Nancy Edwards, individual and family studies and a master teacher at UD's Laboratory Preschool, did not plan to make teaching her career, but has come full circle, recently earning National Board Certification, the highest professional credential given in the profession. National certification was awarded to 29 Delaware teachers this year, bringing the state total up to 65.

"Both my parents were teachers and I wanted to break away from the family tradition and become an artist," Edwards said. "I graduated from Penn State with a degree in fine arts, and I still do painting and printmaking and have had several regional shows."

After graduation, she lived in Philadelphia, supporting herself as a prep chef during the day and working on her art at night. Then fate intervened.

At this time, Philadelphia schools were doing away with aesthetic programs, and to counterbalance this trend, Temple University was offering a master's program in education for students with degrees in such fields as music, drama and visual arts to bring the arts into the classrooms through primary teachers.

Edwards enrolled with about 50 participants in the program, which eventually winnowed down to about a dozen. She earned her credentials student teaching in inner-city schools and discovered that she loved teaching. She has been at it ever since.

After teaching at schools in the Philadelphia area, Edwards came to UD in 1985 as a clinical faculty master teacher.

"In my job, I'm a teacher of teachers, as well of young children," she said. "The mission of the Laboratory Preschool is not only to teach children, but teacher training and research. I teach children in kindergarten and undergraduates and also supervise student teachers at the preschool."

Edwards has received numerous awards for her teaching, including the Award for Excellence in Teaching Mathematics from the National Science Foundation, and the Order of Excellence of the Delaware State Board of Education, as well as regional and national conservation-education awards. However, the National Boards Certification is one of the most meaningful.

"National certification is arduous and time-consuming, but you become a better teacher because you take the time to analyze your own teaching and what you are doing and why. That process carries over into my kindergarten teaching and my college classroom teaching," she said. "In addition, the process honed my writing skills and gave me self-confidence in that area."

Generally speaking, it takes a minimum of 200 hours to complete the requirements, and less than 50 percent of the approximately 10,000 applicants from across the country make the grade.

"I had support from the dean, Dan Rich, and the college and help from the Delaware State Education Association, which held monthly mentoring and networking meetings for applicants," she said.

"Alice Eyman, the preschool director; Kate Conway-Turner, chairperson of individual and family studies; Carol Vukelich of the Center for Teacher Education; and Martha Buell, individual and family studies, encouraged and helped me," Edwards said.

"When you first apply for national certification, you receive a box with all the materials in it and are warned under no circumstances to throw the box away as you must return everything in order inside it. The box becomes the center of your professional life for the next year as you prepare a portfolio of videos of classroom teaching, lesson plans, student work samples and essays on analyzing your teaching goals and methods. When you send the box off, it's like sending off a part of yourself, but it's a learning experience, and I now have my students prepare smaller versions of the portfolio," Edwards said.

In addition to the portfolio, applicants sit for a six-hour examination of writing assignments on teaching issues, such as subject matter, curriculum design and assessing student learning. All candidates are assigned numbers and are completely anonymous during the process.

When the results were posted on the Internet, Edwards had one moment of despair–her name was not listed in the Delaware list.

Although she teaches in Delaware, she lives in Maryland, and when she looked at the Maryland list, she discovered she had indeed made the grade.

–Sue Moncure