Plan Your Own Professional Development
Overview
The ECE Resource Hub was designed with professional development (PD) in mind.
Explore our resources and guiding questions to support coaching, self-reflection, or group PD sessions. There’s no single “right” way to use them — you’ll choose resources to build meaningful, connected learning experiences that fit your goals and context.
What You'll Find on the ECE Resource Hub
Core Skills
Discover children’s foundational skills, how they develop, and ways to nurture them through everyday interactions.
Strategy Library
Build your toolbox of approaches to support the Core Skills, including Classroom Strategies and Take-Home Strategies to share with families.
Book Collections
Expand your classroom library with stories and activities that foster Core Skill development.
Ways to Use the Hub for PD
PD can take many forms. The ECE Resource Hub provides flexible tools that leaders can use in multi-session PD series, one-time workshops, coaching, or family engagement activities.
Multi-Session PD Series
When to use this approach:
Ongoing series are powerful for building shared language, sustaining focus on a Core Skill, and tracking progress over time.
Sample structure:
• Plan: Plan a pathway (e.g., focus on one Core Skill for several sessions, or rotate across Core Skills with an opportunity or family lens).
• Reflect: Start each session with reflection on how educators applied their plan since the last meeting.
• Interact: Engage with a new Hub resource (e.g., a video, article, or podcast).
• Discuss: Facilitate group discussion and end with an action plan.
• Review: Follow up with observation, feedback, or peer check-ins.
Example:
One program chose to focus on one Core Skill over multiple sessions (e.g., Regulate). Each month, they chose a different subskill (e.g., Recognizing and Describing Emotions, Supporting Children’s Behavior) and explored the resources on its page. Another program decided to focus on partnering with families. Each month, they picked one of the Family Connection resources on the Core Skill and Take-Home Strategies pages to discuss. Over the year, both series built depth across multiple skills while keeping a common theme.
One-Time Professional Development Sessions
When to use this approach:
Great for PD days, staff meetings, or addressing a pressing need. One-time sessions work well when you want to introduce a new practice, respond to feedback from educators, or spark interest in a Core Skill. It’s best when they are aligned to your overall program goals or larger PD plan.
Sample structure:
• Plan: Choose one resource or Core Skill to focus on based on the needs of your group at that time.
• Warm-up or reflection: Invite educators to share a success or challenge connected to the Core Skill or resource you chose to focus on.
• Engage with a resource: Explore a new resource (e.g., watch a short What It Looks Like video, read through a Core Skill page, or read and watch the short lessons for a Classroom Strategy).
• Discuss: Use a few questions from the resource’s Discussion Guide to reflect on current practices or share reactions to the videos/readings.
• Takeaway plan: Each educator names one small action they will try in the coming week.
Example:
During a monthly staff meeting, leaders played the video exemplar for Supporting Children’s Emotions. Educators reflected on how they currently respond to children’s big feelings, then each identified a strategy to try. Leaders followed up in the next staff meeting with a brief check-in. Another program wanted ideas for how to partner with families around supporting children’s emotions so they watched a video from the Family Connection page and used the Guiding Questions provided to reflect on the best ways to share this information with families to improve collaboration.
Coaching and Individualized Supports
When to use this approach: Coaching or supervision provides a chance to personalize PD. Hub resources can help coaches model practices, set goals, and reflect with educators.
Sample structure:
• Plan: Identify an area the teacher wants or needs to focus on (e.g., Supporting Friendship Skills).
• Observe: Watch short classroom videos from the Strategy Library or Core Skill pages together, then compare with a clip from the educator’s own classroom or a coach’s live observations.
• Reflect: Analyze strengths and areas for improvement or expansion.
• Plan: Set a specific goal for the next week.
Example:
A coach met with a new teacher to talk about building children’s vocabulary. They reviewed the Core Skill Vocabulary page, watched the What It Looks Like videos, then identified one practice to try (e.g., repeat words often). The coach returned the next week to observe, provide feedback, and collaborate to make an action plan.
Family Engagement
When to use this approach:
Leaders can also use Hub resources to connect with families, especially those in the Family Connections series. These resources are designed to strengthen home-school partnerships around supporting the Core Skills.
Sample structure:
• Introduce the topic: Share a short Book Reading Activity or a Family Connections article.
• Discuss: Invite families to share how they already support the Core Skill at home.
• Collaborate: Brainstorm simple, everyday ways to extend learning from school to home.
• Provide take-home resources: Print an Activity Card or share a link to a video read-aloud.
Example:
One program held a family night focused on Supporting Children’s Behavior. Families watched a short Hub video and read a book together, then educators shared Activity Cards that parents could use at home. Families left with both practical tools and stronger connections to classroom learning.
Planning Tools
PD Planning Template
This document is designed to be used with the topics included in our Strategy Library for Opportunity, Inclusion, and Family Connection. Use it to spark ideas for your own planning, and tailor it for each PD session.
Using the Core Skill Pages in PD
This handout was designed to guide your use of the Core Skills. The questions and activities could be used in a work session (e.g., professional learning community, professional development session), for individual coaching, or for self-reflection.
Quick Tips for Planning PD
Some tips for creating meaningful PD for your group
Use Data
Let data guide your PD! Use assessments, teacher and family surveys, or observation tools (like CLASS®) to spot areas needing support and track what’s working.
Engage Learners
Actively engage teachers in PD through discussions, activities, video review, and strategic action planning rather than a “sit and listen” approach.
Include Feedback & Analysis
Be sure to include opportunities for teachers to receive feedback and time to reflect on and analyze their own practice.
Make it Ongoing
Create a plan that is ongoing, connected, and aligned with your program goals.
Webinar Series
In addition to the individual resources throughout the Hub, a webinar series can be a great resource for ongoing group PD or individual learning.
ELDS Webinars
Check out our Early Learning and Development Standards (ELDS) Exploration Webinar Series developed with the Virginia Department of Education.
- View the ELDS Webinars
STREAMin3 Webinars
UVA’s STREAMin3 Curriculum Model is based on the same Core Skills as the Hub. Check out their webinars to learn more. Explore their previously recorded webinars or join them live.
AEII Webinars
Build your PD planning skills by watching UVA’s Advancing Effective Interactions and Instruction's (AEII) Six Elements of Effective PD series.
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