Dallas ISD celebrates 5 new National Board Certified Teachers

Wednesday, January 15, 2014

Dallas ISD celebrates 5 new National Board Certified Teachers

National Board for Professional Teaching Standards
Dallas District Reception

Traditional ginger ale toast

Cheers, celebrations and congratulations flowed throughout the pinning ceremony and reception for five Dallas ISD teachers who recently completed certification requirements of the National Board for Professional Teaching Standards.

This evening, with big smiles and flowing tears, the following new Dallas ISD National Board Certified Teachers (NBCT), along with admiring colleagues, family members and friends, lifted glasses for the traditional ginger ale toast:

Rhonda Bliss – Arturo Salazar Elementary School

Ignacio Javier – Louise Wolff Kahn Elementary School

Olubukola Olaloko -- Barack Obama Male Leadership Academy

Tiffanye Lockhart-Oliver – Harrell Budd Elementary School

Iheanacho Orabuchi, Ph.D. -- L. L. Hotchkiss Elementary School

Dr. Martin Osae, one of two of the first Dallas ISD National Board Certified Teachers, spoke to honorees about “Being a Dallas ISD NBCT.” Here is a summary of his inspiring 5 Point Charge:

1. You are in a place of influence. Use it.

2. You are a catalyst for change. Be it.

3. You are a voice for accomplished teaching and best practice. Speak it.

4. You are a commitment to duplicating yourself. Do it.

5. You are an infection of DNA for accomplished teaching. Spread it.

Rhonda Bliss, National Board Certified Teacher

These new certifications give Dallas ISD a total of 23 National Board Certified Teachers. This accomplishment is not easy, but with support, resources, encouragement, as well as lots of sweat and some tears, it can be done.

Tiffanye Lockhart-Oliver, National Board Certified Teacher

National Board Certified Teachers Karen Barnes, Christine Koski and a team of NBCTs planned and sponsored the ceremony.

Dr. Iheanacho Orabuchi, National Board Certified Teacher

Congratulations Ms. Bliss, Mr. Javier, Mrs. Olaloko, Mrs. Lockhart-Oliver and Dr. Orabuchi. “We’re proud of you.”

Ignacio Javier, National Board Certified Teacher

Olubukola Olalodo, National Board Certified Teacher

A Teacher's Creed

"In the classroom on the first day of a new school year, I am eager to meet my students. I have rehearsed my greeting and first day’s remarks, but no matter how many years I’ve prepared for this procedure, it’s always new. My heart pumps a bit harder, faster; I feel adrenaline like an athlete, or like an actor, or maybe like a novice public speaker. It’s a marvelous feeling, this first day, because I know that something special is going to happen, and I know it because I’ve experienced it before and I know that I will experience it every time I meet a new class throughout my venerable career. And then they’re seated before me and I smile at this special feeling. This is an assembly of students, yes. But there’s so much more, because each of these young persons is more than just a student entrusted to me. Each of these students has a story to tell, a lifetime, however brief, of experiences, a history in volumes whose richness and depth I can barely begin to fathom. And so as I absorb the first glimpse of these young charges, I must appreciate the extent of my responsibility, of the privilege I’ve accepted in presenting these young souls my special knowledge. In offering them my talent and passion, I am adding an enormous array of new bright stars to the vast firmament of their minds, stars that will never have time to fade in their lifetimes. I will be part of their story. And I know that each of them will always be part of mine. And that’s a good feeling, a feeling that is perpetually renewed, revisited, and rewritten in A Teacher’s Creed."

Carla Ranger - Dallas ISD Education Blog

Wednesday, January 15, 2014

Dallas ISD celebrates 5 new National Board Certified Teachers

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