The Presidential Award for Excellence in Math and Science Teaching--The Process

So I began the application process almost a year ago and I have to say that I am fortunate to have amazing people to work with at my school, awesome students that trust that I want to take them in the right direction, and a supportive wife and many friends that were willing to help out as I started the process.

School Demographics

What it sounds like. Who are the students at my school? Who are the students in my class that I videotaped? How many students qualify for free lunch? What is the race and ethnicity of my school and the class? 

This part was easy because the counseling staff that I work with is second to none. I asked for this information and they had it to me in a day while still doing all of their usual work--teaching classes, class scheduling, high-stakes test scheduling (AP, MME, ACT, PLAN, MEAP) including getting the appropriate accommodations for the students, counseling students through personal issues, they do it all!

Letters of Recommendation

I needed three recommendations. I asked a former student, my principal, and my former assistant principal who is currently our middle school principal. I told them what I was going to be judged on and they could feel free to talk about some or all of the requirements. 

I have never read kinder words. The clear effort that was put into these letters meant that I needed to step up my game even further.

Resume

The instructions:

A résumé is required that outlines the applicant’s education, employment history, and participation in professional development activities. The document may not exceed two pages. 

Seems easy enough. My education and employment are pretty straight forward, but my PD activities have gone on for all of my teaching career. How much do I include? Are they looking for constant activity and or quality? How much do I stress my teacher training duties?

I contacted the PAEMST "help-line" and they told me to include it all. I said, "In two pages? I have 13 years of  work history and I've been very active. What should I cut?" I was told do what I can. Thanks help line. You're the best!

Eventually I got it figured out (in no bigger than 10 point font). I got help from a colleague and friend, who talked me into teaching teachers in the first place, with the proofreading and formatting of my resume. I went through 4 drafts with her and they were always returned with constructive feedback within the day. I am thankful that she was able to drop what she was doing to work on this for me.

Video of my class

This, surprisingly, was the make-or-break part of the application. 45 consecutive minutes. Judges looking for master teaching during the video. They want to see students being themselves (but on a camera) but not playing to the camera (that isn't usually there). I planned three different lessons in a two week period and I had the help of my school's awesome TV/Media teacher and one of her students that has since gone to school to become a director. I gave the student these instructions: get me when I'm addressing the entire class, get me interacting with students, get the students working without me, and go where you see/hear something interesting going on. I gave my class the following instructions: be yourself, but a little quieter (they were talkers!).

Ultimately I went with the first lesson I filmed because it had the best of everything I wanted. It wasn't perfect, but it had the things that go on in my class everyday and I am proud of the work that my students do for me on a daily basis. The other lessons, while good, didn't film as well.

Written Narrative and Supporting Documentation

12 pages, huh? Double spaced? I wonder what my first draft will look like. A few weekends of taking notes on the videos, writing my thoughts, and basically putting words to paper, I ended up with a document that was close to 30 pages long!

I ended up, ironically, taking personal days from school so that I could put a full 8 hours into writing. Yep. I took time away from teaching to write about what a great teacher I am.

Eventually I got the paper down to 15 pages and then that's when I brought in the big guns--my wife and my high school friend--to proof read. The instructions were simple--I want to win this and they didn't need to waste time worrying about how to say things delicately (they are both teachers also. They are also good at what they do and part of that is providing critique).

The hardest part of the paper was condensing my thoughts to fit each sections page requirement--1 page to talk about 7 years of providing professional development in the region, and 15 years of training staff on the use of technology?!

I had 5 months to work on the application and I seriously thought I'd be done with it after 3. I submitted my application with two days to spare. Worth it? The State Level Results Blog is soon.