The Groundhog may have called for six more weeks of winter earlier this month, but luckily we have some helpful reads to pass the time!

Here are your instructional leadership news, highlights, and updates for February—you can also subscribe to our blog to have our must-reads sent straight to your inbox!

Why Don't We Differentiate Professional Development?, via Edutopia

This article not only sparks a conversation around "why isn't professional development differentiated", but also provides four suggestions for differentiation.

"A majority of PD is provided in a workshop model. And workshop models are inherently ineffective. It amounts to giving everyone the same information, regardless of their prior knowledge, skills, experience, and leaving it up to them to determine how (or if) it is implemented."

How to Ignite Educators' Willingness to Change, via Edweek

Elena Aguilar, an instructional coach and author, shines some light on igniting teachers to open up and embrace coaching through thoughtful and targeted questioning techniques.

"Engage them in a conversation about their purpose, their why, their dreams of the legacy they'll leave. Such a conversation can kindle the soul of an educator and make them more receptive to coaching and changing."

8 Top Tips for Highly Effective Professional Development, via Edutopia

Teacher and author, Vikki Davis, shares the importance of effective professional development and 8 tips to make your next teacher PD session impactful.

"It's not enough to teach the right things to your teachers -- you have to teach your teachers in the right way."

Building Instructional Leadership Capacity, via NAESP

Principal Lynmara Colon, of Mary Williams Elementary School in Dumfries, Virginia, talks about professional learning for instructional leaders and four key leadership components principals who successfully move schools forward possess.  

"Extensive research on educational leadership tells us that keeping the same leader in a school while providing him or her with rich and ongoing professional development has a significant impact on student achievement. Perhaps this could be the solution to principal retention and consistency in school leaders."

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