Engaging Workshops
Looking for an engaging professional development seminar or workshop for educators, administration and/or parents? I talk about subjects related to behavior, curriculum, relationships, play, STEM, developmentally appropriate practice, boys, learning styles and modalities, multiple intelligences, movement, block play, literacy, temperaments, trauma, discipline, circle time, communication and many more. All of these workshops are strength based and have more of a nontraditional approach. I use humor, tell stories from my past and current days with “challenging” children, and magically make time fly by. If you are interested in having me lead a workshop at your school, please contact me! I would love to talk further!
Block Play Isn’t Just for One Area Anymore
As a former Kindergarten teacher I have seen building with blocks to be one of the most valuable learning experiences available for young children. It can provide learning in math, engineering, literacy, and especially social/emotional growth. If blocks are spread throughout the environment and used in new and nontraditional ways, then learning will be heightened and thought provoking. This workshop will cover why block play is so essential. There will also be time for hands-on learning so you can bring ideas back into your classroom and design time for your ideal block area!
Challenging Behaviors – There has to be a Better Way
Why is it that some find others challenging while some don’t at all? Why are some children hard for us while others fuel us? Knowing yourself and knowing others is a key to figuring out challenging behaviors. If we can pinpoint why some obstacles are harder than others, then we can find solutions and craft new strategies.
For the LOVE of Circle
Why are we holding onto to circle time? Why won’t we let it go? Let’s dive deeper into the reason we have it and then look at how to make it better, more developmentally appropriate and make it so children want to be there! Let’s bust out of the traditional and change it up. Shake it, baby, shake it!
Communication and Teamwork
Have you ever thought what you bring to a team? Have you looked closely, self-reflected, and figured out how to adjust short term so the team could be most successful? Teams need all types and then all these types have to learn to work together. In education, we are teams with both adults and children. Come find out how you roll and how to improve and soar with a model backed by research dating back to Hippocrates!
Filling the Toolbox for Stress with Strategies Anchored in Wellness and Self-care
In the field of education, we are expected to be patient, joyous, level-headed and teach! Teaching is the hardest job out there and educators feel that stress. Our toolboxes need to be filled with strategies in self-care and wellness. Through self-reflection, exploration and new language, we may be able to get that toolbox filled. Fueled up teachers fire up children!
Let’s not diagnose, let’s problem solve ADD/ADHD
In early childhood and as educators it is not our job to diagnose ADD/ADHD. It is our job to problem solve with families and children. Let’s dive into strategies and solutions for these children with fantastic energy and exuberance!
Moving Beyond Rewards, Punishments to Choice and Appropriate Consequences
Positive discipline starts with the parent or teacher. How do we look inward and start the change within ourselves? Children count on us to lead the way, stay out of power struggles, be kind and firm and follow through. Authoritative caregivers do exactly that! Come hang out with Megg Thompson and see how you can start small and end up with big results and happier children, families and classrooms!
Professionalism
Professionalism is a huge topic that can keep the EC field stagnant and drowning in its constant stereotypes. Taking an honest look at where we currently stand and how to climb the professionalism ladder is pertinent and necessary for teachers, children, families and the community! We will use NAEYC’s code of ethics as a stepping stone as well as my time as a teacher and consultant in the EC field!
Trauma and Attachment
We want to choose love and even more love when we have a child or adult that has been affected by trauma. As caregivers, teachers and parents we need to understand what the different triggers are and how can we change our behavior, enter empowering relationships, and understand a brain in survival. Let’s fill their tool box with love-based strategies for wellness, healing and growth.
Music and Movement
Music is the first multiple intelligence to form in a child’s brain. Moving and learning are connected in the brain. So why not sing, dance and move our way to learning new skills. This workshop will cover the research that supports movement and music. Come find out why we can’t make these pieces scarce!
Hot Buttons
Toddlers have developmental stages that can be challenging. These behaviors, such as biting, hitting, tantrums and toilet training, can push our hot buttons. We need strategies that are empowering and successful for toddlers so both adult and child come out on top!
Movement and Thinking are Connected
The part of the brain that is responsible for learning is connected to the part of the brain responsible for movement. So in order to learn, you need to move. What movements are alerting and which ones are calming. Setting up your environment (inside and outside) so all 6 important movements can be used is ideal and will produce healthy children.
Love Languages
Do children feel loved? Most would answer, “Of course!” This workshop will look how different children give and receive love and care in five different ways. And because human behavior says that we nurture and love in the way we need it, not in the way others need it, adults have to adjust to how children accept love. Come find out how to make those adjustments!
STEM
Incorporating STEM into your classroom goes further than introducing science, technology, engineering and math activities to your students. There is a lot to remember such as the idea of play, temperament, how each child learns differently and has different interests. Bringing STEM into your classroom can be so successful when these ideas are thought of and strengthened! STEM activities will also be on hand to experience and dive into!
Nutrition and Challenging Behavior
Can poor nutrition or allergies affect behavior? What should we be paying attention to when reading labels? Are dyes, preservatives and additives causing children to be over sensitive and act out? This workshop will help you decipher if nutrition may be causing challenging behavior and how to start changing what children eat.
Clark the Shark
Clark the Shark teaches impulse control and self-regulation. The children’s book Clark the Shark teaches children how they can love life, be themselves AND learn self-regulation and impulse control. Along with Clark the Shark, as a group, we will learn how to teach children with animals, creativity and imagination how to practice these new, much needed skills. If you are looking for a non-traditional approach, come meet Clark the Shark.
Social-Emotional Development
We know that social-emotional development is the job of early childhood teachers. I challenge you to think in a different way and start teaching in a different way. Emotions come first! They inform our social being. We have to start with the emotional competence of 4 of the 6 pure emotions and self-regulation which will inform self-discipline before we jump to our social being and how that piece informs our thoughts. Let’s start following research and helping children learn in a developmentally appropriate way!
Promoting Child Engagement
Understanding the importance of child engagement in the early years is critical to supporting children’s social-emotional development and learning. This training will provide strategies that support children and reduce barriers to engagement, including challenging behaviors. Classroom design, curricula, and teaching styles will be addressed to help participants understand their role in working with young children to promote interactions with the environment, adults, and most importantly, peers.
I Need Your Help…Party Poopers Need not Apply
Through my work as a certified behavioral consultant I see what does and doesn’t work with children who have challenging behaviors. Across the board it is the same traditional attitudes, curriculum, philosophies, language, and lack of humor that keeps us stagnant. I need your help to break out of the traditional, clear a new path, and guide today’s children in a proactive, empowering way!
Curriculum that Includes Play and Developmentally Appropriate Practice
Play is self-selected and self-directed and only continues when it is fun! How can play guide our curriculum along with developmentally appropriate practice? We look at play, multiple intelligences, learning styles and modalities, movement, the 8 senses, and the 6 C’s to inform and build an inclusive curriculum in our classrooms. We also dive into what themes should be year-long and what pieces need to be in every early childhood classroom.
Red Flags
What is a true red flag for children birth to age 5? How do we talk to parents about red flags so they can fully participate in the conversation? These are hard questions and not easily answered. Emotions, language, and who we are play a big piece in the answers. Let’s talk observation, child development and who a child truly is before we enter conversations with parents!
Boys
Why is it that have been called in for way more boys than girls. It is rare that I work with girls in homes or in schools. I was asked the other day if I was a boys only behavior consultant 🙂 Why is this balance so off? What is it about boys that “gets them in trouble?” How can we adjust our thinking, our environments, and how we structure school to meet the needs of the boys?
Additional Topics That Can Be Chosen:
Project Approach
Technology
Teachers vs. Parents
That’s Pretend
Biting
Bullying
Creating a YES environment
Emotions
We are ALWAYS Going to Clip Up!
Relationships
Mindfulness
7 Habits of Happy Kids
BK Skinner and Sticker Charts
