Linda Brem has been

teaching Shakespeare's "Hamlet" for

many years at Fayette County High School.

She routinely

highlighted the important vocabulary words, noted

the characteristics of the bard's writing, and

referred to the text for the basis of her lesson.

Brem also showed a film version of

"Hamlet."

But last year, her

approach was different. In her senior English

class, students read the play and also watched

excerpts from two adaptations of

"Hamlet," one with Mel Gibson and the

other with Kenneth Branaugh. At the conclusion,

Brem asked her students to tell which version

"spoke to them" and why? The result was

a lively discussion which brought setting,

costuming, time period and actual dramatization

into play.

Which was the

better "Hamlet?" Whom did you empathize

with?

The change in

Brem's approach to "Hamlet" came as a

result of rethinking her instructional techniques

while preparing to become a certified teacher

under the standards of the National Board of

Professional Teaching Standards.

"English has

changed as a discipline... we're moving into an

integrated approach," Brem said. "You

look at literature as well as art and music. You

look at a piece of literature and ask what it

makes you see about a particular time... how does

it speak to us today."

Brem has the

distinction of being the first national

board-certified teacher in the Fayette County

school district. What it means is that she has

completed a rigorous six-month process of

self-evaluation and judgment by the best of her

peers, completed a day-long battery of tests and

met the highest teaching standards in the country

to become a "master teacher,"

recognized in Georgia with a recommended 5

percent pay raise.

Brem was encouraged

to participate in the program by her

sister-in-law, Irene Goetze, who teaches a gifted

middle school class outside Fayette County. After

teaching for 29 years, Brem figured she was ready

for a new challenge and she got it. "I

learned so much... I feel like I earned another

undergraduate degree in fine arts," she said

of her experience.

She is

overwhelmingly enthusiastic about the national

board certification process. "It's been a

long time coming for this profession. It makes

you feel that there's a level of accountability.

You have to have the language background, the

description of language and how it works... we're

holding the kids accountable for that."

As a language arts

teacher, Brem recognizes that teaching literature

in the information age has to be different.

"The kids don't get emotionally

engaged," she said. When students

"connect" with the subject matter and

the world around them, Brem knows she has done

her job.

While working on

her portfolio, which is a series of exercises

focused on classroom delivery, Brem said she

would, "think about things a lot more...

work from the end to the beginning. The fact of

the matter is teaching English has changed, and

this has made me look at things

differently."

Founded in 1987,

the National Board of Professional Teaching

Standards is an independent, not-for-profit group

composed of 63 directors who are teachers, school

administrators, legislators and community

leaders. Their mission was to establish standards

for teachers, setting the bar for what

information they should know and how they should

deliver it.

Teachers seeking

board certification have six months to complete

their portfolios and written exercises.

Videotaped classes are submitted, along with

extensive paperwork by the candidates.

Brem was recently

informed that she had passed her exam and is now

board certified. At the last Fayette school board

meeting, Brem was recognized for her achievement

encouraged other teachers to look into the

opportunity

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