For Educators
Teacher Growth and Development: Creating Opportunities for All Teachers to Grow
Whether you’re a new or an experienced teacher, there are always ways to grow and stretch your skills in your career. The education space constantly changes, so there’s always room to adapt and learn. We’ve got you if you’re looking for ways to boost your career or stretch your skills. Read on to learn more from BrainPOPers on some teacher growth and development ideas you can start today.
Seven teacher professional growth and development ideas
Our staff of former teachers, administrators, and specialists have several things in common–one being the love of learning. According to RAND research, over 40% of teacher professional learning is done in collaborative learning, but there’s so much more than that. Learning new skills can help with expertise, career growth, and new opportunities. So, let’s dive in!
1. Explore opportunities within your community
Finding opportunities may allow you to explore connections, network within your circle, or expand your community connections. Networking can enable you to share your expertise with a broader group. “Look for opportunities outside of your school community related to the parts of teaching and learning that inspire you. For example, join an organization, write a blog, or present your ideas at a conference. Also, you can find a thought partner in a different school or organization and build on an idea together. Go deep into the aspects that you love and share your ideas far and wide. For me, it was an equitable and inclusive learning experience!” – Dr. Barbara Hubert, BrainPOP Senior Director of Learning Design
2. Find new ways to dive deep, research, and tell your story
The only person that can tell your story is you. So don’t sell yourself short. Sometimes, a new role, career path, or learning a new skill can be daunting, but you can do it. “One of the biggest lessons I learned when transitioning from education to edtech is that educators have more transferable skills than most. As a teacher, you can handle anything! Don’t be afraid to share these skills as part of your interview process to show how your previous experience would be helpful for the current job or company. For example, I suggest physically writing down all your skills from education that would help set you apart in an interview, on a cover letter, or during a demo. You can reframe your thoughts around leaving teaching to help support a greater good.” – Nicolina Abruzzese, BrainPOP Regional Sales Manager
3. Develop new skills with up-skilling and reskilling
If you’re looking to upskill or change pace, you may need help figuring out where to start. Sometimes, the best way to tackle this is to look at what you already know. “When trying to transition out of the classroom, I upskilled by taking certification classes. For example, I found these classes through LinkedIn Learning and Google Certifications. I also connected with colleagues via LinkedIn. I purposely followed people who had roles that I was interested in, as well as edtech companies I used in the classroom.” – Jailene Streeter, BrainPOP Customer Support Expert
4. Seek collaborative spaces
Communities are a wonderful way to grow and stretch your skills. For example, our Certified BrainPOP Educators space is a great place to connect with like-minded educators. “I first delivered professional learning within my school. My admin encouraged staff to share best practices, which always felt relevant and concrete coming from a peer in our building.” Marley Zeno, BrainPOP Sr. Professional Learning Services Strategist
5. Break through barriers and build new opportunities
Sometimes you have to overcome an obstacle or series of events, to uncover your next opportunity. “During my time at Kansas State University, I focused on developing my online teaching skills. This came in handy when, in March of 2020, I had to transition in-person teaching to a virtual environment for students with exceptional needs. Despite the challenges, we achieved over a 90% participation rate in our successful remote learning program.” – Melissa Prescott, BrainPOP Regional Sales Manager
6. Embrace new learning experiences
Real-world experiences provide an excellent education. Also, you may have to step outside your role or environment and seek new opportunities. “Although the school I worked at had its own amazing internal professional development, I found that some of the most impactful professional learning experiences were from outside organizations. When I was teaching, my Instructional Coach would send along opportunities for me to attend PD hosted by edtech companies, Special Education advocacy groups, and even other schools. I brought fresh perspectives to our team and used this expanding knowledge to become an Instructional Coach. Not staying stagnant made teaching a lot more engaging not just for my students but also for myself!” – Jamie M, BrainPOP Account Executive
7. Stretch your leadership skills
If you stretch yourself as a person, mentor, and leader, you may carve out a career path or particular skill you never knew you had. “As a teacher, I thought I had no transferable skills, which is untrue. Communication, adaptability, and collaboration are skills I use daily in my role.
Focus on skills you already possess and refine them. I loved learning about new resources and sharing them with my co-teachers, which eventually led to me becoming the unofficial technology person at my school. I helped teachers learn new platforms and incorporate blended learning in their classrooms. I’ve always been passionate about helping others and have loved being a mentor and teacher. It allowed me to grow my leadership skills, including how adults learn.” – Becky Stand, BrainPOP Account Executive
Grab your downloadable checklist here.
Teaching growth mindset to teachers
Admins, you know that when we think of teachers, we often think of teaching. But how often do we think of teaching teachers? All teachers learn differently and interpret growing or stretching their skills differently. Every teacher’s career is different, as are their learning styles and how they choose to learn. Learn more about how professional learning can impact your educators here.
Some teachers may need more structure to learn new skills, and that’s okay. Learning a growth mindset can be a learning curve. Check out and download our teacher growth development plan template here.
Encourage lifelong learning with teacher growth and development
Professional teacher growth and development starts with the individual teacher. Allowing teachers to audit their skills, pick their path, and plan their development opens up a world of possibilities for personalized learning and growth. Encourage creative growth with your own affirmation cards, grab the deck here!
Kelli Rascoe is a Sr. Content Strategy Manager at BrainPOP. She has nine years of experience in writing, content marketing, and strategy for tech and Fortune 500 brands. She is also the momma to a princess scientist and a pack of rescue pups.
