The Most Powerful PD I Ever Attended Had Nothing to Do With Curriculum

Years ago, I attended a professional development session that left a lasting impression on me, not because it introduced a new curriculum, new initiative, or trendy instructional strategy, but because it did something far rarer: it addressed the elephant in the room.

At the time, I was teaching third grade and struggling deeply with my new team’s approach to instruction, specifically in math. We were operating under a system where lesson plans were copy-pasted from previous years, tightly aligned to a long-range pacing guide that left no room for differentiation, flexibility, or professional judgment. Despite the implementation of the Common Core State Standards, our instruction hadn’t shifted. We weren’t introducing multiplication and division until late March, even though they were central concepts and were on the state tests. I asked questions, pushed back, and eventually broke away from the rigid team planning model because my students needed more. And when I started teaching responsively, they started thriving.

Yet, that push for change wasn’t welcome. I was “disrupting team harmony.” I quickly learned that doing what was best for students sometimes meant swimming upstream alone.

Around this time, a new principal came to our school. He wasn't new to leadership, but he was new to our building. Rather than implementing immediate change, he spent his first four months quietly observing, listening, learning, and studying the school culture. Eventually, he rolled out a set of clarified expectations that, interestingly, weren’t new. They simply formalized what we were already expected to do. But even that caused pushback. Teachers were upset, resistant. The reaction was disproportionate, but revealing. It showed just how fragile our culture had become. Even mild change triggered fear.

This principal recognized something essential that many leaders overlook: when it comes to change, logic and directives only go so far. To move forward, he had to address what Julie Dirksen years later would call the elephant in her book Talk to the Elephant: the emotional side of change.

So, he gave a professional development session that would become one of the most meaningful of my career.

There were no slides, no new initiatives, and no mandates. Instead, there were quotes about change, risk, fear, and growth posted around the library. We were invited to walk around, read each one, and stand by the quote that resonated most. From there, we broke into groups to discuss why we chose that quote. What did it mean to us? What fear or hope did it reflect?

After small group discussions, we shared as a whole staff. The goal wasn’t to solve anything. The goal was to name what we were feeling.

We talked. He listened.

It was powerful.

Did things magically change and people happily embrace new ways of doing things because of one PD? Absolutely not. But it did do two critical things:

First, it helped him identify who was open-minded, who had a growth mindset, and who was willing to think and teach differently. Those were the people he partnered with first, using them as a sort of beta group for future changes rolled out to the broader school community.

Second, it gave those of us who were aching for change, but afraid of rocking the boat and becoming targets, the confidence to start doing something different. It gave us permission to shift. Not because we had approval, but because we no longer felt isolated in our desire to do better.

That PD did more to build trust and open the door to meaningful change than any data team meeting or pacing guide ever had. It created space for honest reflection and made it okay to say what many of us were thinking: we’re afraid. Afraid of doing it wrong. Afraid of conflict. Afraid of not being good enough. Afraid of change even when the status quo clearly wasn’t working.

That principal didn’t dismiss our fears. He acknowledged them. And by doing so, he began to loosen their grip.

This experience taught me that the most effective professional learning doesn't always come from external strategies or compliance checklists. Sometimes, it comes from creating space to name the real issues that are holding us back and allowing educators to reconnect with their own purpose and agency.

Sometimes, the best PD is the one that gives us permission to feel, reflect, and begin again.