Inspiring Professional Growth

Book excerpt: You've probably seen it: frustration builds, teacher turnover rises, staff meetings become insufferable, indifference breeds throughout the school. The solution? Exploring new ways to engage and motivate teachers. When your staff feels supported and empowered to grow and develop their skills, your program and the children will thrive. Implementing key concepts--collaboration, individualized professional-development plans, and team goals--can completely revolutionize your program. In this follow-up to her book Inspiring Early Childhood Leadership, author Susan MacDonald, MEd, addresses the need for offering nurturing, encouraging, and empowering professional development. Featuring easy-to-use tips, research-based strategies, leadership vignettes, and interactive and reflective exercises, Inspiring Professional Growth provides leaders with a framework to create a system that supports teachers throughout their careers. Learn how to: Acquire new leadership skills Gain confidence in your leadership role Establish a growth culture Work with and nurture even challenging staff members Cultivate collaboration and collective goal setting Facilitate meaningful professional development Inspiring Professional Growth will guide you to experience firsthand the many benefits, from better child outcomes to increased teacher retention, of creating a nurturing and empowering workplace.