Practical, research-based professional learning that prepares educators and students for the future.

At 4 Pillars Learning Lab, our mission is to empower educators with strategies that strengthen instruction through the Four Pillars - Collaboration, Critical Thinking, Problem Solving, and Communication - and intentionally integrate AI where it enhances learning, planning, and pedagogy.

Workshops

Workshops Designed for Real Classrooms and Real School Needs

Our workshops are highly adaptable and built to support districts, schools, departments, teams, and conference audiences. Every session is grounded in the Four Pillars, informed by research, and designed with practical implementation in mind.

We tailor each workshop to meet the needs of your educators, whether you are enhancing instruction, strengthening AVID strategies, increasing teacher planning efficiency with AI, or preparing students for future careers.

Available formats:

  • In-person

  • Customizable content

  • Any length: 60-minute, 90-minute, half-day, full-day, multi-day series, or fully custom sessions

  • Any group size: small teams, departments, schoolwide groups, or full conference rooms

Workshop Topic Tracks

To help you design the right learning experience for your team, we offer workshops across the following tracks. Each topic is customizable for teachers, instructional coaches, leadership teams, or whole-school groups.

The Four Pillars in Practice

Strategies for using Collaboration, Critical Thinking, Problem Solving, and Communication to strengthen instruction in any content area. Includes practical tools, classroom routines, and real examples from both teaching and leadership perspectives.

AI & Instruction

How to use AI to support lesson design, differentiation, scaffolding, feedback, and classroom engagement, while maintaining rigor, ethics, and academic integrity.

Teacher Planning With AI

AI workflows that save teachers valuable time: planning, task design, scaffolding, modeling, feedback, and reflective practice, so they can focus on the human-centered work of teaching.

Leadership & AI Integration

Guidance for school and district leaders on how to implement AI responsibly, build teacher confidence, avoid common pitfalls, and create future-ready campuses.

Writing: The Four Pillars and AI

How AI can support writing instruction through modeling, guided practice, revision, and scaffolding—especially for multilingual learners and students with IEPs.

AVID Strategies With AI

How AI can support Cornell Notes, philosophical chairs, tutorials, inquiry, and writing-to-learn strategies without replacing student thinking.

Sample Workshops

  • Discover how Collaboration, Critical Thinking, Problem Solving, and Communication form the foundation of rigorous, relevant learning. Participants walk away with practical routines and structures they can implement immediately.

  • This session demystifies AI and shows teachers how to use it confidently for planning, scaffolding, feedback, differentiation, and reflection—without compromising student learning.

  • Explore how AI can be used as a modeling and coaching tool to help students write with clarity, confidence, and voice. Ideal for ELA teams, special education departments, and multilingual learner programs.

  • A practical, systems-level workshop for principals and district leaders focused on schoolwide implementation, teacher support, communication planning, and strategic integration.

  • Learn how AI can support AVID classroom structures while preserving, or even elevating, collaboration, inquiry, and metacognitive thinking.

Our keynotes blend research, storytelling, and forward-thinking insights from both leadership and classroom perspectives. They are ideal for conferences, district events, summer institutes, and back-to-school convocations.

Length: 45 minutes, 60 minutes, 75 minutes, or customized per event - Delivery: In-person

keynotes that inspire, challenge, and equip

Keynote Topics

The Four Pillars: A Framework for Future-Ready Learning
A compelling look at the foundational skills students need, and how the Four Pillars help schools navigate change, innovation, and complexity.

AI in Education: Fear, Reality, and Opportunity
A grounding, research-informed keynote that cuts through hype and panic to explore what AI actually means for teaching, learning, and leadership.

Writing Instruction in an AI World
A keynote that addresses the future of writing, student voice, academic integrity, and the practical ways teachers can help students become stronger thinkers and communicators.

What Schools Need to Know to Prepare Students for the Future
A look at the new landscape of learning and work, and what it means for instruction, leadership, and the daily experiences students need today.

what makes our
professional development different

Two Perspectives, One Purpose

Our workshops and keynotes integrate both leadership and classroom expertise.

  • David brings 30 years of principal experience, systems-level insight, and decades of research on writing and the Four Pillars.

  • Amelia brings the practical, day-to-day classroom perspective of a teacher, AI coach, and writing specialist.

Together, we create PD that is research-based, practical, tested, and rooted in real educational contexts.

Ready to Bring a Workshop or Keynote to Your Team?

We would love to work with you.

Schedule

Contact us for rates.