Writing for National
Board
Workshop #4
CERRA National Board Candidate Support
Workshop Toolkit
WS4
2010
Essential Questions
• How will I know what to write?
• What types of writing are used in the National
Board process?
• How can I think more purposely & strategically
about my work and my students’ work so I can
write effectively?
• How can I make use of the stages/steps of
writing?
CERRA National Board Toolkit
2
General Portfolio
Instructions
• Writing about Teaching
Three Types of Writing for NB
--Descriptive – What happened?
--Analytical – How, why, in what way?
--Reflective – How would you handle the
situation in the future?
CERRA National Board Toolkit
3
Key Points from the
Instructions
• Clarify how everything is purposeful. Answer
key questions and make key points.
• Ask why and how after everything to be more
analytical and reflective.
• Say it and show it. NB is evidence-based.
• Provide responses appropriate for your
content, grade level, and portfolio questions.
• Review your writing for clarity.
CERRA National Board Toolkit
4
Descriptive Writing
• Tell what has happened in your classroom. In
this sense, descriptive writing overlaps with
narrative writing since it portrays a sequence
or procedure or process.
• Description “sets the scene” of the work.
• It is logically ordered and detailed.
• Prompts use verbs such as “state,” “list,”
“describe,” or start with “what” or “which.”
CERRA National Board Toolkit
5
Descriptive Writing
Continued
Your response should
• contain accurate and precise enumeration
and/or explanation of critical features.
• provide clear and logical ordering of the
elements or features of the event, person,
concept, or strategy described.
• include all features or elements that an
outsider (assessor) would need to be able to
see as you see.
Taken from General Portfolio Instructions
CERRA National Board Toolkit
6
Analytical Writing
•
•
•
•
•
•
provides reasons, motives and interpretation.
is grounded in evidence (materials you submit).
shows your thought process.
answers “how,” “why,” or “in what way(s).”
portrays insight when you are asked to identify a
particularly successful moment in a sample of
teaching and to tell why you regard it as successful.
includes a rationale, logic, examination of the parts
that create the whole.
CERRA National Board Toolkit
7
Reflective Writing
• includes your thought process (meditation and
contemplation) after you teach.
• demonstrates how you make decisions.
• shows how you use what you learned from
teaching experiences to inform and improve
future practice.
• portrays your self-analysis and retrospective
consideration.
CERRA National Board Toolkit
8
Analytical and Reflective
Writing
•
•
•
•
These writings overlap but are not identical.
When you are asked to analyze or reflect, be certain
that your response meets these criteria:
The subject of the analysis is available to the reader
(e.g., the student work samples, the video recording).
The focus of your writing is not on what (which is
descriptive) but rather on why (which is both
analytical and reflective).
Taken from General Portfolio Instructions
CERRA National Board Toolkit
9
Analytical and Reflective
Writing Continued
You need to provide the following:
• your interpretations of what happened during
the lesson and its results
• your conclusions about what should come
next
• specific evidence and/or examples that
support your analysis and conclusions,
making your points clearly to the assessors
Taken from General Portfolio Instructions
CERRA National Board Toolkit
10
Unpacking the Prompts
• All entries are based on the same logical, but
not linear path.
• Begin with descriptions of the class, students
featured, the unit being taught.
• Move through planning and teaching stages to
analyze the choices you and your students
make.
• End with reflection on the content, the
students, and yourself.
CERRA National Board Toolkit
11
Part One:
Instructional Context
• This is a discussion of what you knew
BEFORE you planned and taught your
lesson/unit (and on which you based all the
subsequent instructional choices).
• Curriculum
• Students
• Setting
• Instructional context should be different for
each entry.
CERRA National Board Toolkit
12
KOS Dimension 1
Making knowledge accessible to all learners
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
Understanding of student background experiences
and knowledge
Previous school experience
Interests (in and out of school)
Special skills
Learning styles
Challenges
Attitude about school
CERRA National Board Toolkit
13
KOS Dimension 2
Knowledge of how students of this age develop and learn
• Intellectual/Cognitive stages (What is appropriate for
these students to learn?)
• Physical (What are typical growth patterns, need for
movement, abilities of these students?)
• Social (How do children at this age interact, establish
trust with adults, deal with conflicts in relationships?)
• Emotional (How do children at this age deal with
frustration, anger etc.? What do they need to feel
safe and secure?)
CERRA National Board Toolkit
14
KOS Dimension 3
Respect and consideration for individual cultural,
linguistic, and family differences
•
•
•
•
•
•
What skills and personality traits make this student unique?
Where does this child live? Who cares for this child?
What is this child’s ethnicity? What characteristics of this ethnic
group must I know in order to teach this child and relate with
his/her family?
What language(s) does this child speak? What language is
spoken in the home?
What are the family’s expectations?
What attitudes about school are present in the home?
CERRA National Board Toolkit
15
KOS Dimension 4
Knowledge of students’ self-concept, motivation,
relationship with peers/adults
•
•
•
•
•
•
Is this child a confident learner? Does he/she approach tasks
eagerly?
Is this child happy to be at school?
Is he/she proud of his/her accomplishments?
Does this student get along well with other children?
Is he/she well liked?
Does this child develop trusting relationships with adults? Can
he/she ask for and accept help from adults?
CERRA National Board Toolkit
16
Part Two:
Planning for Instruction
• Describe the planning process you used when
designing the highlighted unit of instruction.
• Describe methods, materials, and activities
you hope to include.
• Justify each choice based on the information
you presented in the instructional context.
Key Words:
•
•
“For these students at this time”
“…that influenced my…(planning, choice of
materials, etc.)…for THIS instruction…
CERRA National Board Toolkit
17
Part Two:
Planning for Instruction
• The assessor should feel that your choices are
logical and academically grounded.
• The assessor should be convinced that you
know
• your students well.
• what content to present.
• the best way to present the content.
CERRA National Board Toolkit
18
Part Three:
Analysis of Instruction
Student Work, Videotape, Assessment
Analyze your teaching by responding:
• How did your activities further student learning
(or not)?
• How did you probe students’ thinking?
• How did you address misunderstandings?
• Was what you actually did different from what
you planned to do? Explain.
• How well did the students understand the
lesson? How do you know?
CERRA National Board Toolkit
19
Part Three:
Analysis of Instruction
Student Work, Videotape, Assessment
You will be asked to analyze the following:
• student work
• evidence of student learning
• your practice as shown on videotape
• one or more particular teaching strategies you
chose to use.
CERRA National Board Toolkit
20
Part Four:
Reflection
• What did you learn about the students, the
curriculum, yourself?
• How will that new knowledge be used?
• What parts of your instruction worked well?
• What evidence supports your conclusions?
• What parts of your instruction could have been
done differently?
• How might you change the lesson in the future?
• What results would you expect?
CERRA National Board Toolkit
21
Your Teaching Is
Portrayed…
•
•
•
•
Clearly
Consistently
Convincingly
Your portfolio entries lead the assessor
through your decision-making processes so
carefully that he or she is not surprised by a
decision, recommendation, or conclusion you
make about your students, your curriculum, or
yourself.
CERRA National Board Toolkit
22
Understanding the Questions
• Questions are written in italics followed by
clarifying questions.
• You must pay attention to and answer BOTH!
• The non-italicized portion will be very helpful to
you as you seek to include analysis in your
portfolio.
• You might want to embed in your responses key
words from the questions.
CERRA National Board Toolkit
23
A Closer Look:
A Prompt from a Portfolio
• What are the central features of the three
segments selected for the videotape?
Explain how the three segments support
different aspects of inquiry.
From AYA Science 2002-2003
CERRA National Board Toolkit
24
A Closer Look
Prompt
What Must I Do?
What are the central features of
the three segments selected for
the videotape?
DESCRIBE my videotape
segments.
Explain how the three segments
support different aspects of the
inquiry process.
ANALYZE the three segments
and tell HOW they are related to
the inquiry process.
CERRA National Board Toolkit
25
Unpacking the Prompts:
Example
Prompt
What Must I do?
Finding Evidence
What characteristics of the
selected work samples
demonstrate the student’s
ability to understand and
interpret text?
ANALYZE student
responses to text.
HOW/WHERE is
“understanding”
demonstrated in the
student’s response to the
reading passage? What
different ways could the
text have been interpreted?
What does the student’s
interpretation indicate
about his learning?
CERRA National Board Toolkit
26
Stages of Writing
• Prewrite—brainstorm, list, outline
• Draft—organize notes & ideas into paragraphs
• Revise—conference; meditate; paraphrase for
clarity, accuracy, thoroughness
• Edit—address diction, order, sentence
structure, examples given
• Polish—check mechanics, grammar, spelling
• Publish—submit your revised, edited work.
CERRA National Board Toolkit
27
More Information
National Board for Professional
Teaching Standards®
www.cerra.org
1-800-476-2387
CERRA
nationalboard@cerra.org
virginia
@cerra.org
Virginia Bartels
School District Liaison:
CERRA National Board Toolkit
www.nbpts.org
1-800-22-TEACH
28