ESTEEM’s assemblies and trainings are interactive and inspiring; our instructors engage, educate, and empower participants to communicate effectively and participate confidently and responsibly in the world. With offerings for students, staff, faculty, and parents, we custom fit the training to meet the needs of your school. Contact us today to schedule a training.
Elementary
ASSEMBLY PROGRAMS
Breaking the Bully
Using the techniques of storytelling, games, and group activities, Breaking the Bully answers questions and dispels fears children and parents have about bullying. This seminar develops awareness, self-esteem, communication skills, and teaches children to use their bodies and verbal skills effectively to co-create a bully-free community.
Sticks & Stones: The Power of Words
This workshop uses interactive storytelling and activities to teach children to recognize the power of words as well as a speaker’s ability to foster negative and positive environments and relationships. This seminar helps build self-esteem, teaches responsible communication, and encourages children to use their new skills to be more effective communicators.
A Kid’s Best Defense
Using the techniques of storytelling, games, and group activities, A Kid’s Best Defense answers questions and dispels fears children and parents have about safety by teaching self-reliance and self-protection. This seminar develops self-esteem, helps build communication skills, and teaches children to use their bodies and verbal skills effectively to protect themselves against assault and attempted abduction.
The Art of Listening
During the course of a day, approximately 45% of an individual’s time is spent listening; however, the average individual’s listening skills are not as well developed as active communication skills. Throughout the educational process, we are not taught how to listen; instead we are just expected to know how. This workshop will enable participants to understand and differentiate between just hearing a message and actually listening to it.
Middle & High School
ASSEMBLY PROGRAMS
Breaking the Bully
Using the techniques of storytelling, games, and group activities, Breaking the Bully answers questions and dispels fears children and parents have about bullying. This seminar develops awareness, self-esteem, communication skills, and teaches children to use their bodies and verbal skills effectively to co-create a bully-free community.
Mean Girls: BFFs, Cliques, and Bullies
Most girls in our culture feel that they do not have the ability to conflict openly, which forces them into nonphysical, indirect and direct aggression towards one another. This indirect (and sometimes direct) behavior is known as relational aggression (RA) or Female Bullying. Girls need to understand and be educated that RA erodes the self-confidence development of target and bully alike. Studies show that RA is a strong risk factor for future delinquency, crime and substance abuse, along with future physical violence. Both victims and initiators of RA have higher incidence of serious mental health problems such as depression, loneliness, emotional distress, isolation, and alienation. Through activities, discussion, and role-plays, participants will identify relational aggression and develop problem-solving and conflict resolution skills.
Connecting Cultures Through Communication
Communicators of differing cultural backgrounds face more barriers in recognizing and interpreting verbal and nonverbal messages and the implicit assumptions underlying the messages. The condition of such significant differences and obstacles in communication presents a special context of communication, intercultural communication. This seminar uses activities, discussion, and role-plays to facilitate development of effective communication skills across cultures.
Healthy Minds, Healthy Bodies
Self-image is integrally linked to body image; how we see ourselves impacts how we feel about ourselves, making a positive body image an essential component of positive self-esteem. Participants in this workshop have the opportunity to explore their feelings about their own bodies as well as develop an understanding of the ways in which gender influences self-concept and body image. Through the use of activities, discussion, and role-plays, participants will learn to deconstruct cultural ideals of beauty for both men and women and work to establish a realistic and attainable sense of beauty.
Media Literacy
Research indicates that popular media is impossible to avoid, therefore it is important that adolescents learn to be “active” consumers of popular culture. This means that they come to understand how the media shapes their values and cultural beliefs about love, sexuality, and their bodies in both positive and negative ways and make conscious, values-based choices. Participants will view music videos with a critical and mindful eye.
Public Speaking With Confidence
Research indicates that public speaking is frequently listed as the number one fear for most people. This seminar is designed to decrease the anxiety frequently associated with public speaking and increase speakers’ confidence. In this course we will discuss what makes a good presentation and how to reduce speaking anxiety; in addition, we will use these skills learned to prepare a speech. This activity and skills-based seminar enables each participant to leave with the experience of having successfully given a public speech!
Sticks & Stones: The Power of Words
This workshop uses interactive storytelling and activities to teach children to recognize the power of words as well as a speaker’s ability to foster negative and positive environments and relationships. This seminar helps build self-esteem, teaches responsible communication, and encourages children to use their new skills to be more effective communicators.
The Art of Listening
During the course of a day, approximately 45% of an individual’s time is spent listening; however, the average individual’s listening skills are not as well developed as active communication skills. Throughout the educational process, we are not taught how to listen; instead we are just expected to know how. This workshop will enable participants to understand and differentiate between just hearing a message and actually listening to it.
SAFETY PROGRAMS
Teen ESTEEM for Personal Safety
This seminar teaches the necessity of esteem, and highlights skills for avoidance, deterrence, and resistance of physical and verbal assault. Current techniques used by perpetrators are also explored. Role-plays are incorporated to demonstrate the skills in scenarios that relate to the audience.
A Girl’s Best Defense: Introductory Self-Defense Workshop for Teen Girls
This training answers the questions and dispels the fears many girls have about their safety by teaching them self-reliance and self-protection. The program develops self-esteem, helps build communication skills, and teaches girls to use their bodies effectively to protect themselves against physical assault.
ESTEEM for Boys: Introductory Self-Defense Course
This introductory training demystifies the link between aggression and “manhood” by emphasizing conflict resolution and de-escalation while teaching self-reliance and self-protection. This program teaches the importance of self-esteem and esteem for others as a means of coping with aggression, competition, and violent peers. This program is most often integrated as a regular part of school curriculum. 4-5 hours.
For Teachers
SEMINARS
Differentiated Instruction in the Classroom: A Seminar for Teachers
Each child deserves the opportunity to succeed in the classroom. Differentiated instruction is a process to approach teaching and learning for students of differing abilities and learning styles in the same class. The intent of differentiating instruction is to maximize each student’s growth and individual success by meeting each student where he or she is and assisting in the learning process. This seminar uses activities and discussion to enable teachers to incorporate Differentiated Instruction Strategies in the classroom more effectively. We will discuss grade-level appropriate exercises, strategies, and successes. This seminar motivates teaching staff to become excited about incorporating Differentiated Instruction strategies in the classroom. This training fulfills most school district required differentiated instruction training.
Classroom Management
Teachers play various roles in the classroom, but one of the most important is effective classroom manager. Recent research indicates that the teacher is the single most important factor in student achievement; in fact, it is a more significant factor than student ability! When a classroom is effectively managed, behavioral distractions are minimized and a sense of mutual respect is developed, which creates a feeling of comradeship and a shared vision. This seminar uses activities, discussion, and role-plays to facilitate development of classroom management.
Instructional Communication: Maximizing Learning in the Classroom
In order to manage a classroom effectively, a teacher must understand the communicative dynamic in the classroom, and thus, communicate competently. This workshop aids teachers in understanding the communication process that occurs in the classroom to optimize student learning and classroom management. This seminar uses activities, discussion, and role-plays to facilitate development of effective instructional communication skills.
Teacher-Parent Communication: How to Talk to Parents About Education
How can teachers get parents to understand the importance of completing homework or what constitutes age appropriate emotional growth? Every teacher knows that educational success is highly dependent on family support. This seminar aims to equip teachers with basic communication skill sets geared toward improving the quality of communication between teachers and parents. As a result of this seminar, which will include using real world examples, discussion, and activity- based training, teachers can feel confident that their interactions with parents will be successful!
Sexual Harassment Prevention
We offer management and employee versions of our Sexual Harassment Prevention trainings that are highly interactive, using humor, stories, and small group discussions to ensure understanding of the issues by all participants. Emphasis is placed on a behavioral or common-sense definition of sexual harassment. We explore the “gray areas.” ESTEEM conducts sexual harassment prevention training sessions for employees at all levels–general employees, managers, supervisors, and executives. Employees attend two-hour sessions in groups of no more than 30, with supervisory and management employees in separate sessions from non-supervisory personnel. This training is compliant with California AB 1825.
Bullies in the Workplace
According to The Workplace Bullying Institute (2007), 54 million employees of the United States workforce have been bullied now or some time during their work experience. Arming management and employees with the knowledge of what workplace bullying is, how it occurs, and how it affects all involved can decrease workplace bullying.
Conflict Transformation
This training challenges participants to become more adept in our most basic human skill – communication. Through discussion, journal exercises, small group and large group work, participants will deepen their ability to empathize and de-escalate conflicts. The skills taught will be applied to various relationships: family dynamics, work-place conflicts, facilitation and leadership roles, and assisting individuals in crisis.
The Art of Listening
During the course of a day, approximately 45% of an individual’s time is spent listening; however, the average individual’s listening skills are not as well developed as active communication skills. Throughout the educational process, we are not taught how to listen; instead we are just expected to know how. This workshop will enable participants to understand and differentiate between just hearing a message and actually listening to it.
From 8-tracks to Ipods: Bridging the Generational Gaps
Currently there are three distinctive cultures populating America’s workforce: The Baby Boomers, Generation X, and Generation Y. Individuals from each generation in the workplace creates a potential for discriminatory practices due to a lack of understanding between the individuals with divergent communication styles and cultural values. Creating increased awareness and understanding of the primary role that communication plays in this process can avert regrettable outcomes. This seminar uses activities, discussion, and role-plays to facilitate an understanding of generational communication differences and tools to overcome them.
Assertiveness Training for Women
This training prepare participants for a variety of real-life situations: Women learn to verbally circumvent dangerous situations with strangers as well as confront acquaintances who do not respect personal and/or professional boundaries. This seminar uses activities, discussion, and role-plays to empower women to
Setting Professional Boundaries
This training helps participants develop clear, effective workplace communication skills. Participants learn to speak their minds in concise, non-confrontational language that enhances harmonious working conditions. Facilitator employs volunteers from the audience to enact verbal scenarios.
For Parents
SEMINARS
Keeping Our Children Safe: A Presentation for Parents
This seminar answers all the most-asked questions that parents have regarding their children’s safety. Topics include, abduction, molestation, and harassment/assault by other children. Participants will learn how to talk to their children about safety in a way that empowers them without frightening them.
Parenting with Compassion and Connection
This workshop empowers parents with tools for enhancing their natural parenting strengths. We begin with the assumption that all family members have needs – including parents! Through lively and encouraging discussion, parents will explore the challenges of parenting while developing strategies that reduce frustration. We will address topics including keeping the parents’ marriage strong, sibling rivalry, parenting special needs children, and discipline.
Conflict Transformation
This training challenges participants to become more adept in our most basic human skill – communication. Through discussion, journal exercises, small group and large group work, participants will deepen their ability to empathize and de-escalate conflicts. The skills taught will be applied to various relationships: family dynamics, work-place conflicts, facilitation and leadership roles, and assisting individuals in crisis.
