Workshops

Student Engagement & Motivation Training
“I have become the educator I am today because of Jenna’s dedication to training me in how to teach students with critical thinking, collaboration, and communication in mind. Jenna has given me tools and strategies on student engagement and motivation which intrinsically motivate students to actively learn.”
— Katherine Hanling
Biology Teacher
Silver Springs, MD
Student Engagement & Motivation Training
You give me one day, and I’ll give you proven strategies to help engage even the most reluctant student in your classroom!
DIFFERENTIATING INSTRUCTION TO ENGAGE AND MOTIVATE ALL STUDENTS
How to Foster Intrinsic Motivation to Authentically Engage Students for More Time To Teach!
It IS possible to motivate and engage all students using differentiated teaching techniques, and this workshop can help! I help teachers learn and implement just a few simple strategies that really do meet a myriad of student needs and learning styles—not by having to do one more thing, but by easily tweaking what they’re already doing to better meet the learning needs of all students in their classrooms!
Every teacher knows the challenge of trying to reach each student in the classroom at his or her appropriate level, just as every student knows the frustration of receiving a lesson that’s either too easy or too difficult. But differentiation IS doable, and I will provide a set of actionable, research-based (not theoretical!) instructional strategies proven to restore student engagement in your lessons and motivation to learn the content. In this training, teachers learn a TON of easy-to-implement strategies to grab student attention and maintain interest; teachers learn to easily differentiate lessons in any content area so that each student is appropriately challenged.
This session is an interactive workshop and can be adapted for either in-person or remote attendees. Participants are invited to ask questions and actively engage in the presentation, and are invited to role-play with other attendees, either in person or via break-out rooms, to practice the research-based strategies they will be taught in order to gain the confidence to implement these tools immediately into their own classroom routines. Participants can get immediate personalized feedback to their questions and developing practices.
Time To Teach: Engaging and Motivation All Students Through Differentiated Instruction
Morning Session 1:
Making the Connection Between DI and Student Motivation
- What is DI?
- Pillars of DI and SEAM
- Multiple Intelligences and Modalities
Promoting Positive Feelings
- Developing Positive Rapport
- Using Movement to Stimulate Deeper Understanding
- Fun feedback strategies
Morning Session 2:
Strategies for Stimulating Attention and Interest
- Randomization
- Questioning Techniques
- Storytelling
Afternoon Session 1:
Increasing Relevance
- Guiding personal connection-building
- Using visuals for engaging stimulation
- Eliciting input from everyone
Building Student Confidence and Self-Efficacy
- Different ways students can show what they know
- Developing on-demand and under-pressure skills
Afternoon Session 2:
Fostering Critical Thinking
- Motivating students to dig deep for understanding
- Collaborating effectively for success
- Project-based and Service Learning strategies
Sharing Best Practices & Questions and Answers
Conclude

Disciplinary Literacy Training
“As a special education administrator, I have benefited from Jenna’s workshops on disciplinary literacy, which provide innovative ideas to engage students with reading and to assess the knowledge they gain. … Jenna successfully applies multiple differentiation strategies to engage students with special needs, and she varies her strategies to meet their individual situations. Jenna receives my highest recommendation for her expertise in teaching and in her concern for all students.”
— John Ruiz
Special Education Coordinator
Los Angeles, CA
Disciplinary Literacy Training
You can help students think through texts, explore complex ideas, and communicate their analyses.
“OH YEAH, I READ THAT! ”
Strategies that Promote Active Reading Schoolwide for Critical Thinking, Engaged Discussions, and Meaningful Writing
Do you as a content teacher struggle with teaching students how to read your texts?
Does it seem like some students simply don’t understand the text they’ve just read?
Are you looking for ways to help your teachers schoolwide better address academic reading and writing skills?
I can help! I train educators in all disciplines to utilize easy-to-implement reading and writing strategies that improve students’ critical thinking capacities as well as their reading and writing skills as assessed on standards-based tests such as the SAT, AP, and SBAC exams. Teachers across the school learn how to utilize both independent and collaborative learning strategies to improve student engagement and accountability with texts, using research-based, data-driven protocols that teachers can implement immediately
In this workshop, participants learn about and practice useful strategies to deeply engage students in critical reading, thoughtful discussion, and descriptive writing in any discipline. Participants learn strategies to support readers at multiple skill levels using hardcopy and/or online tools. They learn how to collect formative data to make reflective decisions about student readiness for writing, and they learn to utilize critical thinking tools that deepen the quality of student writing.
Each step in this process enhances student engagement through authentic and relevant engagement with the disciplinary texts and their classroom peers for improved academic discourse and understanding. And, I provide the resources and procedures necessary for immediate application into the classroom.
OH YEAH, I READ THAT! Strategies that Promote Active Reading Schoolwide for Critical Thinking, Engaged Discussions, and Meaningful Writing
Morning Session 1:
What is Disciplinary Literacy?
- Basic, Intermediate, and Disciplinary Literacy
- Key Difference between Content and Disciplinary Literacy
- Research-Based Program: Building on the 4 Insights
Insight 1: Cultivating the 4Cs
- The 4Cs of Critical and Creative Thinking, Communication, and Collaboration
- Approaching content instruction to cultivates the 4Cs
- Lesson Principles and Strategies
Morning Session 2:
Insight 2: Authentic and Real Instruction
- Designing real-world learning experiences
- Authentic practice and projects
- Authentic assessment of learning
Afternoon Session 1:
Insight 3: Learning by Doing
- Constructivism as a conceptual framework
- Accountable Talk
- Critical and Creative Thinking and Problem-solving
- Reflection: Where the Learning Sets
Insight 4: Foundational Elements
- Opportunities for Inquire
- Key Habits of Practice
- Academic language and Accountable Talk (again)
Resources
Questions & Answers

Schoolwide Numeracy Training
“Jenna is a very resourceful veteran teacher and has helped me to develop skills in classroom management and student engagement and to continually grow as a professional educator. Five stars. Definitely would recommend her workshops!”
— Michael Chang
Math Teacher
Los Angeles, CA
Schoolwide Numeracy Training
Mathematics are all around us, in our daily lived experiences and throughout the curriculum. You can help your scholars feel more comfortable and confident in their computational skills, no matter what subject you teach!
Elevating number sense and quantitative thinking across all disciplines to improve scholars’ quantitative thinking skills, as evidenced by higher mathematical test scores!
In this interactive workshop, participants take a deep-dive into the theory and pragmatics of schoolwide numeracy—what it is, and how to do it. Participants will:
- Learn how all teachers of any discipline can support mathematical thinking skills
- Learn immediately applicable strategies and tools
- Get hands-on practice with strategies
- And, get follow-up coaching support for effective schoolwide implementation
In the grocery store, we check nutritional information; when creating social media posts, we pay careful attention to proportions, angles, and shapes; when buying a car or a house, we calculate interest and payments; as we read, listen to, or watch the news we are bombarded by statistical data: all of this requires we make meaning out of the numbers, percentages, rates, and data that fill our lived environment and experiences. Simply put, Math is Life — and this, coming from a trained English teacher! Of course, this is precisely the point: just as all teachers have to effectively address the literacy skills their scholars need to engage in any subject matter, so too do all teachers have to effectively address the numeracy skills their scholars need, because math is all around us. In fact, numeracy complements literacy development, just as we’ve been touting for years that literacy skills complement math problem-solving skills.
In this workshop, teachers learn about and practice strategies and tools designed to develop students’ learning of essential quantitative and computational skills that will help students achieve success into, through, and beyond university academics. Workshop participants learn the fundamentals of schoolwide numeracy and its implementation in any subject area, learn how numeracy develops and supports critical thinking, and learn many strategies and approaches for easy-to-implement classroom activities they can infuse into their current curriculum without sacrificing content or vision. Jenna also incorporates strategies for school leaders on successful schoolwide implementation tips, and provides teacher-suggested tips for building and maintaining scholar excitement for and engagement in numeracy challenges for classroom and school site success.
Schoolwide Numeracy: Elevating number sense and quantitative thinking across all disciplines to improve scholars’ quantitative thinking skills for higher mathematical test scores!
Morning Session 1:
Introduction and Foundations
- What is Numeracy and why does it matter?
- Key differences between teaching math and teaching numeracy schoolwide
- Research-Base: Building on the 7 Principles of Cognitive Mathematics
The 7 Principles
- What they are
- What they mean: How the 7 Principles guide decision-making when designing instruction for numeracy
- CGI and 21st century numeracy
Morning Session 2:
Tools and Strategies
- General schoolwide practices
- Choosing curricular materials
- Using content literacy to support numeracy
- Specific Strategies
- Making Math Visible: Creating a numeracy rich climate
- Mental Computation: What’s up with…?
- Strategies for reading and interpreting graphs & tables
- CLOSE strategy for numeracy
Afternoon Session 1:
Application and Practicum
- Modifying your current lessons
- Practice and examples
- Resources
A Schoolwide Approach
- Designing a schoolwide numeracy plan
- Implementing a schoolwide numeracy plan
- Maintaining & supporting a schoolwide numeracy plan

Critical Thinking in the Collaborative Classroom Training
“I attended Jenna Kamp’s professional development workshop, ‘Critical Thinking in the Collaborative Classroom.’ I still have my materials folder from the session; it’s proven so useful and great to have! This collaboration model serves very well for making sure students are interacting in meaningful ways. Jenna was wonderful! I walked away with strategies I was able to use in my own classroom. Jenna’s engaging presentation was gold to me!”
— Ana Villanueva
ELA/ELD Instructional Coach
Los Angeles, CA
Critical Thinking in the Collaborative Classroom Training
Proven techniques to help all students strategically problem-solve and communicate using effective speaking and listening skills!
CRITICAL THINKING IN THE COLLABORATIVE CLASSROOM
Infusing Core Critical Thinking Concepts and Skills into Standards-based Collaborative and Constructivist Learning Activities
Presentation Context: Effective communication, critical thinking and problem-solving skills, and the ability to work collaboratively and constructively with others are the real skills needed not only in the academic world but in the big wide world beyond.
In this workshop, teachers learn about and practice strategies and tools designed to develop students’ learning of essential 21st century skills—the “4Cs” of Collaboration, Communication, Critical Thinking, and Creative Thinking—that will help students achieve success into, through, and beyond university academics. Workshop participants learn the fundamentals of effective classroom collaboration and its management in any subject area, learn how the Common Core Listening and Speaking standards develop and support collaboration in all subject areas, and learn how to infuse the fundamentals of critical thinking as developed by the Foundation for Critical Thinking into collaborative activities. Participants learn how to modify their pre-existing classroom lessons to infuse creative thinking and problem-solving into regular practice.
Critical Thinking in the Collaborative Classroom: Infusing Core Critical Thinking Concepts and Skills into Standards-based Collaborative and Constructivist Learning Activities
Morning Session 1:
Introduction and Foundations
- The Foundation for Critical Thinking
- Complex Instruction
- Two Great Ideas that Go Great Together
Effective Classroom Collaboration
- Principles and Set-up
- Developing Student Confidence and Capacity
- Connecting to Critical Thinking
Morning Session 2:
Schoolwide Resources and Strategies
- Common Core Standards for Listening & Speaking
- Collaborative Team Resources
- Rubrics and Assessment
Afternoon Session 1:
Critical Thinking Resources and Strategies
- Teaching and Using the Intellectual Standards
- Teaching and Using the Wheel of Thought
- Other Tools and Strategies
Fostering Student Engagement
- Text-based collaborative activities
- Project-based and/or Design-based collaborative activities
- Service Learning opportunities
What Ifs and Questions & Answers

Classroom Management Training
“Jenna’s classroom management procedures are helpful every day. Her ‘Big Chill,’ for example, allows students to just step aside for a moment and reflect on how they are behaving in the classroom, what they are giving, what they might be taking away, and it really allows for the student to reflect and independently discover their impact on others and on their own learning. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve used that approach with success.”
— Lizzie Adelman
Spanish Teacher
Silver Springs, MD
Classroom Management Training
Just one day of this training will buy back hours each month previously spent correcting misbehavior, so you can have more Time to Teach!
IMPLEMENTING AND MAINTAINING A POSITIVE SCHOOL AND CLASSROOM CLIMATE
How to Eliminate Distractions for More Time To Teach!
Presentation Context: Distractions can be minimized, and student behavior can be improved! Studious, academic skills must be taught, and students at any grade level can learn appropriate, learning-centered, self-disciplined behavior.
In this training, I will share research-based, actionable (not theoretical!) classroom techniques and strategies proven to eliminate the pitfalls of multiple warnings and repeated requests, actions that promote student self-discipline that is efficient and effective. “Conflict is inevitable, combat is optional.” Teachers will learn how to effectively use preventative measures and diffusers to avoid power struggles to continue teaching without interruption. And, when the inevitable conflict arises, I will train teachers on the internationally-renowned REFOCUS™ protocol proven to respectfully stop classroom distractions and develop students’ self-discipline.
This training is an interactive workshop and can be adapted for either in-person or remote attendees. Participants are invited to ask questions and actively engage in the training, and are invited to role-play with other attendees, either in person or via break-out rooms, to practice the research-based strategies they will be taught in order to gain the confidence to implement these tools immediately into their own classroom routines. Either in-person on remote, participants can get immediate responses to and feedback on their questions.
Time To Teach: Implementing and Maintaining a Positive School Climate
Morning Session 1:
Philosophical Foundations
- Kids don’t care how much you know until they know how much you care
- Understanding Conflict — student-student, student-teacher
- How to avoid the pitfalls
- Good discipline/classroom management is a matter of timing
Self-Control—for Teachers AND Students
- Stay Calm & Be Confident
- Types of Communication
- Avoiding power struggles
Morning Session 2:
Effective Classroom Management: Essential Elements
- TLC (Teaching Expectations / Looking for Performance / Consequenting Behavior)
- UPR (Unconditional Positive Regard)
REFOCUS™ – A lesson in how to reactivate troublesome students
- Diffusers
- Types of Prompts
Afternoon Session 1:
Review of Morning Session Info & What Ifs?
Classroom Ecology
- Factors to Consider
- Student / Desk Arrangements
Building Strong Student-Teacher Relationships
- Connecting with students
- Energizing apathetic students
- Elevating all students towards success
Prompting Procedures: How to Capture & Maintain Student Attention
- Questions
- Statements
- Gestures
- Physicals
Afternoon Session 2:
Additional Questions
School-specific Scenarios & Role Play