. Each area comes with its own set of requirements. They are all spelled out on their web site (http://www.nbpts.org/candidates/guide/06port/06_emc_pe.html) for elementary, ages 3-10 and (http://www.nbpts.org/candidates/guide/06port/06_eaya_pe.html) for secondary, ages 11-18+. The good thing about this site is that you can download the information right here. They are all Adobe Acrobat files, so you will need Adobe Acrobat on your computer to read them. This information is also on a CD-ROM that is included in the "box" once you formally register.

In a nutshell, the first area, instruction to facilitate learning entails how you take a skill and teach it to a class from the beginning to the end. This can be in one class, or over a series of lessons. This requires a video tape of you in action.

The second area, assessment for student learning is asking you to document how you assess a skill two different ways; and how you turn that assessment data back into your teaching.

The third, creating a productive learning environment asks you to document how you create a positive environment in your gym that reaches out to all students. This also requires a video tape.

All three of these areas require a narrative. The specific length is given in the instructions. Each entry has specific questions to address. Make sure that you address each and every one of them. Basically I found that if I made my narrative be the answers to each of the questions, I was OK. Just make the writing flow together. Make sure to have others proofread your writing. Have them tell you if they thought if you answered all of the questions clearly. I had two others read my work before I was done. One was already national board certified and the other was the head of the English department at our High School.

The first and the third entries require a video tape. This can be tricky. First, you will need written permission from all the parents of the kids in the classes you tape. They will supply you with a form for this. Just make as many copies as you need. If anyone does not give you permission, those kids must stay in a place in the gym where the camera won't go. It should not be a problem getting this permission, though. Parents will do what they can to help you through this. I will strongly suggest that you "practice taping" your class before you do it for real. Make sure that your students go on a "normal" as possible. The last thing you need is to have a kid "mugging" for the camera! You have to be able to hear your interactions with your students on the tape. The microphone on the camera just won't cut it. Once you are more than a few feet away, with the added to the noise in the gym anyway, this would be useless. What I did was wear a wireless mic that broadcast to a speaker. I then placed the speaker next to the camera. Now I was able to hear both my voice and the voices of the kids I was teaching to. They want to hear the students' responses to you, so it is vital that the individual kid's voices can be heard on the tape. It will not come out as well as you need if the camera stays stationary and only sees a panoramic view of your gym. Have someone be able to follow you around while the camera is on a tripod and zoom in to specific kids that you are dealing with. Again, it is the interaction with your students that they want to see. Also, get someone to tape for you; a parent, or another teacher. My district would not allow our AV people to do this for me, so I had to get some parents to do this. Make sure to check your district's policies on this.

The fourth area, documented accomplishments requires you to list things that you have done within the past 5 years that have made you a better teacher and that facilitates learning in your classes. This entry has forms that you need people to sign to verify that you have actually done what you are claiming to have done. Everything that you put together; in this entry as well as the others all should come back to how you facilitate learning in your students. If you can document this, through answering all of their questions you will be fine.

All of these four entries are worth a certain amount of points each. There is a written test at the end. You will take this test on a computer. It will ask you questions about six different areas. The hard part is while you will know the general categories ahead of time, they are so vague that it is very hard to prepare for. Basically, I went back to my college classes and brushed up on biomechanics, kinesiology… I found that Grahame's book was a big help ("Children Moving, A Reflective Approach to Teaching Physical Education"). Also, Pangrazzi's book "Lesson Plans For Dynamic Physical Education" is a good resource. They are somewhat expensive to buy. I was able to borrow one from a college professor that I knew. This written test is timed. You get 30 minutes for each section. There are six sections, so the test lasts three hours. It won't seem that long. You will be so into the test itself, the time will fly by! This exam is not weighed as much as the portfolio entries.

To pass, you have to reach a certain amount of points. If you fall short, you can re-do a section to raise your mark ONLY IF YOU DIDN'T PASS THAT SECTION! If you passed a section by one point, you cannot re-take it.

Everything is due to NBPTS by March. The hard part is waiting to the following November to see how you did. There are many of us out there that do great things in the gym and are able to achieve national board certification. Don't be intimidated by the process. Just take it step by step and stay on top if things. You will be a better teacher at the end of this, no matter the outcome.

Tom Winiecki

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