Upcoming Workshop
New England League of Middle Schools are leaders in promoting middle level best practices by providing collaborative learning experiences that support students’ intellectual, academic, social, and emotional growth and success.
"Inspired Educational Leader, Engaged and Connected Teams:
Experiential, Brain-Based Approaches to Build Community, Enliven Meetings, and Facilitate Meaningful Professional Learning"
Presenter: Jennifer Stanchfield, MS
Experiential Tools
Wednesday, August 13, 2025
Registration begins at 8:30 am
The program runs from 9:00 am to 3:00 pm
Haverhill Cooperative Middle School
175 Morrill Dr, North Haverhill, NH 03774
Join this interactive workshop and take away practical, brain-based techniques to inspire, engage, connect, and empower your faculty and professional learning participants. Explore experiential engagement, reflection, and community-building strategies to enhance meeting facilitation and professional learning. Inspire meaningful dialogue, involvement, and collaboration with adult learners. Create lasting lessons and cultivate a shared positive and collaborative vision with your teams. Gain inspiration, new perspectives, and connections with other leaders.
We Will Explore:
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Experiential, brain-based engagement techniques to enhance the facilitation of training, team-building, and vision-setting
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Engaging reflection tools and techniques to create lasting lessons and help adult learners apply material in meaningful, relevant ways
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Practical relationship building, collaboration, support, and adult social and emotional learning techniques for engaging the faculty teams, families, and the school-wide community
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Strategies for increasing involvement, buy-in, and ownership of learning and group development experiences
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The role of the facilitator/leader as a guide and the importance of flexibility, attitude, adaptation, and awareness of the group and individual needs and differences
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Strength-based approaches to enhancing and celebrating adult social and emotional learning, faculty well-being, and positive group norms so that the team can better serve students
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Specific examples of reflective activities to explore topics such as planning and goal-setting, building positive group norms, self-care, and other essential topics
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Opportunities to network with and learn from other school leaders
About Jennifer Stanchfield
Jen Stanchfield inspires educators, leaders and group facilitators worldwide with her engaging, informative, and practical workshops and books. By emphasizing relationships and connection, she blends the art of experiential teaching and facilitation with neuroscience and social and emotional learning. Jen works with schools, colleges, mental health, business, and community organizations across the globe, helping practitioners increase meaningful engagement and reflection and build community.
With her creative and responsive approach, Jen has significantly contributed to the field by offering tools and techniques that make reflection an accessible and interactive part of learning and leadership. She is the author of Tips and Tools for The Art of Experiential Group Facilitation and Inspired Educator, Inspired Learner: Experiential, Brain-Based Activities and Strategies to Engage, Build Community, and Create Lasting Lessons. In addition, she is the creator and regular contributor to the Inspired Educator Blog at experientialtools.com.
Jen’s creativity and depth of knowledge stem from three decades of diverse experience as an experiential educator, facilitator, and community builder. Jen has worked as an educator, educational coach, an expressive/recreational therapist in community and clinical mental health, a program director in a variety of community organizations, and as a facilitator and curriculum designer of professional development, adult learning, graduate courses, and organizational team building.
She earned her M.S. in Experiential Education and Educational Leadership at Minnesota State University. She has created a unique collection of engagement tools used by teachers, mental health counselors, trainers, leaders, student opportunity professionals, and facilitators worldwide.
Through her professional development workshops, university courses, books, direct service teambuilding and mentoring, Jen has positively influenced experiential education and group facilitation across generations. Her participant-centered, collaborative, inclusive, and welcoming style, with consideration for introverts, has empowered countless participants with practical techniques, a deeper understanding of the why behind their practices, confidence, and fresh perspectives. Her teachings have strengthened educators' and leaders' ability to foster meaningful reflection, social and emotional learning, and resilient communities with their students, clients, and groups.