Supporting the "Positive Outliers"

I was asked to consider how we support teachers in their learning and increase the capacity of the system. One of my twitter friends, @b_wagoner forwarded me this blog from Seth Godin and as I was thinking about teachers, I started thinking about students. Let me share my connections for just a moment.

Positive Behaviors Interventions and Supports (PBIS) is a behavior system that focuses on supporting the positives in student behavior rather than focusing on the consequences for negative behavior. Sure there are systems of consequence in PBIS, but it doesn't drive your focus or goal. The positive factors drive your planning, your thinking, your support. Are adults any different? Can professional support mirror this same philosophy? Why shouldn't we focus our planning, attention and support on the positive outliers instead of focusing on the ones that drag us down?

I think I've just made a slight mental shift in my PD plans :-).