Teacher gains national certification
Tuesday, December 26, 2006
Dennis Newell, an Emporia Middle School science teacher, has become the third Emporia teacher to attain national certification.
Newell will be among the 2006 National Board Certified Teachers list released next month by the National Board for Professional Teaching Standards. The NBPTS web site describes the certification process as “a rigorous, performance-based assessment that typically takes more than a year to complete and measures what accomplished teachers should know and be able to do. This process requires teachers to demonstrate how their activities, both inside and outside of the classroom, improve student achievement.”
Approximately 50,000 educators have received national board certification.
Newell said the national certification process is both rigorous and rewarding.
“The whole purpose is to evaluate oneself as a teacher and go to the cutting edge as an educator,” he said. “It has really pushed me.”
The year-long process required intensive analysis of lesson plans and instructional methods. One of many requirements is videotaping and critiquing one’s classroom instruction. He utilized the Great Plains Center for Teacher Certification, a program of the Jones Institute for Educational Excellence at Emporia State University. The guidance and insight provided by Great Plains Center staff, “opens up other avenues of thought,” he said.
“Every teacher thinks they are a good teacher until you have to videotape yourself,” he said.
Newell said his teaching style had changed over the years and especially through the certification process. “Now my class is more student-directed. It is surprising what kids will do when given the responsibility for their own learning.”
Newell came to Emporia in 1980 as a math teacher at Lowther Middle School. Five years ago, he made a career change and became a middle school science teacher. He said a series of professional development activities in science led him to National Board Certification. These included two summers at Fort Hays State University writing science curriculum for the Kansas Wildlife and Parks Department, a summer at Purdue University in Indiana, and a summer at the National Center for Atmospheric Research at Boulder, Colorado .
“Everything I was doing was promoting a new way of what the classroom should be. I was learning from the scientists themselves. I think that was the biggest influence on my decision to pursue the certification,” he said. “I got swept up.”
As a result, he hopes to be a stronger influence on classroom instruction in the future. His goal is to eventually pursue a doctorate in science education and teach at the university level.
He encouraged other teachers to take advantage of the opportunity, especially with the resources of The Jones Institute readily available.
“I don’t know why more people don’t take advantage of it,” he said.
Other Emporia teachers on the National Board Certified list are Marilyn McComber, an Emporia High School science teacher, and Barbara Fowler, an Emporia Middle School social studies teacher.