Borrowing a Classroom for the NBPTS MOC Process

Borrowing a classroom for the NBPTS MOC process - are you thinking…

 Do I need to borrow a classroom for my NB MOC?

• What type of classroom should I borrow for NBPTS MOC?

• Will I be a bother for another teacher when I ask to borrow his/her class for my NBPTS renewal?

To complete the components for either the initial NBPTS certification process or the NBPTS MOC process, you must teach students within the age band dictated by that certificate area’s directions.  In addition, many certificate areas that are content specific require you to also teach lessons only in that content area.  

 Many times teachers have changed subject areas or grade levels during the period of time between NBPTS initial certification and NBPTS MOC renewal. This change requires them to find a classroom that follows the must haves for their initial certification area.  

 So, if you have found yourself in this situation know that borrowing a classroom is going to be the road you must take to complete the NB MOC process.  

 You will need to borrow a classroom if:

• You don’t have 51% of the class within the age band of your initial certification.
• You are retired and no longer have your own classroom
• You don’t teach in the same subject area as you did when you were initially certified with the National Board for Professional Teaching standards.

 Choosing the right classroom or type of classroom is important.

The right classroom will be student centered, showcase lots of engagement between the students and teacher, teacher and students and students to student.  This class will be willing to learn new things and be able to think deeply so the verbs in your goals could be from the 3rd level or above on Bloom’s taxonomy. The right classroom will have a clear community of learners and a teacher that is willing to think outside of the box to engage his/her students around the content that would be necessary to match your PGE (Professional Growth Experience). The students must be from a rostered class (in-person or virtual) and not a tutoring group or after school club. The class must take place during the regular school day and year.

Developing a Co-teaching relationship with the cooperating teacher is essential.

You have to get into the classroom that you are borrowing and build up a rapport and a relationship with the students in that class. In addition, the teacher that you are working with should be a teacher that embraces this as a co-teaching role. In fact, the cooperating teacher may have to be a learner just like her kids. For example, when a teacher borrowed my students her PGE is on Arts Integration in Literacy.  Problem was… I didn’t know anything about Arts Integration in Literacy and neither did my students.  Therefore, we all became learners to help my students develop skills around arts integration in a deep and wide fashion.  I knew the teacher couldn’t be in my classroom every day all day for two to three weeks building up this knowledge therefore I supported the “bigger picture” growth and she came in and taught the content on three different occasions. 

Important to remember (from the nbpts.org MOC Instruction manual)

“Remember that the expectation for accomplished teaching practice, as defined in the Five Core Propositions and the Architecture of Accomplished Teaching, is that accomplished teachers must first know the students they are teaching, including the needs of those students, before effective instruction can be designed and delivered. Therefore, it is critical that you establish a relationship with the students who will be featured in your video recording. If you do not know the students (for example if you are guest teaching in a colleague’s classroom), you should plan to meet with the students and your colleague a number of times to ensure that you understand the class composition and instructional context and can define these students’ specific needs. This approach will allow you to appropriately design and deliver instruction that meets the needs of these students and is effectively incorporated into the overall goals of the instructional plan.”

Now, it’s your turn.  Go find that perfect classroom and teacher to work with to #GetitDone. If you find yourself wanting to bounce ideas off other teachers in your “same boat” consider joining my Renew Like a Pro Cohort where there are many teachers just like you that must borrow a classroom for the NBPTS certification process but want to work together to make sure they are doing it right.