There is a growing need in the field of teacher education to bridge the gap between theory and practice while creating dialogue for exploration, change, and growth. Proactive teacher educators should seek change in traditional inservice training and create more authentic and empowering professional development opportunities that are proactive as well as effective. A proposed model of professional development bearing the acronym PROFESSIONAL has been developed. It focuses on: Preparing teachers by disseminating research or projects; providing teachers with opportunities to Reflect; using meeting and planning time for teachers to Observe proposed projects or issues; helping teachers Focus on issues; allowing teachers to Explore, Share, and Show experiences and options with colleagues; helping teachers Incorporate projects or reform efforts based on classroom experiences; promoting ongoing One-on-one discourse among teachers and coordinators; following up with Negotiating (Networking); and encouraging the premises of negotiation to stem from Action research which will help in Legitimizing teachers' concerns and efforts thus empowering them as professionals. Teacher research is a productive avenue for professional development. PROFESSIONAL challenges proactive teacher educators to comprehensively examine multiple avenues of assisting teachers with reform efforts and assuring effective professional development. (SM)