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Chayanee Brooks
27 Plays2 years ago
Welcome to National Board Conversations. Chayanee Brooks is a National Board Certified Teacher in Hawaii. She recently achieved certification on her final attempt. Listen to Chayanee talk about the emotions she wen through from not achieving to finally getting over the hump and achieving certification in December 2021. You can read her story in The Standard
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Transcript
Introduction and Background
00:00:00
Speaker
Hello again. On this episode of National Board Conversations, we go all the way to Hawaii to speak with Cheyani Brooks. She's a National Board Certified Teacher who just recently certified in her last and final year of eligibility. She gets into the emotions she felt as an eager teacher just jumping into the process to the highs of achievement certification this cycle. Here's my conversation with Cheyani Brooks. Hey Cheyani, how you doing today? I'm doing great. How are you?
00:00:24
Speaker
doing well, doing a little bit of a time difference here, but I'm glad he was able to get you on. So if we get a quick intro of you, where are you calling from and what'd you do?
Teaching Career and Inspiration
00:00:32
Speaker
Well, I'm calling from Hawaii today. And my name is Shiyani Brooks. I am a National Board Certified Teacher. I certified last December in English Language Arts, AYA, Adolescence and Young Adulthood. I was born in Bangkok, and I, Bangkok, Thailand, and I grew up there.
00:00:53
Speaker
I got to go to a private school and then got a bachelor degree in education and master's in linguistics. And I moved to Hawaii about 10 years ago when I got married. And prior to teaching here, I was teaching in a small international school in Bangkok. I am now teaching grade 11 and 12 English, AP literature, and AP language and composition in Hawaii on the Big Island at Kahua High School.
00:01:24
Speaker
Well, congratulations on achieving this December. That's such a huge achievement. And you've come. Your story sounds crazy. So how did you end up being a teacher? Was this something you always want to do, or did you just fall into it? I became a teacher because I love learning new things. And I love reading. I love exploring and talking about new ideas with my students. And I see teaching as a way to keep learning.
00:01:54
Speaker
I also am in love with language and I'm intrigued by stories that I read and I see power in both of them. I also grew up in a family of educators. My grandma was a history teacher. She is 94 years old now. Oh, wow. But her mind is still really sharp. She's still living in Thailand though, but I got to visit her this past winter break.
00:02:25
Speaker
But also what fascinated me was that when I grew up, I remember seeing her students coming to visit her and calling her since I was a little kid. And until now, they still do. So they still come visit her and call her on her birthday. So I thought there's something really special about teaching, and I really want to be part of it. Yeah.
00:02:52
Speaker
I feel like teaching is the profession that I can keep doing what I love and like reading and thinking and talking about ideas and growing. And also see my students use their literary mind is so exciting. That's amazing. That's amazing. I'm happy to hear
Motivation and Challenges of Certification
00:03:10
Speaker
it. So why did you end up pursuing national board certification? Well, to be honest, I was introduced to the national board during the Hawaii Teacher Union presentation in 2016.
00:03:22
Speaker
And then in Hawaii, our state offers stipend, which is alluring. But I feel like the most important thing for me, though, I felt like the National Board would be one of the highest honor of teaching profession. And I really, really want to achieve the National Board.
00:03:48
Speaker
I thought to myself I had achieved all my goals before, and I thought this would be the next step. But as you know in my blog that it turned out to be a little more difficult than I thought it would be. Yeah, and you talked about it in your blog. When you first started out, you tried to take all four components. What were you thinking when you tried to do that? Well, I thought that I could just do it in one year because that year I knew that I got pregnant as well.
00:04:17
Speaker
I just want to finish everything before the baby because I know it's a lot of work, but it was a mistake because it was just too many things going on. And so yeah, I learned a lot from that. Yeah. What lessons did you learn when you were trying to do that? Well, I learned that I should just take a little step at a time. And so the year after that, I paused one year and then I just retook
00:04:47
Speaker
one component at a time and just focus on one thing at a time. And it was easier and more manageable that way. So you talked about it in the blog. You didn't pass your first couple of times. What emotions did you feel as you had to keep waiting to see the fireworks year after year? It was really difficult. Well, I still feel emotional about it, like talking about it now, but
00:05:15
Speaker
It was just like I had to remind myself that this is the step, this is the process I learned through it. And each time I knew that I became better and I became really more careful in really thinking about every step of my teaching and my student learning.
Impact of Certification on Teaching and Personal Life
00:05:38
Speaker
And that process really, really changed me. The journey through the National Board really changed me.
00:05:45
Speaker
to be a better teacher. And I feel like really the National Award is about the impact and about the change, not only the change that I feel myself, but also the change and the impact that I have on the students. And so that kind of remind me of the theme that emerged in the stories and in literature that we read in my classes. And that is what I learned through the National Award.
00:06:14
Speaker
that teaching is about sensitivity and adaptation. And we need to constantly adjust and just allow myself to absorb every and each process in a journey. And I learned a lot from that. So I just have to allow myself to grieve a little bit and then get back on track and keep on going. How did you keep yourself motivated? I know it had to have been a little difficult.
00:06:45
Speaker
Yeah, so I feel like I, just like I said earlier that I kind of allow myself to pause and think and also I have system of support. So I have my husband and my family and the community that I live in. And in Hawaii, you have the National Board Network as well that
00:07:12
Speaker
I was part of and also look at inspiration, look at, you know, what is it that you want to achieve rather than looking at the disappointment in the past. So look for inspiration and look for a system of support and that got me going.
00:07:31
Speaker
And so you mentioned it earlier, you finally got to see the fireworks in December. How did you feel when you finally got to, got the achievement, got the fireworks and was able to put national board certified teacher on in the list of your accomplishments? Oh gosh, I couldn't even describe because I was really shaky when I tried to put the password in the website and I didn't
00:07:55
Speaker
expect to see the firework, but yet I expect to see it. It's a mixed feeling. But I saw it, and then I was shocked for a while and thought, was I dreaming? And then, yeah, I couldn't sleep for a couple of nights because of that, but it was such a great feeling.
00:08:17
Speaker
I'm glad it's worth it. You're a National Board Certified Teacher. It's amazing. So something I like to do on this podcast is get to know you all a little bit outside the classroom.
Personal Interests and Relaxation
00:08:28
Speaker
And so I have a couple of questions for you to end this off to just let you know, to just know you outside the classroom. So we're going to start off with first question. What was your most recent TV show binge?
00:08:41
Speaker
Oh, I binge a lot of TV show. I'm like Netflix fan. But the latest one, let me see. Well, Ozark. OK, OK. Yeah. And I'm also the office fan. The Witcher. I've heard good things about The Witcher, actually. So I got to check it out. Yeah, I love that one and the American Horror Show stories.
00:09:12
Speaker
You got a nice little repertoire under your belt. Nice. What was your first job growing up? My first job was tutoring students in high school. Yeah, and that was. Yeah, that was my first job, and that was kind of pretty much it. So I also did that in when I was in undergrad.
00:09:40
Speaker
Yeah. So that, that was my kind of first. You really was like going to teach just in your DNA to be a teacher. Um, yeah, I, I love teaching. I love seeing the kids grow and I love hearing what they have to say. And so, yeah, I, I love learning alongside them as well. All right. Last question. Last question. Then we'll let you get out of here. Uh, what was your perfect Saturday be like? Perfect Saturday would be like,
00:10:08
Speaker
waking up and not having to be in a hurry and sipping tea or coffee in the morning and taking time and reading books that I like, because I'm also a reader and I have a bunch of books that I have in my mind that I need to read, but I don't really have a lot of time these days. Do you want to give a couple of recommendations? Yes, definitely. It's kind of hard to pinpoint one, but
00:10:38
Speaker
I love the road, educated and thirsty. And the one I'm reading right now is, let me think about the name real quick. Actually, right now I'm coming back and try to read Alice in Wonderland again.
00:11:07
Speaker
Yeah. Well, thank you, Cheyani, for joining me. This was amazing. I had really fun talking to you. Thank you. I really enjoyed it. What an amazing story from Cheyani. Congratulations to her again on achieving. And I want to thank her for taking the time to chat with me. And thank you for taking the time to listen to National Board Conversations. Be sure to follow us all across social media to stay up to date with everything National Board related. And I'll see you next time.