I first saw the fireworks in December 2018. I added those four little letters to my email signature, and then my life began to change. I was a National Board Certified Teacher!
Immediately after becoming an NBCT, I got a job in a new school district teaching a new grade level. Then I changed positions the following year, the year after that, and the year after that.
At the same time, my personal life had a few small changes, too. I had my first child. I got married. I sold my condo and bought a house.
Amid all of this professional and personal change, the world began to change. Shutting down because of the COVID-19 pandemic, and then slowly reopening and learning how to be a society again.
So needless to say, I became comfortable being uncomfortable (although it was not by choice).
My Maintenance of Certificate window opened my first year as an interventionist. When I first certified I learned that I would have to maintain my National Board certificate within five years when previously the renewal window was every 10 years. The window arrived before I realized it, and I was immediately uncomfortable. How was I supposed to maintain my certificate when I did not have a class of my own? How could I possibly get the video I needed when I could not record whenever I wanted or as many times as I wanted? The release forms signed? Have I even grown as an educator at all in this short amount of time?
Fast forward a year – I maintained my certificate. I still have what it takes to be a National Board Certified Teacher!
I have been reflecting on the past four years, and all that I have learned. I am not the same teacher I was four years ago; I have learned more and gained new perspectives of a school in different positions. Boiling all that I have learned these past four years as an NBCT into one statement comes down to this: get out of your comfort zone.
Change does not happen when you are comfortable, and great things are out there if you are brave enough to be uncomfortable. I do not think that I could be comfortable being uncomfortable if I was not an NBCT, which certainly was out of my comfort zone at the time. The process taught me that I do not shy away from a challenge and that I will always figure it out, even when things are hard.
If I was asked before becoming a National Board Certified Teacher if I would have wanted to make all of these big changes at the same time, and continue to make a change in my position for four years in a row, I would have been vehemently against it. I would have never dreamed that I could be effective in having four “first years” in a row. Learning new curriculum, new developmental levels of students, how to structure your day as an interventionist and then as a coach – all would have seemed too daunting of a task.
Now, I could not imagine it any other way.
I encourage you to take the plunge in your career, whatever that plunge may be. Get out of your comfort zone, and try that new strategy, take that class that sounds interesting, get that endorsement you have your eye on, switch things up and teach a new grade level, pursue National Board Certification – whatever is going to push you out of your comfort zone toward something new.
It’s time to get comfortable with being uncomfortable. What plunge are you going to take?
Caitlin Gawlowski
Caitlin was born to be a teacher, although she did not realize that teaching was her calling until she went to college. She has always loved to write, and began college with the mindset of becoming a journalist. Before beginning her freshman year of college, she changed my major to Elementary Education on a whim and has never looked back. She graduated Summa Cum Laude with a Bachelor's degree in Elementary Education from Arizona State University, and won the Outstanding Student Teacher Award during her student teaching experience in the Cave Creek Unified School District. Caitlin spent 9 years in the classroom teaching 1st, 2nd, and 3rd grade. She became a National Board Certified Teacher in 2018, and holds a certificate in Early and Middle Childhood Literacy: Reading/Language Arts. The 2021-2022 school year marks the beginning of her 10th year teaching, where she will be working as an Academic Interventionist, and supporting other National Board candidates on their journey toward National Board certification. If she is lucky enough to have free time, you can find her traveling Arizona with her husband and son, spending time with her friends and family, taking group fitness classes, or enjoying a good book.