>> So actually I've had all three of my degrees from Penn State,
so I started here as an undergraduate and I majored in elementary education.
Then I went and taught for five years.
And while I was teaching I got my masters degree.
And then I decided that I wanted to get my PhD.
And I couldn't, I wasn't in a situation where a university was close enough so I,
that I could teach at the same time while getting my doctoral degree,
so I had to make a choice and I decided to give
up my career teaching to come back here to get my PhD.
But I, in a way I haven't really given up teaching because I'm still in classrooms,
still working with kids on a daily basis so I'm really excited about that.
My very first semester here as a doctoral student I was taking a professional development
course with-- Jim Nolan was the faculty member--
and he's been a wonderful role model because he gave us a choice in our assignments.
And he wanted us to write a professional development plan and I had said well
if I'm going to do this, you know I want to make sure it's really going to happen.
I just don't want to write it theoretically.
And in the class was a school principal of one of the elementary schools here and we teamed up
and we found out what the needs of her staff were
and we wrote this differentiated professional development for her staff.
And then we also asked him, you know, if we're going to do this we need money.
Can we also look for a grant and get it funded, and he said absolutely.
So we sought that out and we got it funded for three years.
And it's been really, really powerful.
It really helped to change and shape the culture of that school.
I remember when we first started we had all the teachers, we invited them to come
and we presented what we were thinking, and it was really open ended and I think different
than what they had kind of experienced.
And I remember that they didn't believe us.
They were like really?
You're going to give us a voice?
We're going to have a choice in what we're doing?
And they didn't believe us at first.
So it took a long time of building those relationships and letting us build trust
that yes, we were going to do this.
Yes we were going to meet their needs.
Yes we were going to listen to what they had to say.
And in the end, almost all of her staff-- all but one-- ended up participating.
So, and they still continue to this day.
They just, they use some of the same structures that we built in
and they just have a different focus.