Foundations

You've watched it happen again.  Another expensive professional development initiative promising transformational results. Consultants flew in. Workshops were conducted. Resources were distributed. Teachers nodded politely, filled out their feedback forms, and then... nothing changed. The problem wasn't the content or even the delivery. The problem was the foundation itself, built on the quicksand of deficit thinking that dooms most professional development from the very begi

Your teachers are waiting. Not for someone else to come in and fix them, but for a leader who recognizes the competence they already bring and helps them build from there. That leader could be you, starting with your very next professional development decision.

Start with direction: outcomes, practices, cohort — then build support around them. You've sat through the budget meeting. You've defended your professional development line items. You've watched your superintendent's expression shift from interested to skeptical when you mentioned "teacher growth opportunities." And somewhere in the back of your mind, there's that nagging voice asking: what if this becomes another initiative that fizzles out by the end of the trimester? The

The eye rolls and excuses that greet your professional development initiatives aren't signs of bad teachers—they're symptoms of a broken system that you have the power to change. Every moment you spend trying to force engagement with deficit-based approaches is a moment you could spend building the strength-based systems that naturally generate commitment. Your teachers are ready for something better. The question is: are you ready to lead them there?