What Connected Educators Do Differently (Authors: Todd Whitaker, Jimmy Casas, and Jeffrey Zoul)

In order to strengthen their skills, education professionals are expected to participate in professional development experiences. These opportunities allow educators to collaborate and create solutions to increase the success of their students. Yet, most teachers claim professional development is not tailored to their individual needs (Marzano, Waters, & McNulty, 2005). In What Connected Educators Do Differently, education professionals Todd Whitaker, Jimmy Casas, and Jeffrey Zoul, use their combined 90 years of educational experience to present their solution: personalized professional development through networking with educators using social media. With the pressures of accountability and high-stakes standardized tests, professional development usually focuses on state and federal mandates. Educators typically are not asked for input on how to strengthen their own pedagogy. Within a school, the needs of individual teachers can range from technology integration to classroom management to instructional strategies. When educators have a voice in aligning professional development goals to their personal needs, they feel more confident about using their new skills to lead their students to success (Marzano et al., 2005).