Here ya go, BGSU

CELEBRATE! At 8AM this morning, I will hand my completed doctoral dissertation to the Dean of the College of Education at BGSU and have a thirty minute meeting with her. I cannot even believe I'm done, well, as "done" as I can be at this point. I know I must successfully defend it in front of my dissertation committee at Ohio State and then they will have recommendations/ changes/ suggestions - things for me to "fix", but I am oh so close! Thanks be to God! (OK, I'll try to act much more professional than I am acting in this goofy OSU photo. It's really hard not to be giddy that somehow this huge project I started working on in March of 2008 - 17 months ago - all came together and I am starting my dream job. Thank you, Lord!)

I doubt anyone really wants to read all 252 pages, but here's an abstract if you're looking for a shortened summary about my investigation:

Doctoral Dissertation Abstract
Copyright, 2009
Angela R. Thomas, Ph.D. Candidate
Ohio State University
College of Education
School of Teaching and Learning

This qualitative, multi-case study explored the issue of the long term, professional impact of becoming a National Board Certified Teacher. Eleven NBCTs, representative of four regions of the U.S., participated in a survey and three one-on-one phone interviews. The participants earned National Board Certification ten to fourteen years ago. Six remained classroom teachers while five chose to pursue other areas of education. All eleven NBCTs stated professional differences in their careers including reflective practices and new responsibilities. Many stated an increased sense of confidence as well as a change of dispositions and perspectives. Findings suggest new categories of change to professional lives than found in previous research regarding NBCTs including frustration and disappointment, and also a sense of responsibility.