Authors

Integrating Professional Learning Communities (PLCs) and the Lifelong Learning Education (LLE) Framework

Presenter linkElliott Seif
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Categories: PLC, PLC at Work, Student Engagement

Elliott Seif is the author of Teaching for Lifelong Learning: How to Prepare Students for a Changing World.

 

What are the essential features of professional learning communities (PLCs)?

In many schools today, teachers shut their doors and essentially work alone, providing what they consider to be the best learning possible for their students. While this often gives them the opportunity to provide their students with decent education, it also often gets in the way of creating a collaborative culture in which all teachers work together and each contributes to the larger goal of improving learning for all students. Learning becomes fragmented and segmented when teachers work on their own.

Professional learning communities (PLCs) are designed to counter the separateness of school teaching and learning by creating collaborative teams of teachers who work together to improve learning. The formation of a PLC creates “an ongoing process in which educators work collaboratively in recurring cycles of collective inquiry and action research to achieve better results for the students they serve. Professional learning communities operate under the assumption that the key to improved learning for students is continuous job-embedded learning for educators” (DuFour et al., 2016, p. 10). Read more

Secure Our Schools (SOS) 101

Presenter linkDan FlynnPresenter linkLeigh Colburn
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Categories: Authors, Guest Posts

Authors’ note: As a police chief and a high school principal, we worked together with the support of Dr. Emily Lembeck, a visionary superintendent, for nine years to ensure our school’s safety in an urban-suburban Georgia town. In the wake of the most recent school shootings, we feel compelled to share some essential best practices for immediate consideration as schools move forward into the 2022–2023 school year.

Over the last two years in America, we have experienced the COVID pandemic, extensive and divisive political turmoil, and widespread violence. In totality, these events have caused various degrees of apathy and distraction in communities and schools. As we were preoccupied with the overarching issues dominating the headlines, the unthinkable massacre in Uvalde, Texas, shook us from our malaise and created calls for action. We must now accept that responsible school and police leaders need to regroup, set aside any lingering ideological or political differences, and acknowledge that securing our schools is not only crucial but also transcends political discourse. School and police leaders must, in good spirit, collaborate to create and nurture an ecosystem capable of saving our schools from future atrocities. In this blog post, we will start with the essentials that you can act upon immediately. Read more

Moving from Writing Your Book to Marketing It: An Interview with Liza A. Talusan

Presenter linkSolution Tree
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Categories: Bookmark

Congratulations! You’ve fulfilled your dream to write a book—and the finished product is better than you ever imagined! Now you’re wondering, How can I get my book out into the world? We get it. Marketing is an ever-evolving art that most authors don’t have much experience with. Luckily, we’re working hard to change that. With this new series, Bookmark, publishing experts and our rock-star authors will share tips, tricks, and strategies that you can use to promote your own book and get it into the hands of the people who need it the most.

In this installment, author Liza A. Talusan discusses her new book, The Identity-Conscious Educator, and her experiences with the Solution Tree publishing and marketing teams. This timely and informative interview lets readers benefit from Liza’s insight into social media and her tips on how authors can start effectively talking about their books. Read more

How to Invest ESSER Funds Wisely Before Time Runs Out

Presenter linkSolution Tree
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Categories: Pandemic Response and Educational Practices, Solution Tree

Maybe you’ve heard the rumor that Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief (ESSER) funds have all been spent. In fact, most states still haven’t allocated all of their ESSER I funds. The numbers drop when you look at how many states have designated ESSER II and ESSER III funds, which have allocation deadlines of September 2023 and September 2024, respectively. The most time-sensitive federal funding right now, though, is ESSER I; the deadline to designate those dollars is September 30, 2022. 

Two urgent questions asked by education leaders holding undesignated ESSER I funds are:

    1. How do we invest wisely to get the most for our money? 
    2. What are our immediate next steps to make this happen?

Read more