Professional Development, Social and Emotional Learning and Teambuilding Programs

“It was the BEST inservice training I have ever been to… Never before have I interacted this much with my colleagues, laughed with them, shared with them, and learned with them.”

Services Include:

• • Custom professional development programs for educators focused on experiential, brain-based approaches to increasing meaningful engagement, building a positive and supportive learning community, differentiating instruction and creating lasting lessons.
  • Team-building programs for organizations, school faculty and college student life programs to cultivate a supportive learning community and cultivate social-emotional skills.
  • Curriculum development and facilitation skills training for educators, facilitators and presenters looking to enliven their courses and presentations with experiential brain-based approaches to increase meaningful engagement and enhance learning outcomes.
  • Workshops for advisory group leaders, after school program staff, counselors, youth workers, and recreational therapists on facilitation skills, experiential activities, program design and reflection tools and techniques
  • Direct service community building and social and emotional learning programs in the K-12 classroom and college programs.
  • Workshops for professional trainers and facilitators focused on the art of facilitation, reflection tools and techniques and the design and delivery of impactful group development, counseling and training programs.

Jennifer Stanchfield’s style involves ongoing collaboration with educators  and organizational leaders to develop curriculum and methods that meet the specific needs and goals of an individual school, organization, or program. Rather than providing a prescriptive curriculum or program her approach is customized and developed in collaboration with the stakeholders involved.

Providing a combination of staff team-building and professional development along with direct service classroom mentoring and coaching sessions leads to the development of sustainable ongoing experiential learning programs and practices that will be part of the organization or school for years to come.

Professional Development Workshop Examples

*New Workshop: Online Inspiration and Support Sessions

Join this interactive online workshop series and fill your facilitation, leadership, and coaching toolbox with experiential, brain-based techniques to inspire, motivate, and promote engagement and buy-in. Take away innovative methods to get your groups talking and reflecting in virtual meetings. Empower participants to take ownership of learning, practice social-emotional skills, and build a positive and supportive learning environment and cohesive teaching team. Teach and reinforce training material, faculty meeting content, and group building objectives in novel ways to differentiate instruction and enhance learning. Collaborate and problem-solved with other educational leaders who are facing similar challenges and successes. Leave with creative inspiration and new perspectives on your role as a facilitator, educator, or leader.

Inspired Educator, Inspired Learner

Experiential, Brain-Based Approaches for Meaningful Teaching and Reflection

Experiential approaches enhance your ability to engage and motivate, inspire a sense of discovery, and instill a desire to learn. This workshop explores a variety of active learning approaches and interactive activities that will enliven your lessons and engage learners emotionally, physically, intellectually, and socially. These methods will empower participants to take more control and responsibility for their learning and encourage experimentation and creativity. Join this fun and interactive workshop and leave with new perspectives on experiential education, differentiated instruction and brain-based learning.

The Art of Experiential Group Facilitation

Effectively Lead and Engage Your Group

Fill your facilitation toolbox with creative, practical activities and ideas for effectively leading and engaging your group. Gain perspective on your role as an educator or group facilitator, gather techniques to create a positive learning environment, increase participant involvement, and facilitate meaningful reflection and group dialogue. Whether you are new to the field and looking for an insightful overview of group facilitation, or a seasoned veteran seeking inspiration and new ideas, here is your chance to gather some valuable tools and explore first hand the art of experiential facilitation and teaching.

Meaningful Reflection Brings Learning to Life

Innovative Tools and Techniques for Reviewing and Reflection

Processing or reflection brings learning to life. It helps learners make connections between educational experiences and real life situations and creates pathways to future learning. Educators recognize the value of reflection and processing, but often find that facilitating it is one of the most challenging aspects of group work and teaching. This interactive workshop focuses on providing you with a variety of innovative reflection tools and approaches that will dramatically improve your ability to turn teachable moments into profound personal insights and lasting lessons. Liven up the traditional sharing circle with new and active ways to engage groups in dialogue and use metaphor to create meaning. Come and experiment with an interesting array of methods that will help you meet the needs of the diverse learners in your groups. Leave with new reflection tools, activities and ideas to add to your facilitation repertoire.

Games and Activities That Teach

Social-Emotional Learning, Academic Skills Development & Community Building Through Play

Join in this fun and interactive workshop and leave with a variety of activities, games, and experiential approaches to teach and reinforce social-emotional and academic skills such as: problem-solving, critical thinking, responsibility, communication, academic concepts and reflective learning. Add new activities to your educator’s toolkit. These activities can be facilitated in any size space with simple materials and easily applied to academic, therapeutic and recreational group work. They can be adapted to varying ages and abilities. Take away strategies that will help you build a positive environment for learning, use play as a teaching method, develop social-emotional skills, and promote positive relationships in your groups.

Community Building and Social and Emotional Learning

Promote Social-Emotional Skills & Build a Positive, Supportive Learning Environment

Learners participate more actively and retain lessons more readily when they feel safe and supported in their group environment. This workshop explores how to create and maintain a positive learning community. We’ll share practical strategies and a variety of engaging activities that will develop a healthy atmosphere of respect and trust. These methods promote social-emotional skills and help participants take responsibility for their behavior and learning. In this engaging and interactive workshop, educators will learn experiential techniques to help learners of all ages practice important social-emotional skills such as problem-solving, communication, empathy, and conflict-resolution. 

For a listing of Upcoming Open Enrollment Workshops across the U.S. visit experientialtools.com.

Custom Teambuilding Programs

Build Rapport in Your Workplace or Classroom

Jen Stanchfield customizes team-building programs tailored to meet the specific needs and goals of your group. She thoughtfully designs and sequences her professional development and community builidng programs to cultivate rapport, communication, collaboration, networking and relationship building. Experiential approaches combined with meaningful reflection promote empathy, respect, collaboration, problem-solving, trust, positive group norms and application to day-to-day interactions in the workplace or learning environment. For more information contact jen@experientialtools.com