Fast and Affordable Nebraska Teacher Certification
When Hannah Morrison realized that becoming a teacher was her career plan, she was already pursuing a Master’s in English. Hannah was considering adding teacher certification to her academic program. Then, her mother shared a news article detailing a new route to teaching in Nebraska. Of course, the new route including American Board’s online teacher certification program. Hannah quickly realized this new path made teacher certification much “easier and cheaper.”
Excitingly, Hannah is now Nebraska’s first American Board graduate. Below, she details her experience with fast and affordable Nebraska teacher certification.
A Master’s Program and American Board
Hannah explains, “I wanted to be a teacher when I was young, but I abandoned that idea because I had a fear of talking in front of people.” After completing her undergraduate degree, she enrolled in a Master’s in English program at the state university, still uncertain of what she would do after graduation. Her Master’s program allowed her to teach two university courses to earn money to help cover the cost of the Master’s program. But that fear of public speaking remained.
Before her first semester teaching, Hannah decided to conquer her fears. She accepted a summer job at a nearby state park that allowed her to teach kids about the park environment. Through that opportunity, she says, “my confidence went up and I felt in love with it. It felt like the thing I knew I wanted to do.”
Before learning about American Board’s program, Hannah enrolled in a few education classes at her university. Then, after learning about American Board, she was able to simultaneously study American Board’s online program and the university classes. She explains, “the synergy between my college level education courses and American Board’s pedagogy material was useful because it helped me to better understand the overall content.” Hannah would often learn new concepts through the American Board material, and then apply that information during her university class.
American Board Tips
All American Board graduates are required to pass two final certification exams: a pedagogy exam and a subject-area exam. Hannah says “Going into my first exam I was super nervous. I felt confident in that I had studied a lot and did the practice quizzes.” She continues, “I failed the first test. But I got feedback on why I failed and that was really useful because it helped me adjust my approach. I realized it wasn’t that I didn’t know the content, but I needed to think about the content differently.”
Regarding her second exam, Hannah was pursuing a subject-area she was very comfortable with, English. She needed to brush up on specific topics like Renaissance literature, but overall was prepared to test in just a few weeks.
Hannah completed American Board’s program and earned her Nebraska teacher certification in less than two months.
Fast and Affordable Teacher Certification in Nebraska
Hannah will complete her English Master’s program this semester. She says, “deciding to teach was easy because I knew I wanted to do it. But it was also really hard because doing so through the university would have cost me another $20,000.” Fortunately, she continues “with American Board’s program, I saved thousand of dollars, and cut off a year of extra schooling.”
Hannah appreciated the quick nature of American Board’s program saying, “I’m ready to get started and be in a career where I’m happy, and this let me get to it faster.” She plans to teach high school.
Soon, Hannah won’t be the only American Board graduate in Nebraska, or even in her family. Her sister has since enrolled in American Board’s program as well, and plans to teach elementary education.
