Date: Fri 14-Nov-1997

Publication: Bee

Author: CURT

Quick Words:

schools-Arsenian-certification

Full Text:

Middle School Teacher Reaches A New Standard Of Excellence

(with cut)

BY MICHELE HOGAN

Newtown Middle School teacher Lorrie Arsenian is the only Newtown teacher who

decided to take the year-long, extremely challenging performance review and

tests required by the National Board for Professional Teaching Standards for

national certification. She passed.

Mrs Arsenian said that the results from her year's work just arrived, by

FedEx, and "it took me ten minutes to open it." Mrs Arsenian said that two

years ago she had read that nationally, only 25 percent of the teachers taking

the test had passed it, so she understood how high the standards were.

President Clinton, in his State of the Union Message, praised the National

Board for Professional Teaching Standards for, "establishing this nationally

accepted credential for excellence in teaching."

Performance based, the certification review requires teachers to reflect upon

their own teaching and their own students' learning throughout the process.

The testing has two components. The first part is based on actual classroom

lessons and the teacher's critique of them, and the second part is a day of

rigorous testing.

Mrs Arsenian said, "I would not have passed had I submitted work showing I

taught subjects in an isolated manner. Instead, the teaching had to have a

more global impact on the students. It had to be linked to the child's real

world, and what they were learning in every subject."

Mrs Arsenian also explained that it was not just the topics covered, but the

"manner in which it is brought to life" that was critical for success in the

certification program.

In one unit, she wanted the kids to understand what racism meant on a personal

level, but every student in her class was white and they lacked personal

experience with the subject area.

So she introduced them to the story, "Once Upon A Time When We Were Colored,"

which is about African Americans in the 1950s. Her class held a debate on

issues raised in the story, and the kids spontaneously put themselves in the

parts portrayed in the story.

She said her students were so involved exploring the meaning of racism and

what it would mean in their own lives that "the kids forgot they were even

talking about a story."

To do well on the test overall, teachers need to demonstrate their commitment

to students and their learning, know how to teach their subjects exceptionally

well, show responsibility for managing and monitoring student learning, think

systematically about their practice and learn from experience. They also need

to demonstrate their commitment to parents and the community.

The second part of the process was a day of testing. Mrs Arsenian had to write

four major essays, each 90 minutes long, again dealing with thoughts and

reflections on practical teaching situations.

Mrs Arsenian said that she loves challenges, and that is what she got from the

program.

She said that she found the process personally rewarding and fulfilling and

that teachers and administrators, and in particular Superintendent John Reed,

were all very supportive.

Union Carbide in Danbury paid the $2,000 testing fee for the program. Mrs

Arsenian was also so happy with the encouragement and help she received from

two Danbury teachers who had passed the test before her. She said she sent

them each bouquets of flowers when she found out she had passed.

Mrs Arsenian quipped that now that the program is finished, her little boy can

stop asking, "Mommy, when are you going to stop typing?"

There is no direct pay increase as a result of passing the test, but of all

the honors she has received (being inducted into Sigma Tau Delta, a national

English honor society in 1990, and earning a "celebration of excellence" award

in 1996, to being named "Teacher of the Year" in the same year) the National

Board Certification is her most esteemed honor to date.

Next year, Mrs Arsenian will be using what she has learned from the experience

not only in her own classroom, but also in her efforts to help ease the

transition for eighth graders as they go from the middle school to the high

school at the start of ninth grade.

She said that she is very pleased to hear that next year four local teachers,

three of them from Middle Gate School, are planning to apply for the same

national certification.