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Amy Fee was inspired to become a teacher by her paternal grandmother, a first-grade teacher who kept school supplies in her basement.

"I remember her teaching me how to tell time," recalled Fee, who mentors teachers at Pershing Hill, Manor View and Hebron-Harman elementary schools.

Fee said her grandmother Esther Fee, now 84, was pleased to learn that she recently became a National Board certified teacher, earning the highest teaching credential in the nation.

"I feel wonderful," Fee said. "I was ecstatic, very happy."

Fee and Jennifer Vosburg, a special education teacher at Meade Heights Elementary School, earned in 2011 the certification, which is given by the National Board for Professional Teaching Standards in Arlington, Va.

Fee learned of her certification in November 2011.

"She has invested hard work and dedication to the students and staff of Anne Arundel County schools. She has worked diligently toward the certification," said Tasheka Green, principal of Pershing Hill Elementary School, where Fee has worked as a teacher-mentor for the past year.

Green said Fee's strengths are her commitment and competency.

Fee is a Right Start advisor for the Anne Arundel County Public Schools. The school system sponsors the Right Start New Teacher Support Program to assist teachers in their transition into the profession. Fee coaches several teachers at Pershing Hill, Manor View and Hebron-Harmon elementary schools in an effort to help them become "reflective" practitioners.

"The National Board process helps you to be reflective about your practice," Fee said. "It is my job as a mentor to help new teachers reflect, so this has prepared me."

National Board certification complements a state teaching license. It is valid for 10 years and is achieved through the completion of a voluntary assessment program.

One of the five core propositions of the program is that teachers "critically examine their practice on a regular basis to deepen knowledge, expand their repertoire of skills and incorporate new findings into their practice, according to the National Board for Professional Teaching Standards website.

Fee credits a reading specialist at Marley Elementary School in Glen Burnie with encouraging her to seek certification about two years ago when she was a third-grade teacher at the school.

"I'm always looking for ways to become a better teacher," Fee said. "Because NBTC has you reflect on your teaching practices, you make improvements through the process."

To become certified, candidates must complete 10 assessments that are reviewed by 10 teachers in their certificate area. Assessments include four portfolio entries that concentrate on teaching practice and six constructed response exercises that assess content knowledge.

Candidates are also required to make two videos of their work in the classroom and complete a computer-aided test on teaching pedagogy.

Fee's certification is as a middle childhood generalist. To earn her certification, she developed lesson plans for third-graders that incorporated math and science, as well as social studies and economics.

"I'm committed to my own professional growth and learning new teaching strategies," Fee said.

A native of Ijamsville in Frederick County, Fee earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in elementary education in 2003 from West Liberty State College in West Virginia, and a master's degree in curriculum and instruction with an emphasis in administration from McDaniel College in Carroll County.

In 2004, Fee began teaching at Marley for six years before becoming a Right Start advisor for Anne Arundel County in 2010.

In the future, Fee said she would like to serve as an administrator at an elementary school then teach college.

"I've always enjoyed being in the classroom," she said. "I'm inspired working with students."