HCHS Amy Hendry receives National Board Certification

Published 2:31 pm Wednesday, December 21, 2005

Amy Hendry, an English teacher at Hamilton County High School, received National Board Certification from the National Board for Professional Teaching Standards (NBPTS) in Nov., 2004. She has since become a mentor for other teachers seeking National Board Certification.

Hendry studied at the University of Florida in Gainesville and the University of South Florida in Tampa. She holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in English: Professional and Technical Writing. Hendry has won many awards during her teaching career including the Mainstream Teacher Award, HCHS Star Teacher Award and the Coca Cola HCHS Teacher of the Month Award.

The NBPTS is based on five core propositions: Teachers should be committed to their students and learning. They should know the subjects they teach and how to teach those subjects. Teachers are responsible for managing and monitoring student learning. They should learn from experience and they are members of learning communities.

National Board Certification measures a teacher’s practice against these high and rigorous standards. The process involves an extensive series of performance-based assessments, including student work samples, teaching portfolios and thorough analyses of the candidates’ classroom teaching and student learning. It assesses the knowledge teachers possess and the actual demonstration of their skills and professional judgment as applied daily in the classroom.

National Board Certification is voluntary and open to all people who have a baccalaureate degree and three years of classroom experience in either a public or private school. It is valid for 10 years, after which a teacher must seek renewal.

Hendry believes that she is a better teacher because of her experiences in applying for certification. She plans to earn a master’s degree in literature.

Her desire is to improve her teaching and her school. She feels that she has learned effective teaching strategies by attending conferences and training sessions. According to Hendry, if a teacher is properly educated, maintains a positive learning environment and employs proper strategies to teach the required standards of her subject area, it is inevitable that students will show learning gains.

Hendry feels that all students can learn and that all students benefit from being pushed to aim higher. She thinks that students should also be held accountable and be active participants in their own education – teachers should not be held responsible for those students who refuse to work. She believes that positive contact with parents is essential to building a strong network between the home and school – it impacts student learning by helping to foster a relationship between parent, student and teacher.

Catherine Akins, ESE Consultant at HCHS, said that no child is left behind in Hendry’s class, including mainstream special education students. She doesn’t see those students as a burden but as a challenge to facilitate them in the learning atmosphere as well as teaching her other students about differences.

According to HCHS Principal Gene Starr, Hendry’s training is having a positive impact on her students and they are benefiting from the certification she has received. Suezette Wiggins, HCHS Media Specialist, believes that Hendry exemplifies the characteristics that define a “master teacher.”