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Three earn national certification

Three Stafford County teachers received their national board certification in December

By ELIZABETH PHELPS

Date published: 2/27/2007

Michele Repass was not in a rut. However, the Conway Elementary School first-grade teacher felt that she needed a way to re-evaluate her teaching.

Repass and two other Stafford County teachers have taken the next step in their careers, receiving certification from the National Board for Professional Teaching Standards.

Repass, 36, graduated from Mary Washington College and James Madison University several years ago and thought that getting certified would help update the way she teaches.

"National Boards, you really have to look at how you teach and what you're teaching and what you can do a better job of," Repass said. "That was my big push for doing it--to look at what I was doing, like areas I needed improvement."

Ferry Farm Elementary reading specialist Janice Brunson, who also received national board certification, agreed.

"It was a personal challenge, wanting to try something new," Brunson said.

To become national board certified, teachers must take exams, submit portfolios and write self-analyses. The process takes at least a year.

"It's the equivalent of writing four 12-page term papers," said Brunson, who has been teaching in Stafford County since 1985.

In order to analyze the way they teach, educators videotape their classrooms a number of times and write about what happens on the tape.

To prepare for the videotaped portion, Repass acclimated her students to the camera in the first few weeks of school.

"At first they were as kids will be. They're 6, so they were like, 'Oh, hi!' and being really silly," Repass said. "After a while, though, they got used to it."

Though becoming national board certified involves a lot of work, there are a number of rewards that come with it.

In Stafford County, certified teachers receive up to $5,000 initially and $2,500 a year for each of the 10 years the certification is valid.

"The pay raise doesn't hurt," Brunson said. "That can't be your only motivation, though, or you can't see it through. You can't do it only for the money."

Though that is a nice perk, Repass said, it is not the only reason to become certified.

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Date published: 2/27/2007