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Hi.

By Emmet Rosenfeld — May 25, 2006 2 min read
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My name is Emmet and I’m blogging for National Board Certification. I can see that you’re new here, so let me show you around. Back here is my first post.

Oh, you like my mountain metaphor? Thanks, I appreciate that. I’ve introduced a few other motifs along the way: the book of standards as a bible and the act of deciphering it as cabbalah (medieval Jewish mysticism); the idea that the hugeness of this process is like eating an elephant; the notion that we candidates are dedicated athletes striving for gold... umm, there may be a few more. I try not to mix ‘em up too much, but they’re sort of like colors of play-doh. It all turns into a purplish lump eventually.

Yeah, so, over here are a few themes I’ve introduced. I went off on an Alfie Kohn thing for a while, you know, tests suck (the life out of true education, that is). And there’s occasional ranting about hoop-jumping and bureaucratic obfuscation-- more of this to come, I promise. And lately I’ve gotten into a bit of a lather wondering: Why is it that all these people who never teach are such experts on education?

Also, I’ve been trying to get myself mentioned in educational blogs, in part to drive up traffic as per my editor’s advice. You know how it is out here in the blogosphere. Tough. Then there’s these top 10 lists I’m doing to describe the three standards associated with entry four, which is one of four required entries in the portfolio (which, along with a big one day test at a computer center, is how you get credit). Oh, and I got a grant to make a really big canoe next year with kids. I haven’t written too much about that, but I will. Cool, huh? Stone tools and all. That should cover a lot of standards.

There is one thing I want to make clear, as my editor thinks I might be coming across as a board apologist lately. Dude, that is so wrong. I’m all about the benjamins, baby. I mean, yeah, I’m into it. But not that into it. Except, sometimes, sorta. I mean, ya gotta believe, know what I mean. But I’m maintaining a healthy skepticism at the same time. I’m like, ironic, you know. (But not that ironic.) And ambivalent, too. I guess you could say I’m… irivalent. Yeah, that’s right: irivalent. But please don’t mispronounce that, okay?

Anyway, I’m at the beach right now. That’s one of my big things: try to have a life outside of teaching. Keep the old batteries charged. Except I don’t, sort of, because when I’m not teaching I’m usually writing about teaching. Or else I’m teaching (I teach at night at community college on top of the day job). Look, I’ve got two kids and well, you know what we teachers make. Which is, like I said, why I started doing this in the first place. That plus to enhance my professionalism, and all that.

So, that’s pretty much it. My blog. Waddyathink? I hope you like it. You should make a comment. Heck, you should read the comments. Those are sometimes the best part. Anyway, come back some time. Soon, okay? That would be cool. I’m here every week. Bye!

The opinions expressed in Certifiable? are strictly those of the author(s) and do not reflect the opinions or endorsement of Editorial Projects in Education, or any of its publications.