Meet the Utah National Board Teachers
I work extremely hard at being the best teacher that I can. I teach science to about 100 6th graders every year, 110 5th graders, and this year am teaching science to 110 1st graders in my spare time. That is a lot of people to influence, and I want them to receive the best education possible. I had talked to someone from my district at UEA about National Board Certification, and he said that it was the best thing he's ever done to become a better teacher. That thought stayed with me for quite a few months, and then I decided to work towards it. At the time I had no idea how much work this would involve, but it was the best process I've ever been through of looking at my teaching practice and aligning it to National Standards. I learned a lot of things about myself along the way. Some things were great, and other things I worked very hard at to improve. I am a different teacher in
many ways. The biggest difference is that instead of becoming the fount of all knowledge, I structure my class so that students are spending more time teaching each other and learning how to become better scientists. The process also helped validate many of the good things that I was already doing. It's not a process for the faint of heart, but then teaching isn't, either. I would highly recommend it as a step to improving your teaching practice in every way.
Vickie Ahlstrom
Science/Early Adolescence
Orem Elementary - Alpine
The National Board Certification program, was a great opportunity to reflect on teaching strategies that most effectively reach children. The certification process is the most valuable professional growth challenge that I have ever undertaken. The experience has given me the confidence to know I can help all children learn. Going through the process, has made me become more reflective on my teaching style and on the many ways students learn. I am more aware of what I do in the classroom and as a result I will be more effective in helping all my students achieve their potential. It provided me with a tremendous sense of accomplishment and pride.
Sara Andreason
Generalist/Middle Childhood
Westland Elementary - Jordan
National Board Certification elevates both the teacher and the profession. It defines excellence. More importantly, it defined excellence within me. I am more acutely aware of my strengths and shortfalls because of the analysis required with this assessment. I find that I am constantly reflecting on the quality of my teaching, often in the middle of a lesson! That self-awareness is a powerful tool in the classroom. I consider it a great honor to be numbered among other National Board Certified Teachers who are reflective and striving to improve their practice. I also consider it a privilege to be surrounded by eleven and twelve year olds every day. I like what I do. I like being with kids. I believe that what I do really matters both to my students and their families, but also to the larger global family.
Tami Bird
Generalist/Middle Childhood
Hayden Peak Elementary - Jordan
The best part about the National Board Certification process for me was affirmation. The core propositions are values I've held since I began studying teaching. As I read them I found myself saying, "Yes! This is what I believe."
Now as I meet with other National Board Certified teachers I am uplifted to hear how they teach, and I still feel challenged to match the standards they exemplify.
Jeanne Cameron
Generalist/Middle School Childhood
Mt. Ogden Middle School - Odgen
Going through the National Board process was the best personal professional development I
have ever had. I was a good teacher before National Boards, but now I'm a better one. I know what I teach, why I teach it, and how I can improve on what I teach for greater student impact and learning.
Sandra Dahl-Houlihan
Generalist/Middle School Childhood
Douglas T Orchard Elementary - Granite
I set goals for myself. I like a challenge. Professionally, I want to be the best teacher I can. I completed a master's degree, a Math Level III Endorsement, and a Reading Endorsement. Achieving National Board Certification answered the call of a challenge and a goal. As I went through the process, I found that I gained even more than what I thought I expected from certification. Analysis and reflection of best practices and of my best practices have made me a better teacher, a more understanding and involved colleague, and given me more enthusiasm for teaching. I recommend the experience for any and all.
Michelle Evans
English Language Arts/Early Adolescence
Valley Elementary - Weber
The National Boards for Professional Teaching Standards is a rigorous and demanding undertaking. In order to participate in this process one must be internally motivated and willing to critically examine why they do what they do. It also is not enough to "toot your own horn" but to minutely analyze how what you are doing as a teacher is impacting student learning. National Boards is not just a process, but it is a commitment to a higher level of student learning and contribution to the teaching profession. It is a willingness and ability to articulate best practices and truly believe that all students can learn. It is a commitment to extending oneself outside of the classroom in ways that synergistically energize our profession.
Becky Hatch
Social Studies - History/Adolescence and Young Adulthood
Professional Learning - Granite
The process of working toward National Board is as important as the certificate itself. Working on my certificate helped me improve my teaching more than any in-service class or even my Masters degree. The portfolio encouraged me to be more reflective about my practice. And watching my own teaching on videotape was quite an eye-opener! I am proud of the certificate hanging on my wall; it represents not only the end accomplishment, but also the journey of looking deeply at what I do and why I do it.
Patti Hendricks
English Language Arts/Early Adolescence
West Hills Middle School - Jordan
The National Board Certification process is the best professional development experience I have participated in during my career. Becoming a National Board Certified Teacher (NBCT) required me to take my teaching to a new level. This process helped me to become better focused on individual students and improving their learning experience. In many professional development opportunities you are a passive observer, however becoming a NBCT involves work, effort and change.
The National Board Certification process is about increasing student learning. Becoming a NBCT required me to videotape my classroom, as one of several entries, and analyze the interaction I have with students and the level of engagement they demonstrate. This very direct look at what I do as a teacher and how I interact with students, although humbling, gave me the opportunity to see if I, in fact, do produce student engagement and learning in my classroom. The standards of excellence provided by the National Board for Professional Teaching Standards create an additional lens that I can look through to analyze my actions in the classroom and judge whether or not I am doing what is best for my students.
The National Board Certification process requires you to be a teacher that can reflect on your actions and students’ performance and then go to work to create what will be best for the student in their learning. It pushed me to rethink how I spend my time in planning and implementing lessons. It provided me with insights into my classroom that I have used to create practical and positive changes. Becoming a NBCT, to me means becoming a master teacher, highly qualified and prepared to provide the highest level of engagement for all students.
Travis Lemon
Mathematics/Early Adolescence
American Fork Jr High School - Alpine
National Board Certification enabled me to showcase the skills I've developed through the course of my teaching. It accounts for my training, but more importantly, it accounts for the application of that knowledge. Teaching is a dynamic career that demands constant improvement - National Board Certification accounts for the depth and scope of a truly progressive teacher more than any other type of certification.
Polly Oveson
English Language Arts/Early Adolescence
Millcreek Jr. High School - Davis
Going through the process of National Board Certification was perhaps the single best thing I have done to improve my teaching. The process of analyzing what I do and why I do it was invaluable. National Board Certification was a challenge and self-discovery process that gave me renewed insight into why I became a teacher in the first place. The entire process has made me a much better teacher than I would have been without it.
Shelley Pierce
Exceptional Needs Specialist/Early Childhood through Young Adulthood
Ecker Hill Middle - Park City
National Board Certification is by far the most reflective process I have ever undergone. It forces you to measure the effectiveness of your teaching against a national standard and to evaluate objectively how each thing you do in the classroom impacts your students and their learning. It forces the teacher to think about what it is like to be a student in their classroom, and opens your eyes to what really matters.
Tony Romanello
Science/Adolescence and Young Adulthood
Copper Hills High School - Jordan
I have become an accomplished educator because of the National Board Certification process. I utilize my strengths more effectively as I reflect on my teaching strategies. Also, I have attained a variety of additional ideas on how to assist my students in the learning process so they can achieve a more rigorous education. The National Board challenge has changed my lesson plans, enhanced my teaching abilities, increased my instructional knowledge, and encouraged me to work towards improving my teaching methods in the classroom. The process has been an invaluable journey for me.
Sheri Sample
English Language Arts/Early Adolescence
Albion Middle School - Jordan
Becoming a national board certified teacher is a journey. The national board experience has broadened my horizons. I have always felt that teaching and learning are a continuous process for all. Besides the internal growth of personal teaching, I have been active with teachers across the country with similar views and goals. Right now my class has been tracking our Ted the Traveler who has been to Nevada, Oklahoma, Mississippi, Tennessee, and is presently in New York. We have hosted travel buddies Skorch the dragon, Sparky the dog, Aramoose the cow, Cool Joe the green gorilla, and presently Bart the Bison. They are visitors from other National Board Teacher's classrooms. We have read to them, taken them places, and written about them. The children have learned about our country. My classroom community has become a place of living and working together thanks to the NB process. I am now more aware of national academic standards and can more fully integrate them into the Utah Core Curriculum. NB certification has opened more learning doors for the children I teach, and myself. I have a teaching network where I mentor others and learn from others who have similar teaching thoughts. The impact of that goes straight to the children I work with each day. The journey continues..
Verla Sperry
Generalist/Early Childhood
Midvalley Elementary - Jordan
It seems that with so many problems in our country, there is something that we teachers can and ought to do. John Dewey said it best: "What the best and wisest parent wants for his own child, that must be what the community wants for all of its children." As National Board Certified Teachers, we make sure that all children have the opportunity and means to learn--not because of laws or requirements--but because that's what we do.
The National Board Certification process reminded me of the power of a teacher in a classroom. We can change the lives of our students. Pursuing National Board Certification gave me an opportunity to look at my teaching and led me through the process to improve what I was doing that would better help all my students achieve more.
Pam Su'a
Social Studies - History/Early Adolescence
Jordan School District
It's been three years since I completed my National Boards, but the work I did that year still profoundly effects what I do every day. Probably the biggest impact is the constant, and I do mean constant, attention to a focus on student learning. I no longer adopt "whiz bang" lessons unless I can see a clear connection to student learning. Every lesson I design, every technology I adopt, every conversation I have with parents, every professional activity in which I engage is focused on "how will this help my students understand the mathematics better". I wouldn't say that I didn't do this before, but I'm not sure the focus was quite as strong.
On the other hand, my NBCT helped, in part, I'm sure, to help me get a job at the State Office which I will be starting in June. It is my hope that as I start working with teachers more than students, I'll be able to pass on the knowledge that I gained while working on my own NBCT to help teachers with their own classes.
Diana Suddreth
Mathematics/Adolescence and Young Adulthood
Washington District
The importance of National Board Certification has been to increase my understanding of professional standards that apply to my field of expertise as a special educator. This was the first time in my career that these standards were clearly defined for me. I also learned ways to apply standards, collaborating with colleagues and parents. I am now more effective in delivering quality services that improve student core related performance. I definitely think that earning National Board Certification has been the best training experience I have received in my 21 years of teaching experience.
Frank Thompson
Exceptional Needs Specialist/Early Childhood through Young Adulthood
Joaquin Elementary - Provo
National Board Certification was an intense process that made me look at myself as a teacher to make sure I am doing everything I can to help every child learn. It was rewarding to go through the process and even more rewarding to be recognized at this level of professionalism.
LaRue Urquhart
World Languages Other than English/Early Adolescence through Young Adolescence
Bingham High School - Jordan
I found the NBPTS-certification process to be extremely challenging and stretching. By conscientiously working my way through the process, I found that I improved many aspects of my classroom teaching. I consider the standards in my subject area to be the best description of what an accomplished language teacher should be able to do that any group has formulated. All Utah teachers should work towards becoming an NBCT. This would result in a quantum leap forward in teaching in Utah and would solve many of our education problems. It should be a high educational priority to provide sufficient monetary support so that more teachers can be involved in this process. This is one investment in education that will provide huge dividends.
Stephen Van Orden
World Languages Other than English/Early Adolescence through Young Adulthood
Timpview High School - Provo
The process of the National Boards is time consuming and rigorous. It made me take a very painful look at my teaching practices and justify those practices. The NB process has helped me on a daily basis to decide what to do with my students, and what to not do. What are my real goals, how will this or that activity help my students achieve those goals and at the end of the day, how do I feel the activity went. The NB process helped me firm up in my mind what "best practices" are for my students and how to communicate that information to parents and administrators.
Karen Warrick
Generalist/Early Childhood
Crestview Elementary - Granite
In 1999 I took the National Board Challenge with two goals in mind: 1. to improve my personal professionalism and the professionalism of the education field. 2. To refine and improve my teaching through analysis and reflection. The process exceeded my expectations, but the lasting importance of achieving National Board Certification is the opportunity to continue and expand upon my goals. Through my work with the National Board Commission, co-leading a Candidate Seminar, and mentoring with and reading for candidates, I contribute to the development of the National Board program and educator professionalism. I am learning the skills to mentor beginning teachers. I continue working with many people I have met over my teaching years, including writing a book. These activities increase my ability to positively impact teachers and teaching. Through the National Board process I learned to analyze and reflect. I continue this in classrooms and mentor work. The goal of National Board is always student learning. As a teacher, as a mentor, as a parent, as a professional, I create a greater impact because of my ability to analyze, reflect and implement change.
Linda Wunderman
Generalist/Middle School Childhood
Carl H Taylor Elementary - Ogden
