Scott Ware, a Science and Biology teacher at Branford High School is now Nationally Board Certified. “My certification is in Science and Biology”, said Ware. His certification required him to write “What you are teaching and send video tapes of his instruction. He said, “A lot is reflection on what you are doing if not effective what you would change. It requires a lot of writing such as why you would do this and how it worked. You are forced to reflect on your teaching methods.”

Ware explained to his students that he was preparing to become nationally board certified and they had to have parental permission to be videotaped. There were four components to his portfolio and two required videos.

He started the process in November, and submitted the portfolios in April. He had a three hour test in June at the testing center in Gainesville. There were six parts to test and applicants were allowed 30 minutes for each test. He said, “I received great support from Juettie Kelley, who was the first teacher at BHS to become nationally board certified. The importance of board certification is to raise the level of candidates teaching skills, raise awareness for those who qualify and to mentor others. It has a ripple effect.”

Roberta Richmond, a teacher in Live Oak, who resides in O’Brien, also became nationally certified at the same time as Scott Ware.

BES has a number of board certified teachers, but none of them are men.

Becoming nationally certified is a three year process, but I’m glad I was able to do this in my first year. Melissa and I plan on being very busy later on. His wife Melissa is also a teacher at the high school.

We are adopting a baby boy in February, the birth mother chose us to adopt her child”