Professional Development

P ete Hall, ASCD Faculty member and author, talks about the role reflection plays in ones’ professional development and effectiveness in the classroom. Hall also reminisces about his path from educator to award winning administrator and the impact those experiences have had on his current efforts to support the field.Hall is the former principal of Shaw Middle School, a Title I school in Spokane (Washington) Public Schools. After a teaching career that spanned three states and included primary, intermediate, and middle school positions, Hall served as principal of Anderson Elementary School in Reno, Nevada.When he took over Anderson Elementary in 2002, it was one of the only schools in Nevada to have failed to make Adequate Yearly Progress (AYP) for four consecutive years. Two short years later, it was the only Title I school in the state of Nevada to earn a “high-achieving” designation.Hall teaches the capacity-building model of professional development. This emphasizes three things― identifying teachers’ strengths, maximizing their potential, and building their capacity―as a gateway to enhanced student achievement.Hall’s ASCD books, both co-authored with Alisa Simeral, are: Building Teachers’ Capacity for Success: A Collaborative Approach for Coaches and School Leaders (2008) and Teach, Reflect, Learn: Building Your Capacity for Success in the Classroom, released in April 2015.

Rick Russell of Optimus Education discusses professional development for school leaders and the new delivery mechanisms used for the 21st century educator.