TEMPLE, Texas — Editor's Note | The video below is a previous segment on education in Temple.
Two Temple Independent School District educators have made history as the first in the district to receive 2022 National Board Certifications from the National Board of Professional Teaching Standards (NBPTS).
Educators, JoMeka Gray is a kindergarten teacher at Western Hills Elementary and Sabrina Dutkanicz is an instructional coach at Raye-Allen Elementary.
Gray has been with the district for seven years and earned her Early Childhood Generalist National Board Certification. Thus certifying her to teach all areas in kindergarten through second grade, according to the district. Gray also earned a higher designation of exemplary teacher through the Teacher Incentive Allotment.
“It is one of the biggest accomplishments I have ever achieved, I think maybe even bigger than me earning my actual teaching certification because it was such a great practice for me to perfect my skills and teaching craft” Gray said.
“It caused me to fine tune some things I didn’t even realize I needed to improve on. It showed me how to involve the community and bring in those resources to benefit our students and to communicate and collaborate with other teachers, instructional coaches and administrators. I also hope this helps our students recognize their own strengths and work on achieving their own goals because they saw that I was able to do that through this program,” she continued.
Dutkanicz is in her 12th year in TISD and earned her Middle Childhood Generalist Certification which certifies her in all subjects in grades two through six, according to Temple ISD.
She says earning her National Board Certification gave her the push to move from the classroom into an instructional coaching role.
“Now that I am an instructional coach, I can bring some of the strategies I learned through this process to my campus to begin impacting all of the teachers on our campus,” Dutkanicz said. “I didn’t realize how much this would change me when I embarked on this journey. It forced me to reflect on my teaching and every process I had in the classroom. I started this process when I was teaching fifth grade and it showed me how to dig deeper to find ways to meet every student’s needs”
After an initial group of 90 educators expressed interest when the program was first announced, 20 began preparing to participate. With Gray and Dutkanicz, the district says, becoming the first from TISD to successfully complete the program.
The National Board Certification process typically takes two years and is made up of four components.
Dr. Donna Ward, assistant superintendent of Human Resources for Temple schools says both teachers and their dedication to the process is an inspiration.
“JoMeka and Sabrina started the journey of becoming a National Board Certified Teacher right before Covid hit,” said Dr. Ward. “Their dedication to the process and determination to complete the certification requirements (which is no easy feat) is inspirational and a testament to their commitment to the profession and to their own personal growth. The leadership team at Temple ISD is proud beyond words to have these two ladies serving our students and staff!”
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