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Rita Pierson has been a professional educator since 1972, with experience as an primary, junior high and special education teacher; counsellor; assistant principal; director and testing coordinator. Dr Pierson has an established record of successful educational leadership and management experience, particularly in curriculum and instructional development, community relations and personnel supervision. She developed a successful community involvement program for a large urban elementary school and organised an in-school crisis team for students in need of immediate intervention. An experience presenter, Dr Pierson has led more than 200 workshops, and has used her entertaining stories to aptly illustrate a number of key ideas from Dr Ruby Payne's book A Framework for Understanding Poverty.

In every classroom there are students with a wide range of exceptionalities – students with one or more learning problems, students with different interests, students who are very advanced and students without a "label" but whose learning needs are just as unique. How can teachers face this challenge and meet such a variety of student learning needs? Help answer that question and maximise learning for all students with the common-sense approach featured in this new video series. Use the included DVD with the workshops in the accompanying Facilitator's Guide to take teachers inside primary, middle years and secondary classes to show how a differentiated approach can help teachers to maximise their abilities as educators.

Transforming a school into a professional learning community (PLC) requires changing embedded behaviours, beliefs and processes, which can cause resistance and conflict. In healthy PLCs, these conflicts are addressed in ways that both support core values and respect team members. In this short video, Richard DuFour and Rebecca DuFour model a principal and a teacher engaging in a conflict over marking practices, then the role play is broken down and analysed. Viewers will learn how to hold difficult but crucial conversations that lead to higher levels of commitment to PLC practices.

Internet access has put the world at our fingertips, providing a classroom without walls. It allows us to contribute our experiences to the sum of human knowledge online. In this keynote session from the 21st Century Learning Institute held on 13 October 2010, Will Richardson shares eight shifts necessary to fully utilise Internet technology as a continuous learning opportunity. Will offers insight on how to: pull information globally from alternative sources; manage and synthesise multiple streams of information; and detect false information on the Internet.

In this keynote session from the 21st Century Learning Institute on 12 October 2010 Richard DuFour asserts that traditional school culture is not designed to deliver those outcomes. For students to acquire essential skills, schools must organise into PLCs. This set includes a 71-minute DVD with the video session and a CD with materials to support team or individual professional learning, including the presenter's PowerPoint, an excerpt from the book 21st Century Skills: Rethinking How Students Learn and relevant web links.

In this two-part presentation, Robert Marzano provides a blueprint detailing how schools can develop teacher expertise. Addressing teachers directly as well as school leaders, he charts research-based techniques to organise strategies through lesson segments using a nine-segment framework. The segments are sorted into three categories: segments involving routine events; segments involving academic content; and segments involving issues that must be addressed as they occur. Using personal anecdotes, Marzano explains techniques for teachers and school leaders in a thoughtful and engaging presentation. This package includes a DVD with the video session and a CD with materials including the presenter's PowerPoint, an excerpt from the book On Excellence in Teaching and relevant web links.

In this keynote session (from the 13 October 2010, On Excellence in Teaching Summit), Jay McTighe helps participants to understand the three stages of backward design: Identify desired results; Determine acceptable evidence; and Plan learning experiences and instruction. In the backward design framework, the ideas of teaching and assessing for understanding are woven into the process of curriculum design. In this framework, the goal is to help learners understand the content identified in standards, using the textbook as a resource, not as a syllabus. This package includes a DVD with the video and a CD with materials to support team or individual professional learning, including the presenter's PowerPoint, an excerpt from the book On Excellence in Teaching.

In this keynote session (from the 13 October 2010 21st Century Learning Institute), Cheryl Lemke shows how to design tomorrow’s curricula by using research in sociology, learning and neuroscience as reinforcement for the key elements in 21st century learning. She explains how students can use high-tech tools to explore ideas, research questions, test hypotheses, compose thoughts and reach conclusions. These tools aid in collaboration and authenticity: two highly effective accelerators to learning. This package includes a 58-minute DVD with the video session and a CD-ROM with materials to support team or individual professional learning, including the presenter’s PowerPoint, an excerpt from the book 21st Century Learning and relevant web links.

Yes you can turn three of the leading approaches to school improvement into a unified system. For the first time on one stage, the experts on Differentiated Instruction, Understanding by Design, and What Works in Schools speak about these powerhouse educational approaches and share the underpinnings of their work and the implications for educators who use these models during a panel discussion recorded live at the 2008 ASCD Summer Conference in Nashville, Tennessee, USA. This DVD features: Carol Ann Tomlinson on Differentiated Instruction; Grant Wiggins and Jay McTighe on Understanding by Design; and Robert Marzano on What Works in Schools. This 90 minute recording gives you a front row seat and backstage access to interviews with the panellists.

Join Carol Ann Tomlinson and classroom teachers as they bring Differentiated Instruction to life in this practical, easily implemented Professional Development Program for the High School level. Carol Ann Tomlinson guides viewers as they observe classroom examples of the non-negotiables of Differentiated Instruction. Use the integrated professional development plan, including accompanying PowerPoint presentation and handouts, to empower educators as they lead for student success.

Join Carol Ann Tomlinson and classroom teachers as they bring Differentiated Instruction to life in this practical, easily implemented Professional Development Program for the Primary School level. Carol Ann Tomlinson guides viewers as they observe classroom examples of the non-negotiables of Differentiated Instruction. Use the integrated professional development plan, including accompanying PowerPoint presentation and handouts, to empower educators as they lead for student success.

Inspire your professional learning community team with this 7-minute motivational DVD. Passion and Persistence: How to Develop a Professional Learning Community provides an overview of important PLC components. Powerful music, memorable quotes and lighthearted humour combine to create a motivating experience that simply and beautifully connects your staff to the heart of Professional Learning Communities. This DVD has been used with great success in Rick DuFour’s presentations at PLC summer institutes designed for administrators, teachers and other school staff members.