FROM STAFF REPORTS

A Special Education teacher from Creek View Elementary was recently named to select group of National Board Certified teachers to be invited to a special recognition at the White House.

Robert Barnes, who recently earned National Board Certification from the National Board for Professional Teaching Standards, is one of 100 teachers in the nation to receive a White House invitation to attend the NCBT Forum on Effective Teaching on Dec. 7 in Washington, D.C. He is the only teacher from Alabama to be invited.

He and his other colleagues from across the nation will be honored with a special Certification Day. The event will celebrate the accomplishments of these dedicated teachers and will include discussions about how undertaking the national boards process can lead to both improved instruction and enhanced leadership in the profession.

Barnes, who is in his seventh year of teaching students with autism and cognitive disabilities, has been asked to give some remarks on these topics. He will also have the opportunity to meet President Barak Obama. The event will start with welcoming remarks from Melody Barnes from the White House Domestic Policy Council and then U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan.

“I wanted to complete the national board certification process because I was looking for a challenge,” Barnes said. “I was chosen for this event to speak about the ways it improved my instruction by tailoring it to individual students and caused me to reflect on my previous leadership experiences. It also catalyzed me to be more of leader on behalf of students with these unique ways of seeing the world.”