We custom design hour-long, full-day or multi-day adult
learning experiences for entry-level and administrative-level child and
youth development professionals as well as professional trainers and educators.
We are experienced trainers
who provide fun, practical, educational, and music-filled staff training events.
For
additional information e-mail
us, or call (505) 296-2880.
Mike and Chelsea Ashcraft, Founders and CEOs of Children’s Choice, custom design workshops, full-day, and multi-day adult learning experiences for entry-level and administrative-level school-age care, afterschool, and camp professionals, as well as a special series for professional teachers and trainers. We are experienced trainers who provide fun, musical, educational, and brain-compatible staff training events.
For more information call (505) 296-2880
Our mailing address is 6501 Lomas Blvd NE, Albuquerque NM 87110.
The following are a few examples of the types of learning opportunities we provide.
Training Topics
The ABC’s of Professional, Purposeful, & Powerful Programming Practices: How can you provide a program that goes far beyond providing a safe and fun place for kids to be…a program that will help children learn and develop into great neighbors? Attend this workshop, which clarifies the role and purpose of school-age care and explores powerful, research-based philosophical foundations. We will discuss how Autonomy, Belonging, and Competencies can be intentionally put into practice in the environment, relationships, and experiences of a high quality afterschool program. The ABC’s are the basic foundation for all other workshops. Available as a Keynote, full-day, double or single session workshop.
Games and Activities that Build Community - F.A.S.T: Do you want a stronger sense of community in your programs? Attend this workshop and learn games to do with groups of kids as they progress through the Forming, Attempting, Storming and Transforming stages of team building. Be prepared to play! This is a collection of our most favorite activities – gathered during more than 30 years of program experience. Learn name games, get-to-know-you games, circle games, waiting games, team-building games and more. This is a hands-on experience and a time to share some favorite proven games and activities for use in school-age care programs.
Available as a double or single-session workshop.
Games that Build Community Handout
Superior Interiors: Do you want some practical and easy to use tools and strategies to use when designing or redesigning the space of any school-age care program. Attend this workshop and learn how to create an environment that encourages desirable behavior and results in a more enjoyable work environment for caregivers. We address the unique problems of shared space in school-age care programs.
Available as a single-session workshop.
Tremendous Agendas: Do you want the kids in your program to remember their experience with you in a positive way for many years? Attend this workshop and learn methods to increase novelty, enrichment, and intentionality in to the design of curriculum in an afterschool program. Participants will learn how to create playful, yet enriching activities that teach social skills and build a sense of community while giving kids a real role in the program. Available as a single-session workshop.
Super Tools: Behavior Management for Super Afterschool Programs and Camps. Have you ever experienced a behavior problem with a child in your program? Of course you have, we all have? Would you like some powerful and practical tools to help you get the kind of behaviors that make you love working with kids? Attend this workshop and discover how to create superior interiors and tremendous agendas that promote desirable behavior. Learn strategies for preventing undesirable behavior. Learn techniques to use once misbehavior has occurred: positive discipline, logical consequences, reparations, restitution and self-esteem. Learn many tools that are guaranteed to make guidance and building self-discipline easier and make working with school-age kids more enjoyable! Available as a full-day or single-session workshop.
Getting Along: Teaching Social Skills!
How can you guarantee a strong-sense of community in your afterschool program? Attend this training! This training focuses on the intentional teaching of interpersonal and intra-personal social skills such as confidence, control, coping, curiosity, communication, conflict resolution, and community building. It is filled with many practical methods to teach social skills through direct, situational and integrated teaching in afterschool programs. Available as a Keynote, full-day, double or single-session workshop.
Fantastic Family Forces: It’s All About the Relationships.
The relationships we have with the families of the children we care for are an integral part of our work. This training provides practical strategies for building strong staff-parent relationships. Come learn powerful tactics to use when communicating your concern about a child. Learn effective methods to use when listening to and helping alleviate parent concerns. Learn the best tricks to get parents involved and engaged. Attend this workshop and discover how to ensure your parents are huge, raving fans of your staff and your program.
Available as a single-session workshop.
Fantastic Family Forces Handout
The Myth and M.A.G.I.C. of the ADHD Child: Do you find working with children with attention deficit disorder challenging? Attend this workshop and learn powerful and practical M.A.G.I.C strategies for caregivers working with ADD kids in school-age child care programs. This training examines the existing ADD paradigm and presents a new mental model of the active child. When you leave, you will never view ADHD the same way you did before attending this session. Available as a double or single-session workshop.
Keys to Quality: Unlocking the ARQ Process: Are you and/or your staff intimidated unsure about the self-study and accreditation process? Attend this training event and learn about the National Afterschool Association (NAA, formerly the National School-Age Care Alliance) Quality Standards and the ARQ self-study, accreditation application, and endorser visit process. We present the strategies we used in our model school-age care programs when we achieved accreditation through the NAA. We will discuss the process and accompanying benefits associated with the self-study process. Since our trainers are certified NSACA accreditation endorsers, and NIOST quality advisors, we provide unique insight on the endorser's perspective. Available as a full-day, double or single-session workshop.
Afterschool TeamsWork! Is your staff team a model of effective teamwork? Would you like it to be? This exciting workshop not only helps your staff team to learn communication, creativity, and problem solving skills, it also teaches them to lead teambuilding activities with the children. Staff experience creative and often hilarious team-building activities, then they discover ways to adapt the activities to use with children.
Available as a full-day double or single-session workshop.
Brain Smart Programming: How can you create an afterschool program or camp that promotes brain development a program that kids will remember positively for many years? Attend this workshop! This training addresses cutting-edge neuroscience and the practical applications of this information through intentional programming in school-age care, with the purpose of facilitating positive development. We will discuss what needs to be present and what needs to be eliminated in programs for young brains to develop positively. Available as a Keynote, full-day, double or single-session workshop.
Brain Smart/Brain-Based Programming Handout
Learning to Lead: Leading to Learn! How can you develop a motivated, enthusiastic, high performing staff team with a high level of commitment? Attend this workshop! Explore the complex systems of afterschool leadership, leaderly learning, and learn how to develop vision, and a culture of innovation, empowerment and teamwork. An introduction to systems thinking will lead into an understanding of the importance of learning among leaders and team members. This workshop will focus on how to give knowledge, information, power and control to staff at all levels of an organization, creating a non-hierarchical learning organization. Available as a double or single-session workshop.
ZPD Doo Dah: Vygotsky Anyone?Lev Vygotsky, ever heard of him? If not, this workshop is a MUST! If you sorta, kinda know of him – you smile and nod your head when people say things like, “Zone of Proximal Development” and “Scaffolding,” but you wish you knew more, attend this workshop! If you know his theories, but desire more ideas on how to apply them in the afterschool profession, you are in luck. Do you think the social environment is an important part of afterschool? Vygotsky’s theories are centered on the importance of the social environment to the development of all higher skills. We’ll explore the man and some of his theories: Sociocultural Theory, the Zone of Proximal “Development, the Psychology of Play, and Thinking and Speaking. We will also explore Scaffolding and discuss comparisons between Vygotsky and Piaget. We’ll bring every topic home – back to practical application of theory to afterschool programming. Sound like a dry lecture? No way – come learn and have a good time! Available as a full-day, double or single-session workshop.
Satisfied Customers?...or Raving Fans! Who are your “customers?” Children? Parents? Higher-Level Teachers? The Community? The relationships we have with the customers we serve are an integral part of our work. Attend this workshop and discover how to transform the relationships you have with key stakeholders to ensure they are huge, raving fans of your staff and your organization. Available as a single-session workshop.
Promoting the Positive Potential and Power of Play! Play is not a four letter word. Well, technically it is, but that’s not the point! Do you feel pressured to sit children down, to keep them “busy” to get them working on worksheets? Do you understand that play is important to learning, but don’t have the words to help others understand why? High stakes testing and pressure to improve academic performance are stealing the essence of childhood learning and forcing educators into counter-productive practices. Attend this workshop and learn why playfulness is important to the brain and learning. Come learn how abstract thought and discipline are built through play! Come learn how to advocate for play with parents, colleagues, administrators, and lawmakers! Available as a single-session workshop.
Total Recall: Mega Memory Mind Muscle! Are you great at remembering things or are you better at forgetting? Attend this workshop and boost your own memory power and build some strong memory muscle. Learn techniques to help children and staff remember what you teach them. Learn strategies to help learning stick in the minds of learners of all ages. Learn tricks for teachers and trainers. Unravel and remember the mysteries of pegging, linking, mnemonics and the ancient “room” method. Available as a double or single-session workshop.
Train the Trainers/Teachers Series
In this unique “Train-the-Trainers” session, beginning and expert trainers get front-of-the-room skills in a brain-compatible learning context. By learning powerful cutting edge skills and simple teaching strategies trainers will build self-confidence and feel stress disappear. Learn how to reach the reluctant learner and how to increase learner participation. Learn how to involve learners in the process and keep them engaged. Learn how to get productive responses from learners and how to increase buy in and participation. Learn the art and genius of timing in learning activities. Learn which music to use and how. Learn energizers and ice-breakers that work. Learn how to give flawless directions that learners understand every time. This highly practical training is designed with the “brain in mind.” Available as a full-day or multi-day event.
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Price for 2 Trainers |
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Offered as a full-day or multi-day event! |
$1800/day plus travel expenses: Airfare, Ground Transportation, Hotel, Meals, and Printing of Handouts.
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State of Confusion: Manage and Influence Learning States! This workshop is designed for educators who directly teach learners of any age. Learn secrets from cutting edge brain research about sustaining the attention of learners. Learn how to use novelty, physical movement, social engagement, storytelling, and emotional states to maximize learning. Available as a single session.
Rock and Roll in the Learning Environment: Learn which music to use and how! This workshop is designed for educators who directly teach learners of any age. Learn how to intentionally use music to manage and change the emotional and physical states of learners. Based on cutting-edge research on music’s effect on the brain, this entertaining workshop teaches educators how to use music to get learners into relaxed, aroused, energized, or adrenalized states. Learn which music to use for background reading, closing rituals, and transition times. Learn music to use for humor, novelty, and special themes. Available as a single session.
What are WE supposed to DO now?: Give Flawless Directions Every Time! This workshop is designed for educators who directly teach learners of any age. Educators who aim to involve and engage learners must sometimes give directions. Learn powerful strategies to give directions that learners understand and complete without asking the educator to repeat the instructions. Available as a single session.
What’s in it for ME?: Motivate and Engage Learners! This workshop is designed for educators who directly teach learners of any age. Learn how to reach the reluctant learner and how to increase learner participation. Learn how to involve learners in the process and keep them engaged. Learn how to use brain priming and other secret strategies to get productive responses from learners. Learn how to use mental images to increase productive behavior, buy in, and participation. Available as a single session.
Total Recall: Mega Memory Mind Muscle! Are you great at remembering things or are you better at forgetting? Attend this workshop and boost your own memory power and build some strong memory muscle. Learn techniques to help children and staff remember what you teach them. Learn strategies to help learning stick in the minds of learners of all ages. Learn tricks for teachers and trainers. Unravel and remember the mysteries of pegging, linking, mnemonics and the ancient “room” method. Available as a double or single-session workshop.
Brain-Based Discipline! Have you ever experienced a behavior problem with a child in your classroom? Of course you have, we all have? Would you like some powerful and practical tools to help you get the kind of behaviors that make you love teaching? Attend this workshop and discover tricks that promote desirable behavior. Learn strategies for preventing undesirable behavior. Learn techniques to use once misbehavior has occurred. Learn secrets that are guaranteed to make guidance and building self-discipline easier and make teaching more enjoyable! Available as a single, double, or triple session workshop.
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1 Trainer |
2 Trainers |
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Consulting |
$900/day |
$1400/day |
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Local Workshops |
$180/hr |
$290/hr |
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Full/Multi Day Events |
$900/day |
$1400/day
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Professional Writing: |
Negotiable |
Negotiable |
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Technical Assistance |
Negotiable
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Negotiable
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Prices include advanced preparation, master handout, and consumable supplies.
Prices do not include printing or travel expenses.
FAQ’s: Frequently Asked Questions
Q: Who are these Ashcrafts anyway?
A: Mike and Chelsea have been active in the child and youth development field since 1989. They currently live in the small mountain community called Cedar Grove, New Mexico with their two wonderful daughters. Mike and Chelsea met while working at a YMCA that ran a summer day camp and school-age child care Program. They successfully managed a number of camps and after-school programs, and Chelsea directed a corporate child care center for a number of years. Mike and Chelsea founded and direct a non-profit organization that provides youth development programs as well as staff training, and consulting. Mike taught courses in brain-based teaching, and middle childhood development for Concordia University. Mike is a former President of the NM School-Age Care Alliance and the current President of the NM Association for the Education of Young Children. Chelsea teaches courses in leadership, child care management, and early childhood guidance at the Central New Mexico college. Mike is the author of Best Practices: Guidelines for School-Age Programs. They frequently teach workshops, seminars, and keynotes. They have presented at many national conferences. Typical audiences include:
· After-school Program Staff
· Summer Camp Staff
· Elementary Education
· Adult Educators and College Instructors
· Principals and School Boards
· Organization and Board Leadership Teams
Bios
Mike Ashcraft, Co-Founder and CEO of Children's Choice, holds a Master of Arts Degree in Education with an Emphasis in School-Age Care from Concordia University. He is a Doctoral of Education candidate in Organizational Leadership with Nova Southeastern University. He has more than 20 years of experience in child care and education. He is an Accreditation Endorser for the National Afterschool Association. He served as a training and technical service contractor and a professional writing contractor for the New Mexico State Department of Education. He served as a guest professor on the faculty of Concordia University, teaching college courses in school-age care programming. He is a former President of the New Mexico School-Age Care Alliance and the current President of the New Mexico Association for the Education of Young Children. He is the author of Best Practices: Guidelines for School-Age Programs, and the Best Practices Workbook, published by Sparrow Media Group.
Chelsea Ashcraft, Co-Founder and CEO of Children's Choice, holds a Master of Science Degree in Early Childhood Education and Administration from Nova Southeastern University. She has more than 17 years of experience in child care: as a teacher, a camp director, a school-age child care coordinator, and a corporate child care center director. She has extensive training and experience in school-age child care and has shared her knowledge as a presenter at many state and national training events. Chelsea serves on the faculty of Albuquerque's Technical Vocational Institute, teaching college courses in child development and guidance. She is the current Treasurer of the New Mexico School Age Care Alliance. She is an accreditation endorser for the National Afterschool Association and a certified Quality Advisor from the National Institute of Out of School Time.
Q: What is your training style?
A: Our training events are unique – the learning experiences are living examples of “brain-compatible” teaching. Our training style is based on cutting-edge neuroscience, utilizing what we have learned about relevancy, engagement, humor, movement, novelty, attention, emotional states, and music. Our learning events are rich in meaningful content without the “long lecture” feel. Each new learning topic begins by engaging the learners and establishing the relevancy of the content, followed by lectures/demonstrations designed to explore the content interspersed with opportunities for the participants to practice using the information and make connections in quick small group discussions. We end each new learning topic by debriefing and by using stories or metaphors to add depth and an emotional connection to the topic. We believe that the thirst for knowledge is never quenched by dry lectures, so our training events are not what we call “death by PowerPoint.”
Q: Do Mike and Chelsea train as a team, or individually.
A: Both! Ideally we train as a team. We have found that participants enjoy our workshops more when we train together because our styles complement each other well and it adds novelty and a change of learning states that are good for learning. We have different levels of expertise and knowledge, so we can provide a wider range of knowledge and information when we train together. We also conduct a lot of training events individually. Especially when training budgets are limited as is often the case, we are happy to do “solo acts” to help limit expenses.
Q: What will learners get out if it?
A: Participants will leave with not only many practical on-the-job applications of this training, but with relevancy established. Participant will be able to answer the question of “What’s in it for me?” They will not only be able to share the skills they learned, but they will be able to describe why the skills are important and why they are in the educators’ best interest to implement.
Q: How do you want your room set up?
A: We like to move around and to be on the same floor level as the audience so that we can interact more easily. If a stage is necessary for a large audience to be able to see, an open stage is best. We will not use a podium and dislike the typical stage with standing microphone setup. We require a couple of presenter tables at the front of the room for our sound system, workshop materials and props. Ideally, theatre-style, loosely packed with just a few tables for participant belongings and severe “table addicts.” If there is plenty of space and you really want round table for note taking, we strongly suggest a “half crescent” configuration, so that all of the chairs face the front of the room (stage). We use music and movement in all workshops. Tables get in the way. Too many /tightly packed chairs prevent movement too. Real walls and not partitions help ensure music does not bother other workshops.
Q: What are your audio-visual needs?
A: For all audiences, we require a flip chart, projector stand with power strip, and screen appropriate to the size of the audience. We provide our own music system and laptop. For small audiences or rooms without a lot of ambient lighting, we can provide our own multi-media projector. For large audiences, keynote presentations, or rooms with a lot of ambient lighting, we require an appropriately bright projector. For large audiences/rooms we require voice amplification with lavaliere microphones so that we can move around, use our hands, and interact with the audience.
Q: What else should we provide?
A: We suggest name tags and pens for all learners. Water is important for the brain, so drinking water is recommended. A sustained level of glucose is good for learning, so some easily accessible candy or other snacks is helpful. If you make copies of handout in advance – please do not distribute them in advance. We sometimes distribute handouts and other resources in playful and novel ways as an intentional part of the program.
Q: Can we video tape the presentations?
A: Because of licensing issues with visual images included in our presentation, video/digital recording is prohibited. Audio recording is permitted.
Q: Can we have copies of the PowerPoint Presentation?
A: We are happy to provide “hard copies” of the slides as part of the participant handout when requested. Because of licensing issues with the visual images included in our presentation, we cannot provide digital copies of the PowerPoint Presentation. We do provide the information where anyone interested in the images we use can legally purchase them from the same source from which we purchased them.
New Workshops - Under Construction
Unique Brains? Unique Strategies and Opportunities: Turn up the H.E.A.T.: Do you find working with children with special needs challenging? Attend this workshop and learn how Hope, Enrichment, Accommodation, and Training can be combined into winning recipes for successful child development. We will investigate the existing ADD paradigm and presents a new mental model of the active child. We will explore attention deficit disorder, learned helplessness, learning delays, dyslexia, Asperger’s syndrome and more. Practical strategies for caregivers working with kids in school-age child care programs and new perspectives are explored. Under construction. Available as a full-day workshop.
Growing Up with ABCD: Afterschool Based on Child Development. Is your afterschool program more than a safe and fun place for children to be while their parents are working? Does every person working in your program base their day-to-day practices on a theory base of knowledge of child development? Is your environment, relationships, and curriculum intentionally based on a core body of knowledge? This workshop will provide a theory base upon which to build a program based on child development. Come learn not only theory, but practical strategies that you can use to be a true professional and facilitate the positive development of the children in your care. Explore the theories of the great masters: Piaget, Erikson, Montessori, Bandura, Dewey, Maslow, Vygotsky and more! Learn useful approaches that will set you apart as a true afterschool professional.
Under construction. Available as a full-day workshop or focus on only a few theorists for shorter sessions.
Eight Shoes of the Purposeful and Professional Practitioner. Do you want to be the best afterschool professional you can be? A truly GREAT afterschool practitioner has big shoes to fill, but one size does not fit all. The best afterschool people in our profession have diverse roles, competencies, strengths, traits, and talents. In the afterschool field we must all wear a lot of hats…and SHOES as well - all are important. Come explore these diverse and shoe metaphors that reveal power and meaning in the role of a skilled and effective afterschool super star. Under construction.
Seven Habits of Highly Effective Afterschool Program Directors Do you want to be a program director someday? Are you a program director now and you want to be the best afterschool program director you can be? Do you want to help the program directors that you supervise to improve their skills and enjoy more success? Attend this workshop and explore the traits, passions, and habits required to be a highly effective afterschool program director. Come investigate these powerful seven elements and learn practical and useful approaches to enhance these traits and transform yourself and others into extraordinary afterschool program directors. Available as a full-day double or single-session workshop. Under Construction.
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