By Mark

Soon after I earned my NBPTS certification in 2006, I started getting all these emails. Unfamiliar names soon became familiar (Jeanne Harmon, Terese Emry, Jim Meadows) and the common theme emerging was that earning my NBPTS certification was kind of a big deal.

Just recently, I had shared a few conversations with colleagues about how I, a transplant from Oregon, had not even ventured into central or eastern Washington (other than years ago to visit family friends near the Tri-Cities). In my email popped an invite from CSTP to attend the spring NBCT Leadership Conference in one of those aforementioned unexplored regions of the state. Serendipity, and it forever altered my trajectory as a professional.

After a couple of years’ hiatus, the spring NBCT Leadership Conference is returning, this time at Sun Mountain Lodge in Winthrop–another section of the map I’ve yet to explore, so I’m going.

Attending that conference as a fifth-year teacher in 2007, I had a very narrow definition of what being a teacher meant. I knew about the in-the-classroom duties and even the personal-life impact of being a teacher. I had not ever considered myself a teacher-leader. I had not considered what I now believe is an absolute fact: teachers are and will be how lasting change in public education will be made.

Sitting in the sessions, two messages stuck with me. First, that adding those letters (NBCT) to my email signature line and business card carried a degree of accomplishment that carried weight when I worked with policy-makers from my local boardroom all the way up to the halls of Olympia. People were actually willing to listen to what I had to say. Yes, policy-makers should want to listen to all teachers, but people outside of our system need those little signals, such as an acronym, to be motivated to listen. Is my voice more important than another teacher’s? No. But for whatever reason, having those letters after my name meant that some people would be more willing to listen. As a young teacher with plenty of ideas, learning that people would be willing to listen to me was empowering.

The second message: I have more power to influence change than I realized, but even with that power I do not need to feel burdened to change the whole world–my own classroom, hallway, or building is a good start. Plus, I walked away from that conference with ideas, strategies and connections that helped me feel confident and competent in doing just that.

This conference was not about sitting in some stuffy hotel conference room and listening to some dude on a headset microphone read a powerpoint to me. This was a retreat. At other conferences, when the sessions were over I would head back to my hotel room and grade papers or maybe even watch a whole television show in one sitting without being distracted by work or children. At this conference, though, the social connections I made with other teachers were as powerful as the learning that happened in the sessions. These are professional and personal connections that have continued for the years since. The teachers who designed the conference did it this way on purpose–by building in time for conversation, reflection, and just “hanging out” together. It sounds strange, but I immediately realized that I was part of a huge, statewide community of people all interested in doing great things for students.

That experience in 2007 changed my career, both in the classroom and beyond, and in ways that would require far too many pages on this site to explain.

This post serves two purposes: yes, I am going to this year’s conference, this time on the planning committee and as a presenter, and trying to encourage my fellow Washington state NBCTs to attend as well (this conference is coordinated by CSTP, who is also the sponsor of this blog). More importantly, though, because of the experiences I described above, I have returned to that conference every time I’ve had the opportunity to. In fact, the only thing that has kept me from returning was the birth of my third son in April of 2010. After attending in 2007, I got myself onto the planning committee and onto the slate of presenters in 2008 and 2009, and then again as a presenter in 2011.

NBCTs in Washington: Click here to get more information, and I hope to see you in May!