Can your school or district improve its approach to building expertise among teachers, both those new to the profession and those interested in refining their craft? Diane Sweeney, currently a literacy specialist with the Public Education & Business Coalition, tells the story of how the inner-city public school in Denver where she was a teacher and literacy coach used learner-centered professional development to achieve outstanding gains in teacher knowledge and effectiveness. In Learning Along the Way, you will see concrete examples of how your school can move away from a one-size-fits-all professional development model to create an authentic learning environment that meets the needs of individual teachers. The book features chapters that focus on: implementing an instructional coaching model; establishing study groups among teachers; using observation as a means to model effective instruction; going deeper with discussion through the use of Critical Friends protocols; examining various ways adults process new information; encouraging teachers to take leadership roles; focusing the principal's leadership around the professional development model. Replete with real-life anecdotes and practical steps offered at the end of each chapter, this book will be useful to any teacher or administrator interested in rethinking the way they look at professional development.

1. Principles of professional development -- Part 1: Modeling and observation -- 2. Study groups -- 3. Understanding through observation -- 4. Coaching toward implementation -- Part 2: Guided practice -- 5. Processing new information to make it your own -- 6. Staying grounded in student work -- Part 3: Independence -- 7. Principal leadership -- 8. Teacher leadership: switching roles -- 9. Finding the courage to get there.