5 changes teachers want to see in professional development

I’ve been reflecting a lot about what’s working and what’s not when it comes to teacher development trainings.

I decided to ask a question on my Truth for Teachers Facebook page about the things teachers want from good PD and what you hope to never experience again in a training.

After reading through so many comments from you all I’ve realized there’s an important conversation to be had about what makes professional development meaningful, helpful, and respectful of our time and expertise.

So in this article + podcast episode, I’m going to share five things I’ve learned about good PD—from my own experiences over the past 25 years in education as a teacher, instructional coach, educational consultant, and yes, professional development provider–and also from what you’ve shared as well. Let’s reimagine professional development together and talk about how it could look when done right.

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1. Treat teachers like professionals

The number one thing I hear from teachers is this: we want to be treated like the professionals we are. And that means not being talked down to, not being managed like students, and definitely not being forced into activities that feel infantilizing.

I saw so many of you mention hating techniques like “If you can hear me, clap once,” or being asked to play silly icebreaker games. One person said they felt like the PD week before school starts is like sorority rush week—an anxiety-inducing experience where they couldn’t just focus on getting ready for the year.

Here’s the thing: adults learn differently than kids. Teachers don’t need strategies “modeled” on us in the same way students might. We understand instructional methods already, and we want to spend our time diving deeper into the content, not pretending to be elementary students. Good PD respects teachers’ expertise, and treats teachers like adults.

I will give a caveat here in terms of icebreakers. If I’m working with a group of teachers who don’t know each other, I do feel it’s important to include some kind of get-to-know you activity before asking teachers to share reflections and work together. And just because I hate icebreakers and silly activities doesn’t mean everyone does!

So I typically tell folks attending my sessions that there will be some interactive pieces and games for the folks who like that, and some quiet sit-and-listen time, quiet talking time, and quiet writing time for the folks who enjoy that. I like to acknowledge that every activity won’t be equally as enjoyable for all participants so they can see that it’s necessary to go along with things outside of their own preferences for the good of the group, knowing that others will do the same for them.

I also promise I will never embarrass anyone or ask them to do anything embarrassing. I won’t call on them if they’re not paying attention or otherwise treat them like kids. That way the tone of emotional safety is set from the beginning, folks know what to expect, and what I expect from them.

2. Make it practical and immediately usable

The second big takeaway? Teachers want PD they can actually use. One of the biggest frustrations I saw in your comments was sitting through a session only to leave with nothing tangible to take back to your classroom.

Whether it’s materials, strategies, or even just time to plan and adapt what you’ve learned, PD should be about helping teachers solve problems in real time. As one commenter said, “Everyone knows what best practices are, but does best practice always work? PD that gives us practical tools to address our specific classroom challenges is so much more valuable than hearing abstract theories or sales pitches for programs our district already bought.”

One of my favorite examples someone shared was when a trainer came with ready-to-use materials, printed on card stock and laminated. That’s what I’m talking about. Practical, actionable takeaways are key.

In the PD that I conduct, I try to incorporate a blend of mindset principles and actionable steps, which makes sense to you if you’re a regular listener of this podcast or you’ve read any of my books or taken any of my courses. The mindset piece is absolutely essential: how you think about yourself, your students, your work, and the task at hand really impact the end result. And often when teachers are doing the right things but not getting the results they want, it’s a mindset shift–not a new instructional strategy–that helps open them up to new possibilities and releases some of the stress and frustration.

But, the mindset piece shows up in our actions: in what we say and do with students. So I work really hard to tie those two things together. I want to leave teachers feeling like they understand what the mindset looks like in practice, preferably in different ways since every teacher is unique.

3. Stop reading the PowerPoint.

If I had a dollar for every time someone commented, “Please stop reading slides to us,” I could fund my own teacher conference.

Here’s what I think is at the heart of this frustration: it’s not about the PowerPoint itself; it’s about respecting teachers’ time. If the entire training can be summed up in a document or email, let teachers read it on their own time and use the session for something else.

This is the flipped classroom model, right? Read and reflect on your own prior to coming together as a group, so that you can take the conversations and work deeper.

One alternative to this that I like is having folks access a link via a QR code on their phone and/or a tiny URL they can type in (their choice), and letting them explore the materials at that link on their own. So instead of telling them about an article or a research study, I give them the link to it and offer a few minutes to read it at their own pace, and then reflect in writing (maybe via a shared Google Doc) or talk about it with someone sitting near them. This also offers a break from hearing me talk, and allows participants to be more actively involved.

If I can offer a choice, I always try to do that, as well: “You can read this or that, depending on what interests you most. Afterward, you can respond in this way or that way, whichever you’d prefer, or make up your own way.”

Having some control over the learning can help prevent folks from feeling like they’re little kids in the classroom being told to complete an assignment, and of course, it alleviates the need to have slides read aloud to them.

If PowerPoints are used (and I almost always use them myself), they should be visual, engaging, and serve as a support for the presenter—not the entire presentation. Time is our most precious resource, and PD should add value, not waste hours on content we could have learned in 15 minutes.

4. Recognize that one-size-fits-all doesn’t work.

Teachers all have different needs, and good PD should reflect that. A recurring complaint I saw in your comments was about sessions that lump all grade levels, subjects, and roles together. For example, high school teachers being given elementary-level examples, or non-teaching staff like counselors and nurses being forced to sit through sessions that don’t apply to their work.

It’s so important for PD to be differentiated, just like we differentiate for students. That might mean offering breakout sessions based on grade level, subject area, or specific interests. It might mean letting teachers choose their own seats or collaborate with people they’re comfortable with. Forced interactions and assigned groups don’t always foster meaningful collaboration—they often just add stress.

Stations can be an easy way to do this: have teachers in grade levels or staff in various departments rotate around stations that are designed for their specific context. Sometimes I do this by giving different types of teachers different links for the station instructions, so for examples, K-2 teachers are doing 3 specific station activities and grades 3-5 teachers are doing 3 different ones. Sometimes the activities in the stations are the same for everyone, but they’re rotating with other folks in similar teaching contexts so they can apply the activities to their students and standards.

I don’t tend to offer different options in a keynote, because it’s typically just around an hour and that format is supposed to be a general message to everyone in which I’m mostly talking and they’re mostly listening. However, I do differentiate within the keynote itself. Some of the examples will be different if there are admins or teacher assistants in the audience, for example.

I try not to talk about something that’s only relatable for one small group for more than a minute or so, and I try to make sure that all groups represented feel seen and have their needs directly addressed. A lot of this work is done in advance, by working with the school leaders or organizational directors to understand who’s going to be attending, what their needs are, what morale is like for them right now, what their biggest challenges are, what new initiatives the district has been implementing, and so on.

The most important thing, in both my experience and in what I hear from teachers, is that everyone has meaningful learning to engage with for the majority of the session. A minute or two of an example that doesn’t apply is okay, but one-sized-fits-all PD really isn’t best practice.

The final aspect of good PD is one that came directly from your comments…

5. Inspire, don’t overwhelm.

A lot of folks mentioned that professional development should be inspiring. And I’ll admit this surprised me a bit, because some folks dislike the rah-rah pep rally stuff and want meaty research-based practices they can take into their classrooms right away.

But as one person clarified, “The primary goal of PD should be to inspire teachers—not to teach them how to teach.” And that I think is spot on. Many teachers feel patronized when common strategies are presented as brand new revolutionary information. Other teachers feel like they’ve found strategies that work well for their students and don’t want to learn a whole other approach that causes them to dump everything that’s working for something new.

That’s not always the case in PD, of course, but I think the heart of it assumes that teachers already know how to teach, unless they are brand new. Scaffold and support in PD, differentiate as needed, but work from the assumption that every person in the room is really good at some aspects of their job already, and build from there.

Again, this is what we aim for with students, right? We try not to see them as empty vessels waiting to be filled with all our knowledge, but rather we acknowledge that they each bring a wealth of experiences and information into the classroom already, and we try to tap into their strengths. It should work the same way in PD: inspire teachers to do their best work, with the assumption that they know what they’re doing and just need a boost of motivation, support, and resources to take things to the next level they know they’re capable of and ready to achieve.

Good PD, I think, should remind us why we love teaching. It should reenergize us and help us see new possibilities for our students and classrooms.

But the other part of this “inspire, don’t overwhelm” principle is that inspiration doesn’t have to mean packing a session full of activities and information. Sometimes, less is more. A focused, well-paced session with time to reflect and ask questions can be more powerful than a jam-packed agenda.

This is something I’ve definitely had to learn the hard way, because there’s always more I want to do in PD than we have time for. But not surprisingly, I’ve seen that teachers are able to process and retain the information better if I’m not spraying them with a firehose of ideas. It’s the fewer things, better principle, right? I’ve had to practice doing fewer things, conveying fewer ideas, and so on in order to have better conversations, reflections, and implementation strategies.

One last thing about this that was mentioned frequently: don’t forget to start and end on time. Waiting for latecomers penalizes the folks who were on time, so start with some valuable but not essential right away, and let folks trickle in during that time.

Similarly, ending late—or rushing through because you ran out of time—can ruin an otherwise great experience. I try really hard not to make teachers feel rushed in my PD sessions. I want them to know that they can ask questions and take the time they need to process the information without worrying that we’re going to run over time and everyone’s going to be mad at them for making the session end late.

I say up front, “Don’t worry about the time at all. I’ve got this. I will make sure you have the full 15-minute break, and that we end a minute or two early, no matter how many questions you ask. It’s my job to keep us on track, so you can focus on the learning.” And then I’ll just fast forward through certain slides that I’ve built in and pre-planned to skip if we run out of time. I don’t even mention it, because I don’t want folks to feel like they’re missing crucial info or start watching the clock. I just skip forward and keep going.

Like every other principle of good PD, “inspire but don’t overwhelm” is really about respect. It’s showing respect for teachers’ time and their expertise, respect for their capacity and not pushing them to learn and do more in a short time than they can humanly handle, and ensuring that their needs are addressed and met in the PD itself.

I hope this episode sparks some conversations about what we really need from professional development as educators. If you’re a PD presenter, think about how you can incorporate these ideas. And if you’re a teacher attending PD, share this episode with your district leaders or PD organizers—they might just see the value in making these changes.

If this episode resonated with you, I’d love the opportunity to work with you and your colleagues by presenting a live or virtual PD session.