In every class, the destination for each student is meeting academic standards. The best teachers understand that while some students reach this goal by traveling the same road, others take divergent paths. All teachers face the challenge of how to be an effective guide for each student, even though some students take quite different routes to learning, traveling at different speeds, encountering different obstacles along the way.

Meeting this challenge requires teachers to learn how to become expert guides. Professional development is the process by which this learning occurs. The learning can be informal, perhaps through consulting with or observing a more experienced teacher. It can be formal, such as a group of teachers collaborating to learn together. This latter approach provides mutual support and shared knowledge that reduces the risk of blazing a new trail alone.

But authentic professional learning is always about discovery and requires courage to enter unknown territory, searching for the best routes to more productive practice. Some educators enter professional development experiences expecting roadmaps. While maps are one means of sharing knowledge, there is a great difference between studying a one-dimensional map and immersing oneself in the sights, sounds, smells, and rigors of an actual journey. The more that professional learning provides such experiences, the more educators will become effective guides for student learning and the more they will discover about themselves.

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