In education, there are all kinds of areas that need to be covered in training. As a former special education teacher and as a “recovering” administrator I know that professional development time is limited and precious. You need to make sure your money and your time is spent wisely.I have sat through more BAD training sessions than I care to count or remember. However, those bad trainings and the good trainings that I sat through taught me a lot.Having trained thousands and thousands of professionals, I have learned what works, what doesn’t and what is the most important to your staff.

“Mike is a very engaging speaker who brings humor into speaking about working with fathers. The Strong Fathers program has changed our entire approach to father and parent engagement.”
— Chrystal Wilkie, Family and Community Partnership Advisor | Minnesota Valley Action Council, Inc.

TRAINING

 

An Understanding of Your Goals

Our job is to help your organization reach your specific goals, not cram a canned speech down the throat of your team. The greatest compliment that we get is “You really get it.”

A Personalized Training for Your Organization

I am an educator and a parent. I am good at what I do, I bring an expertise based on LOTS of experience but I am not anymore important than any one team member. I am blessed to get to work with so many people in the trenches and I like to roll up my sleeves and get with the people instead of stand on some pedestal. I can speak with authority but that authority comes from having done the same kind of work as your staff with the same types of challenges.

REAL-LIFE Experience

I personally facilitate over 100 parent engagement programs per year. The expertise that I bring to the table is not based on what I USED to do. It is based on what I JUST did. I have seen almost every barrier and opportunity for parent engagement but by doing it every week, I stay current on what has worked and what is coming in our future for parents.

Interaction not an Interruption

My job is to keep your staff from thinking they have better things to do. It is our goal to provide the best training your staff has ever experienced on any subject. I will use a few slides but I do not believe in “Death by Powerpoint”. Strong Fathers training is famous for being interactive and full of humor as well. Education is a serious business but it is also a funny business. People need to move, talk, and laugh for a good training to take place and we always ensure plenty of each in a full or half day training.

 
Featured
Staff Training Topics
Staff Training Topics

Building a Foundation for Family Engagement

Building an understanding of family engagement in your staff that will influence other areas of your organization


How Fathers Make the Grade in a Child’s Education

What the research says about dads in education and how it should be much more than just donuts

Making Father Engagement Relevant to Student Outcomes

Most organizations are required to have family engagement, it should help you reach your goals for kids


Strong Family Partnerships for Student Achievement

Building a relationship with parents that help the organization and the child succeed for the long run

Family Specialists Training Topics
Family Specialists Training Topics

Family Engagement Boot Camp

Preparing your parent professionals to plan a great year and be successful in every area of the battle.

Parent Program Facilitation Training

You have great content and a great plan for events, but what are the best ways to promote and present your ideas and initiatives?

Fatherhood Facilitator Training
Fatherhood Facilitator Training

A one day training on the nuts and bolts of facilitating either the Strong Start or Strong Schools curriculum. The foundation of working with fathers, effectively promoting programs, and event facilitation will be covered.

Follow up emails, online training, and conference calls are also a part of the ongoing training for facilitators throughout the year.

 
“The training was AMAZING...I now look at parenting with new insight. Michael gave us strong, powerful, and motivating ideas and tools for all to use. I am so excited to share this information and experience with my family as well as my classroom parents. Outstanding choice of training from management.”
— Deanna

SPEAKING

I have been blessed to speak at many great conferences. In breakout sessions and as a keynote speaker I have been able to speak at some of the top education conferences in the nation.

Here is just a sample of some of the conferences where I have presented or provided a keynote address:

 

National Title I Conference

National Head Start Association Annual Conference

NHSA Annual Parent Conference (English and Spanish)

National PTA Convention

National Zero to Three Conference

National Family and Community Engagement Conference

Texas Association of School Boards Summer Leadership Institute

Texas Association of School Administrators Annual Conference

Texas Parent Involvement Conference

Region II Head Start Annual Conference-St. Thomas

 

I have been a public speaker for forty years (yes, I started young). I have worked to keep my training as personal and down to earth however, I know that keynotes need to be succinct, specific, and focused. I have employed speaking coaches, I have studied some of the best speakers in the country, and continue to hone my craft to deliver the best presentations built for your audience. I was even able to provide a TEDx talk for my alma mater recently.

Keynote Sessions

 
Featured
Even though kids come from challenging families, those families still want their children to be educated. Many times because these families respond differently than we would, we think they care differently as well. Strong Fathers has worked successf

Even though kids come from challenging families, those families still want their children to be educated. Many times because these families respond differently than we would, we think they care differently as well. Strong Fathers has worked successfully with thousands of challenging families. This presentation provides the principles to engaging families that have proven to be disengaged in the past.

There is no silver bullet to engaging families but it is not complicated. To effectively engage families it really does come down to the small things. Instead of one event or one program that will make all of your dreams come true we will teach you

There is no silver bullet to engaging families but it is not complicated. To effectively engage families it really does come down to the small things. Instead of one event or one program that will make all of your dreams come true we will teach you how to engage families in small ways that make the biggest difference for families and your students.

Family Engagement is a required part of most federal funds but schools are not too good at it. Teachers and administrators also see it as a necessary evil instead of an integral part of the educational process. Participants will learn how to make fa

Family Engagement is a required part of most federal funds but schools are not too good at it. Teachers and administrators also see it as a necessary evil instead of an integral part of the educational process. Participants will learn how to make family engagement a priority that is not only effective but fun, not something extra but actually something special for families, kids, and the campus.

What does dad have to do with it? Father engagement is important to giving kids every chance to succeed and many schools and programs are missing this important ingredient. Your staff will learn why fathers make a difference in the education and dev

What does dad have to do with it? Father engagement is important to giving kids every chance to succeed and many schools and programs are missing this important ingredient. Your staff will learn why fathers make a difference in the education and development of their kids and how you can tap this resource for better outcomes.

If parents are not attending your programs, it is not your parents, it is your programs. Strong Fathers has proven that successful family engagement comes down to not just HOW but also WHY. Once you and your staff has the right perspective on family

If parents are not attending your programs, it is not your parents, it is your programs. Strong Fathers has proven that successful family engagement comes down to not just HOW but also WHY. Once you and your staff has the right perspective on family engagement then the how becomes much easier and way more effective. By building a foundation of understanding families and how they help kids succeed, your programs can be built to be both engaging and effective.

 
“Mike told me if I followed his plan that we could get the dads to our event. I followed his plan and we got even more than he said we would.

The teachers told me, “Dads don’t come to our school...until they heard Mike once. Now they come any time I call them.””
— Andrew Peters | Superintendent, Marfa ISD