Wood ‘N’ Barnes Publishing is posting a series of articles focused on “Back to School”.  This week’s post includes an excerpt from my Tips & Tools for the Art of Experiential Group Facilitation book: A key ingredient for creating a positive environment in the classroom is to help students know and use each others’ names [...]

Engaging Groups in Meaningful Dialogue and Reflection While Practicing Decision-making and Consensus Building. Jen Stanchfield My last few posts have explored the power of play to help learners build decision-making, and conflict resolution skills. I have emphasized that educators can intentionally “weave in” opportunities for groups to practice these skills throughout their day- to-day lessons. [...]

Last week I mentioned my favorite way to divide a group into teams using a “Which One?” scenario where partners practice compromise/decision-making. After reading the last entry my colleague Kristen reminded me to share my funny “success” story from using this method with students in an elementary school: I was working with a 2nd grade [...]

The Disappearance of Neighborhood Games of Kick-the Can, Part Two: Strategies for Helping Participants of All Ages Learn Through Play.   In Monday’s post I mentioned that I had observed a trend of children and adolescents missing out the development of important social & emotional skills because of a lack of time for “free play” [...]

In my work with students in a variety of schools and treatment programs I have noticed over recent years that they increasingly seem to struggle with group decision- making. I often observe students on the playground during recess coming to ask teachers for help in resolving even the simplest disagreements or conflicts. They often depend [...]

Jen Stanchfield’s Upcoming Workshops Designed for Advisory Group Leaders: Advisory group leaders report that they are always looking for new ideas for facilitating advisory sessions with students. Many educators are planning for the remaining few months of school, summer programs and the start of next school year. The Chewonki Foundation in Wiscasset Maine and the [...]

Experiential Approaches to Building a Classroom Community: Highlights from Jen Stanchfield’s Winter Workshops for Educators at the Southeast Vermont Learning Collaborative. This winter SVLC hosted two days of workshops for teachers and school counselors focused on experiential strategies for building a positive classroom environment and active approaches to differentiating instruction. Thanks to everyone who participated. [...]