NTL Message To Counselors
Dear School Counselor,
I hope you will consider becoming a candidate for National Board Certification, the highest credential a School Counselor can achieve. If you are actively considering RAMP, you will understand that process so much better if you become a National Board candidate. The biggest hurdle for counselors in our district is not being able to actually do the work of a counselor.
Do you want to move away from compliance to provide services to your students in the academic, career, and social/emotional domains? Then become a National Board Certification candidate in the CTU/CPS Nurturing Teacher Leadership (NTL) program to understand the work of counselors at a national level, to advocate for your students with union support, and to actually be able to do the work of a School Counselor. In addition to earning an annual pensionable stipend, moving to Lane 5 on the Salary Scale, earning all your ISBE re-licensure credits, and working with a cohort of other School Counselors, a major benefit of participating in the fully funded NTL program is developing writing skills which can lead to opportunities to work in leadership roles and other genres.
Please attend the informational recruitment meeting on January 25th to learn more and to register for National Board candidacy.
Cordially,
Sheryl Bond, School Counselor
National Board Certified Teacher
Nurturing Teacher Leadership Mentor
See what some of our current candidates and School Counselors from the latest NTL cohort who just earned their National Board Certification say about their experiences!
*My NBC School Counselor mentor meets me “where I am” in my learning process and motivates me to elevate to next levels. She provides critical feedback that allows me to look at things through a different lens. She always has me actively engaged in my learning process. Through the PD sessions, I have grown professionally and am more culturally responsive in my counseling practice. I couldn’t go through this journey without the support of NTL and my mentor.”
*I’ve learned so much from my counselor mentor and peers. Watching their videos (and that of National Board Certified Teachers who are School Counselors) has helped me improve my practice. Meeting in a hybrid cohort really meets my needs for support and flexibility.
*My School Counseling mentor’s comments on my writing, which is so specific and different for NBC, has stretched my thinking and helped me grow as a counselor. I am now a more critical thinker, a more thoughtful planner of lessons, and a more intentional practitioner in dealing with so many and diverse students who have different needs, challenges, interests, cultures, learning habits, talents, family circumstances, life stories, and abilities.
*I encourage more School Counselors to go through National Board Certification, especially with all the support provided through the free CTU/CPS Nurturing Teacher Leadership program. The professional development and mentoring has made it possible for me to see things differently when necessary and stay on my path to NBC.
*I have benefitted so much from the mock exams, simulations and content knowledge preparation provided by the NBC School Counseling mentor and the PD team. Studying the School Counseling standards in depth and learning how to implement them in my CPS school (no easy feat) has also been critical in my success. In the beginning I had to be intentional in incorporating the National Board Standards into my practice. Now, integrating the standards is 2nd nature to me and my students reap the benefits.
*I have improved my counseling strategies by watching videos of me, listening to the feedback I receive, and responding to the critique by improving my practice.
*Thank heavens I had the best mentor to help me prepare the portfolio entries needing to be aligned to the National Board’s rubric for what highly accomplished counselors should know and be able to do. She always expected me to achieve and never gave up on me. She knew how to help me tweak my pedagogy when I needed to (as well as my writing about it). My mentor/coach moved me closer toward success every week, even if it was difficult (for both her and me).
*NBC has been a journey that I will never forget. The rigor provided helped me be a more disciplined teacher and counselor, and led me to achieve National Board Certification. I now, in turn, hope to mentor other School Counselors going through the process.
*I always thought I was a good counselor but thanks to the phenomenal mentoring I received while going through National Board Certification (which I never even knew I needed), I now know that I am a great one!
