Photo by Samuel Zeller on Unsplash

If the percentage of candidates who achieve National Board Certification for Teachers the first time they attempt their components is still 30-40% (rumored in the old system) then chances are you need to retake a component or two. Now you are faced with trying to decide how to improve your National Board scores.

Improve Your Evidence

Some of the candidates I’ve spoken with are quoting feedback that asks if their evidence could be more clear, more consistent, or more convincing. So let’s talk about that.

First of all, what qualifies as evidence? For C2,  you are making claims about your ability to teach a sequence of instruction—and what I am seeing is that candidates can be vague.  What do I mean by that, you ask? Exactly. An example would be much more clear to you. And examples about how you know a student needs more instruction would be more clear than if you said something like, “I could tell that Student A needed more explanation.” Maybe you could say, “As I helped Student A determine the name and formula for a chemical compound, I could tell that he was confusing ionic and covalent compounds.” The second statement is more clear than the first statement as evidence that I am monitoring and managing student learning.

Secondly, you are submitting student work as evidence. Rather than expect the assessor to examine the evidence and come to the same conclusions you do, can you say something like, “When I look at R’s diagram of the water cycle in Work Sample #1, I see that he has written ‘condensation’ in the area of the ocean. I can see that he is confusing accumulation with condensation.” This is more clear about what evidence I am claiming.  It’s also important that assessors can see your feedback to students on the assignments you submit. Or you can include the rubric where you’ve written feedback.

With regard to consistency, we cannot always be pointing to the same evidence to support every prompt that is asked of us. Consistency will be shown in more than one piece of evidence that points to the same skill. Unfortunately it seemed like one piece of evidence was all I had to work with twelve years ago when I first certified. I achieved because of some higher scores on other entries, but in one of my videos, my answer to almost every prompt pointed to the one pitiful piece of evidence I could pick out. I did the best I could with that video. The other video was stronger. (Is there a text abbrieviation for Laughing At Myself? LAM?)

My own rule of thumb, and not one I’ve seen anywhere, is to try to show every criteria on a prompt three times. So if the evidence I’m asked for is that I have used correct science pedagogy to teach a major concept in science, I will try to find three ways I used appropriate and current science pedagogy and point those out. This is what I’m equating with consistency.

For example, “I often use the 5E model to plan lessons so I began the activity by engaging students in making observations of rock samples.” …then later in the paragraph or paper as appropriate… “I used an engineering design  activity in which students...”  and even later in the paper… “Because lab safety is very important in science class, I...”

These examples will be even more obvious and easy for an assessor to find if I “pull my points” as we are taught to do in debate class. Not only giving those three examples, but prefacing each example with information that these are my examples of appropriate science pedagogy.  So it would look like this:

My choices of science pedagogy include use of the 5E instructional model. For example, I began the activity by engaging students in making observations of rock samples… later in the paper I would write… another way I used appropriate science pedagogy was through the use of the science engineering practice of redesigning solutions to a problem.” … later… “One pedagogical practice I always include is going over lab safety rules that specifically pertain to the lab we are doing.”

Lastly, your evidence needs to be convincing. Several of the Level 4 rubrics contrast the word convincing with the word “contrived.” Does what you are using for evidence seem natural or did you have to work to make it fit? Is it weak evidence? Here’s an example from C3:  “In the video you can tell students understand the concept of covalent bonding because they have put the models together correctly.”  A stronger piece of evidence than students who can follow instructions putting models together might be:  “In the video at minute 3:42, you can hear the girl in the red shirt say to her partner, ‘We need to attach two hydrogen atoms to the oxygen atom because the oxygen atom has two unpaired electrons.” Many of the Level 4 rubrics for C3 specifically ask for student learning conversations as evidence. There are many ways to design your instruction to provide for student learning conversations. Here’s another resource from Cult of Pedagogy.

Revisiting the Four Tips

So to recap the thoughts in this post: 1) use specific examples as evidence, 2) point to specific answers or writing on the students’ papers as evidence, 3) pull your points by using question stems from the prompt to mark the evidence for the assessors, 4) realize that you may need to re-write or re-record video until you get material that will demonstrate your accomplished teaching.  If you have time to get better evidence, take it.

There is one more thought I have about evidence and I will need your help to double check the instructions. I think you can use text boxes or post-its, etc. to mark the places on the student work that you want the assessor to note. Please let me know if there is something that says you can’t do that anymore, but in the olden days, you could. So I would put a sticky arrow next to the results of an assessment (for example, in C4) that showed an increase in student test scores.

A cool part of the National Board process is that it’s a growth process. I hope you will enjoy seeing yourself grow in your ability to provide evidence to the NBPTS, and that there will be even more of an a-ha moment as you compare your work with the Level 4 Rubric for your content area.  

The Bonus Material

If you go to the Resources pages on this website, I’ve uploaded a chart I made for a candidate in the online cohort from the AYA Math Level 4 rubric. Use this as an example of what you can do with your own rubric from your nbpts instructions.

Hope this helps.

Photo by Kelly Sikkema on Unsplash

It’s October, and you thought you’d begin your National Board journey this year.  The trouble is, you feel more confused than ever! You’re busy! How is it that your cohort leader thinks you could possibly be video recording your classes right now?  It’s the end of the grading period and all your students are turning in late work! Chances are, you are considering just starting next year instead. If those are the kinds of thoughts in your head, or if you feel stuck in any way, keep reading to find out what to do right now to feel better about this National Board process!

It actually sounds like you’re right on track. Seriously. 

Perhaps the biggest part of the National Board certification process is “getting your mind wrapped around it.” And teachers are typically organized people so they get nervous if they don’t “know” what to do.

The First Thing To Do Is Get Comfortable With Not Knowing

This is a project--project-based-learning for teachers! Something akin to “Genius Hour.”  We’ve used these ideas with our students so we realize that good students without step-by-step instructions can feel… lost. Shall we say, “stomach hurting so much we think we have an ulcer” every time we think about it or “migraine comin’ on” kinda fearful? Maybe more of an overwhelmed, in-a-fog kind of feeling.

If these are your feelings, what you need to know is that your job in this process is to synthesize all the information you are getting into your own expression of what a National Board Certified teacher knows and does in YOUR classroom and in YOUR teaching context.

Synthesis begins with gathering information to synthesize something out of.  If you are gathering information, you are right on track. Perhaps your next step is organizing your information. If you haven’t done anything at all, please read this post.  If you have already printed and read through your instructions and standards, you can skip down to step four.

The Second Step Is To Organize Your Information

Go to the NBPTS website to download your certificate-specific instructions. If you don’t know what to do, I am going to suggest you begin with Component 2.  It’s only 15% of your total score, and a great starter component. Scroll to the bottom of the page and choose your discipline and developmental level.

Go ahead and print the instructions for the component and put them into a binder. Also, print your certificate area “Applicable Standards.”  If you are feeling like being very organized, go ahead an print out all components (1-4.) Put them in separate binders, or in the same binder with binder tabs. Make sure you have sent the permission forms home with your students and gotten them back, signed. (If you need release forms for teacher’s aides or co-teachers, or if you need the forms in Spanish, you can find them here.)

Step Three is to Read Through Your Standards and Component Instructions

Part 1—The Standards. They are nearly 100 pages long, so it will take a little time. Just for now, read through them fairly quickly with a highlighter and a pen in hand. This year you will end up reading these several times.

When you see something you already do, underline it. In the margins, write ideas of lessons you teach or activities you do that meet these standards.  Maybe there is a lesson you’ve heard about or always wanted to try— write that down if you think it could meet your standards. 

When you see buzzwords, highlight them. You may need to research words you aren’t familiar with or that seem to be used a lot. Even words that seem familiar, like “Inquiry Learning” might need more investigation. 

Part 2— Reading the Component Instructions.  Each component has a section near the front called, “What Do I Need to Do.” This is a great place to start.

For now, stop reading at “How to Format and Submit Your Materials.” You will read all of this, but not now.

The Fourth Step Is To Begin Writing

You will get the idea of an entry so much faster if you dive in and practice writing answers to the questions. The reason is that you will truly understand what kind of work is being called for and what kinds of evidence you need to collect.  Go to the section of your instructions called “Composing Written Commentary.”  Scroll down to “What to Include in Your Written Commentary.” Every one of those yellow-gold squares is a question to answer and send in to be certified.

For this practice activity, you are not trying to write well. What you are trying to do is deeply understand what kinds of lessons will allow you to showcase your most accomplished teaching when these are the questions on which you are being assessed.

Yes, these are the actual questions. So begin with the end in mind.  

Go back to the electronic copy of the instructions and copy all the questions from the Instructional Context all the way to Reflection and paste them into a blank Word document. Bold them or underline them.

Now, imagine that what you are teaching right now is what you are going to send in to the NBPTS. Start answering those questions. Find some time and force yourself to write answers to every question AS IF you were going to use the current sequence of instruction you are in. When you get to the analysis of student work, just use two different assignments you’ve had the students do.  Remember, forcing yourself to begin writing as soon as possible has been proven to work. When you feel stuck, go to the next question. You are not trying to be perfect, you are trying to learn more about what is expected of you.

When you don’t know what to write, write down the questions you need answered in order to do a good job on that one. For example, if the question is “What strategies did you use...” and you don’t know the answer, you would write, “I don’t even know what is meant by what strategies!” If I felt like this I would know to do research on teaching strategies for science vocabulary, strategies for helping students with reading comprehension, or strategies for students who can’t read; maybe strategies for working with students in groups.

After you’ve answered all the questions somehow, look at the lessons you want to teach for this component and think about those questions that you will have to answer. 

This exercise is designed to help you move forward when you feel stuck. 

Now Start Planning for Your Instruction.

 If you need mentoring or some kind of help, you can sign up for a Skype, Facetime session or phone call at https://www.supersaas.com/schedule/MyNationalBoard/My_National_Board_Coaching.

(& How to Determine a Student’s Reading Level When You Need To) 

By Joetta M. Schneider, NBCT

This post blends two big ideas: the benefits of using Newsela as one method to differentiate instruction, and how to determine your students’ Lexile^® Reading Levels if you can’t readily find that information.  

What is Newsela?

Newsela is a self-described “Instructional Content Platform that supercharges reading engagement and learning in every subject.”

The teachers I am working with would like to know their students’ reading levels before they take on the task of integrating reading into their high school curricula. I’d used Newsela when it first came out and found it almost magical. No, strike that. I found it both exciting and magical to be able to use the same artticle for each child in my classroom seveeral reading levels without having to modify it myself.  Since then, they’ve added features I took some time to learn about.

Newsela provides thousands of articles on topics like science and math, art, health, and world cultures for students which can be adjusted to any of 5 Lexile® Levels.  This is a great tool for teachers who want to differentiate for instruction. 

Like most NBCTs, my mind went back to the National Board certification process. As it has been reprised since 2017, differentiation is especially relevant for teachers pursuing National Board certification as they dig in to the process of Component 2.  Heck, differentiation is important for all teachers; hence the PD on using Newsela in the classroom.

Getting Past a Roadblock to Teaching Reading Across the Curriculum

One of the difficulties faced by teachers at the high school level is knowing each students’ Lexile^® score. Often, the student has not been tested in reading for a number of years.  Other reasons a teacher may not have quick access to a student’s reading level is that she has a hundred or more students and it’s cumbersome to look up all their records in order to conduct a literacy lesson in, say, a science or math class.

Here’s a screenshot from a slide that describes some of the challenges teachers might face when teaching reading across the curriculum. 

Source: https://www.youtube.com/CapCue 2017: Reading Across The Curriculum with Newsela PRO

Although it might be good to know a student’s reading level before starting any kind of reading in the content area, high school teachers often find it difficult to get that information. You can use Newsela without knowing the students’ reading levels because it automatically adjusts the reading level as the child uses the program. but I will get to that in a few minutes.

The good news is that there are ways to approximate student reading levels if you want to in order to help students achieve the learning goals— we can personalize the learning experience for students.

For Teachers Who Want to Know Their Students’ Reading Levels 

• What are Lexile^® Levels?

One way schools determine a student’s reading ability is to give a test called the Scholastic Reading Inventory, or SRI.

This test for determining a student’s Lexile^® score is not free or easily acquired, which might prove problematic for homeschooling parents or teachers who don’t have access to the metric. However, there are some free resources that can be used to quickly approximate their reading levels.

You may have information about a child’s Lexile^® level if it is a part of his school records. Those scores would range from BR (beginning reader) to 1385 (college level.) Although it’s easy to think of the first number of your child’s Lexile® score as the grade level at which she is reading, Lexile cautions that there is much more to the picture than that.

You can find out more about Lexile Levels and how to use them in this article on the Scholastic website.

• The San Diego Quick Reading Level Assessment 

There are other (free) assessments available to teachers but one of the most reliable and the easiest is the San Diego Quick Reading Level Assessment Test, which has been proven to be a good indicator of reading level for parents and teachers without access to the SRI.

You can also find a PDF version of the San Diego Quick Reading Assessment online.

• Vocabulary Tests or Reading Comprehension

Other ways to help your child choose books at his own reading level is to conduct a vocabulary assessment or determine reading comprehension ability—both methods are described in this blog.

• How to Find the Lexile^® Measure of a Book

You can look up the reading level of a book title at the Lexile website, or you can even look for a list of books at your child’s Lexile® level. If you have determined a child’s reading level based on the SDQRLA, you will have to adjust it to a corresponding or similar Lexile® score.

And, to find step by step instructions for determining the readability of web-based text or Word documents, click here.

Using Newsela in the High School Classroom

After signing up for a free Newsela account, you can create classes and add students in a couple of different ways, all found in a QuickGuide on your “classes” page. (Check the drop-down box from the gear icon in the top right corner of the page next to your name.)

Then search for articles you want to have students read. The search fields include topics, grade levels, and reading skills. Go to the article and click, “assign.”  A cool feature of Newsela is that the articles come from a variety of publications, like National Geographic, NASA, the Guardian, the New York Times, and the Associated Press.

When students create accounts and sign in, they will see their assignments, including any instructions you have given at the level of the class as you assign it; they will all begin on grade level. 

However, three types of formative assessments are embedded in the reading process: annotating as they read the text, two-to-three sentence writing prompts, and a 4-question quiz at the end of each article, Newsela gathers the data, analyzes it, and changes the reading levels for future articles each student will read. As you work with students using Newsela, eventually each student will be reading the same articles you have assigned at his or her own reading level.

One drawback: although the program remains adaptive to each student in the free version, your access to the actual data is only available with Newsela Pro, a paid subscription. Without the Pro version, you won’t be able to track a student’s progress past your 30-day free trial.

Newsela for Lessons That Provide Access and Equity for Students

This online learning platform still provides the easiest approach to reading across the curriculum that I’ve seen so far.

Equity, Access, and Equality are different— even if they sound the same. Newsela is one of many ways teachers can work to provide a safe and challenging learning environment for students.  If you haven’t heard of my bias that doing research into the nbpts.org buzzwords will give you a higher probability of passing, then you are hearing it now.

The reason teachers consider National Board certification to be on par with a Master’s or Doctoral degree is because you will learn and grow as you undertake this process. The learning you will do in the context of your own classroom as you work to impact the learning of your students will be real-world and relevant to you. 

Other Newsela Features

One feature I like about Newsela is the option of building text sets of related articles that help your students make real world connections to the content. For example, when I teach plate tectonics, I can go to the pre-made Collections and choose Science; then, Plate Tectonics. I choose articles from that collection to assign to my students and sequence the material in an order that makes sense in our room.

The binder feature in student accounts keeps a record of all the articles they’ve read, assignments and quizzes completed and tracks their reading levels over time. This enables the adaptive feature which automatically adjusts the articles you assign to each student’s individual reading level.

Besides all the other beneficial features of the program-- another feature embedded in Newsela is the use of Power Words.

Power words are vocabulary words built into articles with clickable links to pronunciation and student friendly definitions. At the end of the article, there are practice vocabulary activities. When students look at their binder of work, one option is to view their personal word wall. It’s recommended that students choose Power Word articles each week and build up to 150 Power Words on their wall each year. Power Words are another feature you have to pay for even if you have Newsela Pro.

Did I mention the articles are offered in both English and Spanish translations?

Integrating Newsela Into the Curriculum

Teachers can use Newsela to introduce new topics, to provide context and enrichment to traditional content, or even as a stand-alone resource on specified “reading days.” If you’ve read this far you may wonder if I’m getting paid by Newsela, but I’m not. I’m just very enthusiastic about its potential. Are there other resources for teachers you love these day? I’d love to hear about them.

• Have you used Newsela or other learning platforms like it to differentiate instruction?
• What are your favorite ways to use Newsela?
• What other ways have you used reading across the curriculum? How has it benefitted your students?
• Do you agree that Component 2 requires teachers to differentiate for individual student learning?
• Leave your ideas for NBCT candidates in the comments!