Key points:
Do you think you’re creative? Try this: List as many uses for a paperclip as you can in two minutes. Most people imagine a standard size metal or plastic clip. But consider that the “paperclip” could be made out of wood, gold, microprocessors, money, or anything you can imagine. The “paperclip” can be the size of a car or even the size of the Earth. Therefore, the possible number of things you could use a “paperclip” for are infinite.
We often self-impose limits to our thinking. Too often, professional development (PD) is defined through a fairly narrow lens. But what does it really mean to develop professionally? Imagine if PD could be made from the precise needs, passions, and curiosities of each teacher in your school. How might giving teachers more opportunities to develop original ideas lead to innovation, better student outcomes, and reduce teacher burnout?
In my district, I designed and led Personalized PD for Innovation workshops that gave teachers structured time and guidance to develop their own innovation-focused PD topics. After 48 teachers participated, they completed a survey rating their experience on a 10-point scale. The workshop averaged 9.4 for relevance, 9.5 for usefulness, and 9.4 for helping teachers develop new lessons or products. Every participant said they would attend again.
Here are a few examples of what some teachers accomplished in a single 60-minute session:
- Created a pen pal exchange with a school in Spain
- Used an AI LLM to design trauma-informed Language Arts activities
- Built an AP U.S. History podcast using NotebookLM
- Launched a Driver’s Education Club to join Champion Schools from Jersey Drives
According to a 2015 report from The Mirage, districts spent about $18,000 per teacher each year on PD, yet only three in 10 teachers reported meaningful improvement over two to three years. Several studies summarized by Kassner in 2014 from The Metropolitan Educational Research Consortium, indicate that various approaches to personalizing teacher professional learning and development can lead to increased student achievement. A large-scale study conducted by the The National Foundation for Educational Research revealed that giving teachers real autonomy over their PD goals significantly increased job satisfaction and made teachers more likely to stay in the profession.
Other professions illustrate the power of this approach. Google’s so-called 20% Rule encouraged employees to spend part of their workweek exploring their own projects that they found meaningful. This reflects the Exploration vs. Exploitation Model, found throughout nature, which emphasizes balancing the pursuit of new ideas with the use of proven practices to achieve results.
While there are many ways to personalize professional learning, below is a simple innovation-focused PD framework I’ve used in my district.
Step 1: Introduction
I begin each session by clearly explaining the personalized PD concept and use interactive divergent thinking exercises like the paperclip challenge. I remind teachers that in all of human history, no one has ever possessed their exact combination of experiences, strengths, and perspective. I encourage them to channel that uniqueness into professional learning that energizes their teaching, serves their students, and tackles real problems in innovative ways.
Step 2: Choosing the PD topics
I pose several questions to guide teachers towards discovering their PD topic(s): What challenges are you having as a professional? What about the school system would you want to see changed? What excites you about teaching? Then I suggest several brainstorming techniques (e.g. scamper method, first principles thinking, 100 bad ideas, brainstorming while walking with colleagues). After choosing a topic, teachers can optionally narrow it to a specific actionable question, lesson, activity, or project, or conduct research to expand or validate the idea. Teachers can also use this AI PROMPT to help them develop an PD focus:
While I offer teachers access to a list of traditional PD resources, they are encouraged to choose topics outside the usual scope like creating a new club, procuring a guest speaker, or using AI to solve a specific problem they are having in their class. I also provided a list of PD suggestions directly from the students at our high school.
Step 3: Create, reflect, and share
Teachers then get ample time to work independently while I provide support upon request. A brief optional reflection or staff discussion helps consolidate insights and share ideas. Teachers may also post a short summary of their work on a designated Google Classroom page.
Thinking outside the boxes
This type of PD is not meant to be a one-time, 60-minute session. It’s a call for a paradigm shift in the role of teachers as innovators and problem-solvers within the American public school system. Teachers are intimately knowledgeable of persistent challenges such as student engagement, mental health concerns, and achievement gaps, yet they are rarely given the time or structure to design new solutions. If we want to strengthen the American public schools, we must give teachers meaningful autonomy to pursue professional learning that benefits their students, aligns with district priorities, and incentivizes dedicated teachers to remain in the profession.
I am happy to support districts interested in experimenting with this type of professional learning. But implementing a PD model like this requires educators to maintain a commitment to think outside the boxes. Boxes, plural, because creativity is not a single breakthrough. It’s an ongoing journey. Opening one door in our thinking may free us from one box only to transport us inside another, albeit a larger box. Although it can often feel frustrating, as if we are fighting through a labyrinth of infinite boxes, there are also infinite doors just waiting to be discovered. The key is recognizing that many of the walls of these boxes are built from our preconceived assumptions and the limits of our own imagination. If we innovate together, we might find that better schools and a better world are on the other side of the next door.
