Teachers already know that students need the skills necessary to think critically, work with others and express ideas, but often wonder how they can ensure a painless, successful professional development experience that puts the learner at the center and models best practices? They also ask how the outcomes of these fruitful professional learning experiences can be disseminated to others? Much like a perfectly planned dinner party, teacher-led professional development centered on inquiry sets the table for educators to develop their practice and impact student outcomes in a complex and diverse society. This article describes how teams of teachers working collaboratively for over a year participated in the College, Career, and Civic Life (C3) Literacy Collaborative (C3LC). These state based teams applied the inquiry process not only to learn about inquiry itself, but also to address a disciplinary literacy need facing social studies educators. Teachers agree at all grade levels, that required standards loom large. Frustrated teachers feel their plates are already too full to add yet another initiative. The C3LC project, however, helped teachers discover that inquiry is not another item to add to their "plates," but can actually "be the plate itself." Since the teacher, the human element, is the most important component of education and thus vital to the success of the entire system, high quality professional development is essential. In the case of the C3LC project, educators were active in designing and leading their learning,