Warning: This post contains explicitly dismal thoughts.
Last November, I mentioned that I had applied to renew my National Board Certification. To qualify, I needed a current teaching license, so I kept hounding the licencing board for my renewal status (for which I had submitted my course credits in June). When I finally saw that my license was active, I paid my big bucks and started the NB process. I completed a teaching video in December and by March, had a nearly complete set of entries. Then the coronavirus hit. The deadline for completion was moved to June. Whee!
I don’t know why I rechecked on my licensure, but I’m glad and sad that I did. The licensing board showed my teaching certification as expired! WHAAT?!? I considered how I could appeal this process. All my communication with the board had been through a ‘Contact Us’ format. I had no records of any of my questions, nor any record of my license being active. There were no ‘live people’ available. Ever. I wasn’t going to lie to get my National Boards. I didn’t have money to hire an attorney, on the slim chance that might make a difference.
In the midst of these dismal thoughts, I was forced to consider that I hadn’t talked to either my dearest teaching widower or God about renewing my National Boards. I was renewing them because:
- I could not imagine myself without that validation of my skills?
- My self-worth was bound up in my career?
- I had worked hard to get those renewal credits?
Whatever my rationale, I have sort of accepted this situation. I still wish I could have renewed my NBs, which perhaps means I have more come-to-Jesus times ahead.
Good news, though. None of the effort in licensure and NB renewal was in vain. All of it improved my skills and made me perfectly suited for my current work. And had God not prompted me to get NB certification 20 years ago, and blessed the entire process, I would never have National Board Certification in the first place.
To answer the question: No, I am not losing my mojo. My pride is skinned, which is a good thing. My love of all-things-teaching is intact.
I don’t understand how these things work, but sounds like some unfortunate mix-up. Hopefully there is a way to get it straightened out someday.
However it turns out, know that you have been a positive light in the lives of many children over the years. I applaud you for that. ❤
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Thank you for your kind words! It has been an difficult process. And most people have no idea how tangled it can get!
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Bureaucracy in all its glory. Perhaps I’m a bit jaded, but sometimes these requirements are artificial standards that some government departments created to collect more money. You have your priorities, and that’s what matters most. Your last sentence says it all. Your love of all-things-teaching is intact. I love the photo of you and your DTW.
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Thanks, Pete. I sometimes waste my time thinking about how to work around it, but you’re right: bureaucracy in all its glory. And it’s not a priority. I’ll laugh about it one day, sooner rather than later, I hope. 🤪
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I’m sorry to hear about this; are you still planning to get your NB certification?
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I can’t. I’d have to start all over- first licensure and then after 5 years, NBs. And I’m supposedly retired. 😎
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that’s too bad; another consequence of the pandemic…
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