OBSERVER Photo by M.J. Stafford Fredonia Middle School teachers Shannon Ciciotti, left, and Sarah Graham, right, pose at the Jan. 28 Fredonia Board of Education meeting with their certificates of recognition from the school district for attaining National Board Certification. Fredonia High School teacher Connie Lavelle also achieved the certification. In the middle is Fredonia Board of Education President Brian Aldrich.

The Fredonia school district recently honored three teachers for getting National Board Certifications.

Middle school teachers Shannon Ciciotti and Sarah Graham were recognized at the Jan. 27 Fredonia Board of Education meeting. Fredonia High School’s Connie Lavelle also got National Board Certification, but was unable to attend the Fredonia meeting.

“The teachers improve their practice, and board certification allows teachers to hone their practice, showcase their talents in their classroom and demonstrate their dedication to their students and their perfection,” High School Principal Darrin Paschke said. “Schools with National Board Certified teachers are characterized by better teacher morale and retention, and increased community involvement.”

“We kind of did it together, we were on the journey together,” said Ciciotti. “It was a two-year process.

“It’s a really self-reflective process,” she continued. “It’s a lot of looking inward. What do we do, why do we do it, and how does it best impact students? For me, that was the best part of it, really thinking of ‘why am I doing what I do, is it bettering me and bettering them?’ I learned a lot from it.”

Like Ciciotti, Graham appreciated that she had a partner in her certification quest.

“One of the best parts was being able to work alongside Shannon,” she said. “We spent several Saturdays, weekends (and) evenings, meeting, writing, evaluating. It was kind of nice to go back into that student role. The two-year process was a lot of ups and downs and frustration. It was neat to kind of have a partner to collaborate with, to discuss with that.”

The teachers asserted that self-assessment was a vital part of the certification journey.

“The learning that we went through, it was a unique process,” Graham said. “I really enjoyed going back to videotaping and being able to watch ourselves teach lessons and evaluate ourselves and look at student engagement … and what could we do to change our teaching to increase involvement and have everybody in the class be able to achieve.”