Submitted!

I submitted my National Board portfolio today.  Yay!  I've been working on it for months and I'm so glad to be done.  Results won't come in until December, so I'm just thrilled to be finished for now!

My evening was capped off by two former students, a junior and a senior, stopping by to see me.  They work with my school's after school program.  The senior remembered that I'd had her class write letters to themselves after listening to President Obama's first inauguration speech.  I promised to return them at graduation.  So, she came to ask if I still had them; graduation is in two short weeks.  In some kind of amazing miracle, I actually knew exactly where they were and went right to the file in my cabinet.  I pulled out the letters, handed hers over, and she read it to herself.  She was laughing at first, "Look at my handwriting!"  Then she started reading and was proud of herself; she accomplished the goals she set out for herself in 8th grade: learning a language and taking Calculus.  "I got a 5 on the AP test last year," she told me.  Then she stopped reading and teared up.  She handed the letter to her friend, who read the last part aloud.  "Give [my little sister] and Grandpa a hug."  The senior said, "Grandpa died in 9th grade." 

When I asked her about post-graduation plans, she told me she's going to my alma mater.  :)

That, friends, is what this profession is all about. Whether I get NBPTS certified or not, I took this as a sign that I am doing something right. 

Mathematically yours,
Miss B.