Jean serves as a consultant to a wide variety of early childhood and elementary school programs and provides guidance to parents in both individual and group settings.
This workshop will explore the complex dynamics of working as a team in an early childhood classroom.
What are the three key ingredients of self-esteem? How do boys and girls differ in building healthy self-esteem? How can adults help or hinder the process? These are some of the questions that will be explored as we examine the factors that help determine whether a child becomes confidently secure and connected in the world or tentative and insecure. Positive self-esteem can help a child navigate social pressures and is one of the major antidotes to being bullied.
Do the boys in your class monopolize the block corner? Is clean up time a struggle or a teachable moment? Participants will learn about the developmental stages of building and how to set up a block corner. We will discuss techniques to integrate block building with other areas of the curriculum and provide strategies and games to make clean up a positive experience. This interactive workshop will focus on practical ways to turn your block corner into an exciting learning center that fosters independence, cognitive development, and cooperative play.
Do your children bicker, call each other names, and vie for your attention? Are you unsure when to step in to make peace or when to let siblings work it out? Are you at a loss over how to meet each child's needs — as well as your own? This workshop will explore the underpinnings of sibling relationships and will provide practical advice to help parents feel more competent and effectual when dealing with sibling rivalry.
Children learn best when they are actively engaged using all of their senses to explore, discover, ask questions and make meaningful connections about their world. Come and learn how a play oriented curriculum facilitates cognitive, social, emotional, and physical development and builds the foundation for life-long learning.
The dramatic play corner is far more than a "dress up" or "housekeeping" area. It is a learning environment where children test out different roles, explore relationships, experience being powerful and nurturing, learn to take the perspective of others, and share in creating and developing a story line. Come and learn how to incorporate children's play themes into powerful teaching tools. We will also explore using hollow blocks as an exciting vehicle for your dramatic play corner with fours and fives.
Successful parent teacher relationships develop from a sense of mutual trust, understanding, openness, and respect. This workshop will explore the complex dynamics that parents and teachers bring with them to the relationship and provide techniques to promote successful parent-teacher conferences.
How do parents respond when a teacher expresses a concern about their child? Do they become defensive and withdraw or do parents and teachers work as a team keeping the child's development the highest priority? This workshop will explore the many delicate issues that make it difficult for teachers to convey sensitive information to concerned parents. Participants will learn the techniques that foster constructive communication.
"We will remember not the words of our enemies but the silence of our friends." Martin Luther King
Is your child bullied, a bystander, or... a bully? Learn the dynamics of bullying and how you can help your child become an assertive and empathic member of a caring community. Since bullies are created, not born, parents and teachers have an obligation to create an environment of safety and tolerance for their children. We will explore developmental dynamics, the differences between tattling and telling, normal healthy conflict, aggression, and bullying.
Do power struggles define the relationship between you and your child? How can adults teach children to gain self-control, respect the rights of others, accept responsibility for their own behavior, and learn from their mistakes? This workshop will explore discipline from a developmental perspective and focus on teaching and learning — rather than on punishing.
Are you worried about helping your "only" child adjust to life as an older brother or sister? How will you find the time to meet everyone's needs, including your own? Join other second-time parents to be, to learn about the joys and challenges of welcoming a new sibling into the changing family dynamics.
Young children discover the world around them through their play. Why does a child dump his bucket of toys over and over? Why does she want to play with her food, rather than eat it? Why has he become so clingy? And why is "No" her favorite word? Come and learn about the young child's search for autonomy and independence. Respecting and understanding a toddler's unique stage of development allows adults to have appropriate expectations and makes teaching a "terrible two" a rewarding experience.
Are you at a loss for words when a child asks a probing question and catches you off guard? Children are curious and sometimes fearful. We will discuss typical childhood curiosities, fears, and worries with a focus on helping adults answer children's questions in ways that are both effective and developmentally appropriate.
When expectations are clear and consistent, children feel more secure and parents develop a stronger alliance with teachers. This workshop will help teachers successfully collaborate with parents while developing a classroom environment that provides meaningful limits and boundaries that are respected by both parents and children.
The daily transitions of classroom life are often the most challenging times for children and teachers alike. Far too often this important piece of the learning environment is overlooked by educators and parents. Participants will learn how to make routines and transitions developmentally appropriate (for infants through five-year-olds) and provide a wealth of hands-on activities to make the day a success.
Is your child afraid of the dark or of lurking monsters? Do you use boxes of Band-Aids for reassurance? Why are some children more fearful than others? This workshop will address the common fears of young children from a developmental perspective. Parents and teachers will learn techniques to help children overcome their frightening feelings.
Adults are often uncomfortable discussing death with children. However, as parents and teachers, we must provide youngsters with tools to cope with the full range of life experiences. Children commonly ask: "What is dead? Will it happen to me? Will it happen to you?" This workshop offers adults expertise in understanding what death means to children and provides them with techniques to remain emotionally available to comfortably discuss these difficult feelings.
What can parents do to support a smooth transition from home to the outside world? How can you help your child when she is timid about leaving your side? Are your concerns about letting go making the experience more difficult for your child? This workshop will help you to learn ways to support and encourage your child as he ventures into new situations and gains confidence by taking healthy risks.
How do you reach out to an angry child? Children need to learn socially appropriate ways to express their anger and frustration. This workshop will help you to understand anger from a developmental perspective and provide you with techniques to help children learn to manage their angry feelings more effectively.
Are you concerned about the amount of super hero play at home or in the classroom? Do the children re-enact play scenes from the media rather than use their imaginations? Why are powerful super heroes so appealing to young children? This workshop will explore the meaning of power both to children and adults; it will provide techniques to transform the child's desire for power into a constructive force at home and in the classroom.