What did you learn this year?

It’s a question we often ask students as the school year comes to a close at Sulam, a K–12 special education inclusion program at both Berman Hebrew Academy and Charles E. Smith Jewish Day School in Rockville, Md. But on May 14, it was our faculty who answered — not with exit tickets or surveys, but by standing in front of their peers and colleagues and presenting what they had learned, why it mattered and how it had changed them.

This wasn’t just professional development; it was a presentation of learning (POL), a practice more often associated with students than teachers. At Sulam, we believe deeply in the idea that learning is best solidified and celebrated when it’s shared, so we gave our faculty the same opportunity we give our students: to reflect, articulate and present their growth to a community that values it.

More than just a report or showcase, a POL is a structured opportunity for learners to reflect on their experiences, synthesize key takeaways and publicly share how they’ve grown. It asks for metacognition, ownership and the ability to make learning visible to others. In student-centered settings, POLs are powerful tools for deep learning and accountability, but we rarely extend that same model to adults. What if we did?

At Sulam, we did it, and the results were transformative.

As an inclusion program, Sulam supports students with a wide range of learning differences by providing individualized support within the general education setting. The program is grounded in the belief that all students deserve access to a rigorous and meaningful Jewish education, both Judaic and general studies, alongside their peers. Sulam’s educators are deeply committed to meeting diverse needs with empathy, creativity and expertise. To do that well, they must also be continuous learners themselves, engaging in professional development, staying current with best practices and collaborating intentionally with families and school teams to help each student thrive.

Professional development days in schools are sometimes packed with sessions, yet too rarely do they create a space where internal learning is honored and made visible. For our May professional development day, Sulam’s leadership team, headed by executive director Lianne Heller, reimagined how we use our professional development time. What would it look like to make our learning visible to one another, she asked.

The result was an afternoon dedicated to sharing and reflection, where staff showcased the formal professional learning they had engaged in throughout the year. These weren’t polished presentations or abstract theories — they were genuine, thoughtful and often deeply personal reflections on growth and practice.

Some teachers shared how participating in the Jewish New Teacher Project (JNTP) reshaped their approach to mentorship and collaborative teaching. Others reflected on leadership tools learned through Prizmah’s YOULead program or Touro University coursework that helped them build special education capacity and instructional strategy. Presentations highlighted training in literacy methods like Orton-Gillingham, executive functioning tools like “Seeing Your Time” and frameworks like collaborative problem solving for students with complex behavioral needs.

Many of these professional development opportunities were generously funded through the philanthropic support of The Lenore A. England Sulam Teacher Attraction and Retention initiative (STAR).  Lenore joined in person for the presentations, embodying her deep commitment to innovative ideas and creative solutions that build a strong pipeline for the next generation of Jewish special educators. The entire Sulam team was thrilled she could be there to witness her philanthropic dollars in action.

By inviting faculty to present their learning, we honored their time, insight and expertise. We also reinforced a central belief: that reflection and sharing are not add-ons to professional growth, they’re integral to it.

What emerged wasn’t just a summary of techniques — it was a portrait of a learning community. Teachers shared how their thinking had evolved, how their students responded and where they still had questions. They modeled vulnerability, curiosity and the kind of intellectual risk-taking we hope to see in every classroom.

Professional development can easily become performative or disconnected. But at Sulam, it’s treated as core to our educational mission. We invest in our educators not because it looks good on paper, but because we know that the quality of teaching directly shapes the quality of inclusion, learning and student outcomes.

Instead of an outside speaker or a one-size-fits-all workshop, our May 14 gathering was built from the inside out. Our teachers were the teachers, and their colleagues were the learners. In that, we modeled the very culture we want our students to internalize: one where everyone has something to teach and something to learn.

Inclusion requires nuance, flexibility and ongoing adaptation. There’s no script that works for every student — or every teacher. What sustains effective inclusive education is a team that is always learning, and a school culture that expects and supports that learning at every level.

By turning the lens inward and asking educators to articulate their own growth, we not only affirmed their efforts but also helped build institutional memory. The hope is that ideas from this PD day will continue to ripple outward: into new strategies, others wanting to engage in deep professional development, team collaborations and shared language around how we serve our students

There’s an opportunity here for the broader Jewish day school community. Presentation of Learning should not be reserved for capstone projects or high school exhibitions. When applied to professional growth, it affirms that educators are learners, too, and that their voices matter.

It also re-centers the purpose of professional development: not as compliance or a checkbox, but as an investment in the humans doing the work.

Jewish education is rooted in the belief that learning is lifelong. By building space for educators to present their own learning, we don’t just talk about that value, we live it.

This was a moment of pride for Sulam, not just because of what was shared but because of what it revealed: a staff that is reflective, motivated and committed to growing alongside their students. That’s the kind of learning community we want to build — and the kind of model we’re proud to share.

Lisa Houben is the upper school director at Sulam, a special education inclusion program in Rockville, Md. She oversees the educational program for high school students included at Berman Hebrew Academy.