Twelve of the 110 Wisconsin educators who earned certification through the National Board for Professional Teaching Standards are from Madison.

MMSD Today asked these teachers to reflect on why they opted for this difficult certification and what it involved. Five responded.

The list of newly certified teachers is below, as is a report from Sennett Principal Colleen Lodholz about the process.

By Mary K. Paulson, East High math teacher

I am not sure why I began working on my National Board Certification (NBC) other than that I am an acknowledged workaholic who thrives on pushing myself (and my students) to the edge of our abilities and then a little farther.

While completing my Master's Degree, I started to think, "What next?" When I learned about NBC, I discussed it with other teachers, many of whom were interested in getting certified themselves at some point, and said, "let's do it." Evan Gnam and I often joke that I got him started on the process, but he got me through it.

I underwent a profound shift in my teaching practice over the past five years due to

1. my growth as a teacher,
2. a supportive department,
3. the work I did while completing my Master's Degree (December 2006), and
4. the incredible student teachers I had from UW-Madison who were willing to share their youth and enthusiasm with me and my students.

Through NBC, I was able to give myself a pat on the back and share some of the great things going on in my classroom and at East High School. Additionally, the NBC process forced me to become a more reflective practitioner.

Before I began this process, I spoke with our first-year principal, Alan Harris, asking for his input. Based on experiences in his prior position, Alan felt that NBC is the best professional development a teacher could ever do, and asked what he could do to support me and my colleagues? Well said, Alan, and thanks.

By Evan Gnam, East High math and science teacher

After a few years of letting it sit back-burner, I decided (along with Mary Paulson) 18 months ago to go for National Board Certification. I saw it as my next professional challenge, an opportunity to validate some recent departmental work at East, bring some positive press to East, and to subject my Calculus course to reflective scrutiny after 5 years of incremental development.

After 60 pages of writing, dozens of hours of reviewing video, and a rollercoaster of frustration, pride, doubt, and confidence, I can say it was the most exhausting yet valuable professional development since my initial certification.

I had time and a framework in which to reflect deeply and specifically on my practice and my students in my school context. I now view my practice and my students through a lens more focused on learning outcomes and tend to bring this longer perspective to my sometimes tedious daily work and interactions.

While it was a personal journey, I couldn't have done it alone. The support of family and administrators was critical, and the intense collaboration with colleagues, students and their families left me with some lifelong friends and a true sense of accomplishment.

By Mathew Thompson, Sennett Middle Special Education teacher

I have been a Special Educator in the Madison School District for 15 years. I felt that it was a good time to pursue the challenge of Board Certification.

After talking to other National Board Certified teachers and thoroughly investigating the requirements, I came to the conclusion that this process would be challenging, professionally rewarding and financially beneficial.

After going through certification, I feel it has made me a much more reflective and aware teacher. The opportunity forced me to sharpen my skills.

The Board Certification process requires candidates to respond to 4 "Entries". The Entries are scored by a network of National Board Assessors located throughout the country. Two of the previous mentioned Entries require an authentic, unedited video of your teaching.

In sum, the Entries took a total of three to four months to craft. I was fortunate to work with a team of very supportive, excellent colleagues that lent their assistance to my efforts. The final component included a 3 hour exam that targeted your professional knowledge and skills.

I strongly encourage other teachers to think about the possibility of National Board Certification.

By Kirk Mefford, West High ESL teacher

I have to be honest. When I heard that a teacher earns $4000 more a year with National Board Certification, I made the decision to pursue it.

However, I quickly discovered that the process was as equally rewarding as the stipend for holding said certification.

In order to make my portfolio, I reflected greatly upon my teaching, and I finally put into practice many ideas I had been tossing around. The requirements set forth by the organization are created by experienced and knowledgeable teachers, and, therefore, in fulfilling them I believe I have become a more effective teacher.

I am very happy with my decision to earn NBC, and I am grateful for the challenge it posed.

By Monica Bond-Lamberty, Memorial High social studies teacher

I decided to go for certification for three big reasons: the financial incentive offered by DPI and MMSD, the financial support offered by DPI and the support provided within our school and the district.

Before starting this process I discussed this with my husband to see if he would be okay with the initial financial investment involved and more importantly the major time investment. We are both part time in order to take care of our daughter, therefore an increased time commitment on my part would require him to take up more of the slack in caring for her.

He gave his approval in large part due to the increase in salary that I would receive if I was successful, and the fact that DPI would help pay some of the initial application fees.

Memorial's Professional Development School staff (Ann Neidermeier and later Kris Brown) really helped several of us at Memorial's Social Studies Department pursue NBC. Some also attended the course offered by Andrew Kuemmel to assist those undertaking this endeavor. This support — especially that of my departmental colleagues and Andy's feedback on my entries — encouraged me to keep going for certification.

For the social studies certification we had to provide two video recordings of separate classes, three writing samples from two students, and a review of our professional development and contributions to the school, community and larger professional community.

The hardest part for me was keeping the entries to the required lengths and mastering the videotaping process without an external microphone. My students and their parents were very supportive of the endeavor and all were generous in allowing me to use their images in the videotaping and their writing samples and even writing letters of support.

It was a grueling process, especially the final editing, but did provide me with many occasions to evaluate my teaching and gave me some insights for how to approach some things differently. I would encourage those who want to get this certification to have a cadre of colleagues do it with you as it is extremely helpful.

These teachers earned National Board Certification this year:

• Monica Bond-Lamberty, social studies, Memorial High
• Jill Cohan, technology, Wright Middle
• Kelly Ferguson, world languages, La Follette High
• Evan Gnam, math, East High
• Laura Godfrey, math, Wright Middle
• Kirk Mefford, science, West High
• Ebby Melahn, kindergarten, Lowell Elementary
• Mary Paulson, math, East High
• Robin Staley, social studies, Memorial
• Mathew Thompson, Special Education, Sennett Middle
• Chris Vander Ark, English, Memorial High
• Kristin Voss, social studies, Memorial

The National Board Certification process
By Colleen Lodholz, Sennett Middle principal

The National Board Certification process began as a response to the report "A Nation at Risk" which detailed issues in teacher preparation. The Carnegie Foundation funded the development of standards across all discipline areas for elementary and secondary levels.

The standards define "what good teachers should know and be able to demonstrate." Also, assessments were created for candidates to demonstrate their ability to meet these standards.

The Board certification process takes anywhere from one to three years to complete. Candidates are required to respond to 4 "Entries" developed for their specific certification area. Of the four, two of the entries require an unedited videotape of teaching in the candidates' respective classrooms. These videotaped lessons are analyzed along with the candidate's written response.

Then the candidate is required to go to a Prometric Testing center and take a six question essay exam with a 4 hour time limit.

The entire process is rigorous and demanding.

National Board certification: Monica Bond-Lamberty - Memorial, Kirk Mefford - West, Robin Staley and Chris Vander Ark - Memorial

Mary Paulson and Evan Gnam - East

Mathew Thompson - Sennett

Colleen Lodholz - Sennett principal