Speaking and Training
Staff Development, Parent Workshops, and Student Presentations
A Focus on Teaching and Learning
Mychal Wynn has been on a mission for over 30 years to inspire and inform. Mr. Wynn’s writing follows this mission through his books on education, parenting, school improvement, expanding college access, increasing literacy, and increasing Black male achievement. The downloadable fliers on this page provide a synopsis of Mr. Wynn’s conversations with students, workshops with parents, and presentations for educators and community leaders. By basing each conversation, training, or presentation on one of his published works, participants leave with inspiration and information to pursue their aspirations, albeit increasing student achievement for teachers and parents, developing career or college pathways for students, or developing safer schools and communities.
You may submit a request for additional information, schedule a presentation, or request a quote for speaking or materials. Below you may download Mr. Wynn’s bio or click here to view news and media.
Click here to download Mr. Wynn’s Bio
A Focus on Literacy
Mr. Wynn engaged our students in reading The Eagles who Thought They were Chickens as a means of cultivating a collaborative environment and safe space for struggling readers. This allowed students the support to read aloud, time to phonetically enunciate words, and a space to write their thoughts about the many issues raised in the story.
From this experience, students moved on to Follow Your Dreams: Lessons That I Learned in School and Don’t Quit—Inspirational Poetry. Following each reading, Mr. Wynn autographed copies of his book for students to begin building their at-home library. Students then began to set weekly reading goals, and teachers developed book worms to record each student’s name and the book read. This was the beginning of a ‘BackPack Book Club’ that transformed literacy in our school and created a culture where reading was cool.
— Reginald McBride
Elementary Principal
Griffin-Spalding Schools (GA)
Guilford County Schools Black Male Book Club
Click here to download reading flier
Studying & Learning
Many of our students are struggling learners who do not know how to study and do not have at-home academic support. Mr. Wynn engaged students across multiple grade levels in thinking deeply about learning, made the process fun, and taught them how to continuously experiment with different study skills and learning strategies.
While I have been in education for over 30 years, by observing Mr. Wynn, I learned that there is so much more that we can do to teach students about the plethora of brain-based learning strategies from which to choose. For many of our students, their time with Mr. Wynn was life changing.
— Sylvia Greenwood
Career and College Specialist
Judson ISD (TX)
Click here to download study skills flier
Career and College Conversations
With many of our students choosing to enter the workplace or the military, we were providing little guidance for our college-bound students, many of whom were the first in their family to attend college. This was resulting in students choosing the wrong schools and accumulating a mountain of student loan debt—with or without earning a degree. Our students simply didn’t not know what they didn’t know.
Mr. Wynn worked with students to understand the FAFSA, identify scholarships, compare college costs, avoid student loans, and enroll into the right schools where they had the best opportunity to succeed. He served as a personal college advisor for students who lacked any meaningful college planning guidance. Mr. Wynn informed and inspired.
— Lewis Brinson Ed.D.
Minority Achievement Officer
Pinellas County Schools (FL)
Pinellas County Schools College Planning Cohort
Click here to download conversations about career or college choices flier
Only about 40% of our students are interested in attending college, but 100% of our students need to pursue a college or career pathway. Mr. Wynn’s authentic conversations inspire students to think about pathways aligned with their gifts, talents, and interests. For many of our students, this was their first time having such a conversation and was literally an epiphany rooted in choices and consequences.
Presenting each student with an autographed copy of Mr. Wynn’s book allowed us to plant seeds—some of which took root immediately, while others may not take root until weeks, months, or years later. However, we know from surveying our students that for many of them, the seeds are germinating.
— Laura Hickson, Ed.D.
Superintendent of Schools
Florence School District 3 (SC)
Click here to download Career or College Choice flier
Individual Graduation Plan
I am responsible for helping each dual enrollment student develop an IGP. However, students were more likely to affirm a career pathway based on the career of someone in their family or something that they had seen on television. However, when I made them complete each of the activities in the book, the conversation became more thoughtful and engaging. Mr. Wynn came to our school and made a presentation to all of our students. Students began to see the world and their place in the world differently. Prior to Mr. Wynn’s presentation, students have difficulty seeing beyond our small rural community. However, now our students are developing individual graduation plans with specific colleges or careers in mind.
— Dual Enrollment Counselor
Florence School District 3 (SC)
Click here to download Individual Graduation Plan flier
HBCU Scholarships
This was such a blessing. I had no idea how many scholarship opportunities were available to students planning to attend an HBCU.
— Parent, North Carolina
I was planning to attend an in-state school to save money. I learned that I actually qualified for full scholarships at 3 HBCUs.
— High School Student, Georgia
I am in the 9th grade and learned what I need to do throughout high school to qualify for multiple full scholarships. I don’t know where I would have gotten all of this information in time to choose the right classes, clubs, activities, and leadership roles. Wow, this was great!
— High School Student, Florida
HBCU Scholarships and more…*, as seen in Black Enterprise and on the Black News
Network, is a strategy-rich step-by-step scholarship playbook.
- Getting accepted into college is not a problem. Student and Parent PLUS loan
debt is a problem.- Applying to the ‘right’ HBCUs and for the ‘right’ scholarships is a solution.
- Getting into HBCUs that provide scholarships for your major is a solution.
- Getting into an HBCU where you have lower risk of losing your scholarship is a solution.
- Knowing how to write a high quality essay is a solution.
- Knowing when to apply, how to apply, and why quality applications are solutions.
- Having a good GPA and Class Rank is good, but having the ‘right’ GPA and the ‘right test scores is better.
With 8 out of 10 students taking out student loans to pay for college, attending this workshop could be the most important action any parent or student could take. (Sources: Research.com and UNCF)
Click here to download HBCU Scholarships presentation flier
Black Male Achievement
Mr. Wynn engaged our teachers, parents, and community leaders in courageous conversations about increasing Black male achievement. Rather than lecturing or preaching, Mr. Wynn used our district and national data to drive the conversations. He presented real stories of Black males who were inspired to own the learning process and who serve as shining examples of Black male potential. While teachers and parents can become disheartened by the challenges of teaching and raising boys, Mr. Wynn not only provides inspiration through his humor and personal stories, but shares research-based strategies and practical approaches to effectively teaching and raising boys.
Mr. Wynn speaks through the experiences of an educator and parent and serves as an inspiration and affirmation of what is possible.
— Donna McBride, Ed.D
Former School Board Member
Henry County Schools (GA)
Click here to download Black Male Staff Development flier
Mychal Wynn – Writing Engagement
I hated writing. I was not planning to apply to any colleges or scholarships that required essays. Listening to Mr. Wynn read one of the essays from the book, I thought ‘That’s my story.’ The more he read, the more I realized that I could become a good writer and that I had a story to tell.
Through the process, I learned how to be a better writer, how to break apart multi-question prompts, how to write beyond the word count to allow room for editing, and most importantly—to believe in myself.
— High School Senior
Lake City, SC
Now attending college
What We Believe
We believe that opportunities to speak are not to be taken likely. teacher, parent, and community presentations provide a unique opportunity to share both inspiration and information that will leave a lasting impression. The information should be meaningfully relevant and the inspiration should inspire action. Conversations with students provide the opportunity to challenge students to think critically and develop the skills to effectively articulate their thoughts.
What We Do
Mychal Wynn shares research, personal experiences, anecdotes, and examples in a way as to leave a lasting impression on the listener. Mr. Wynn believes in cultivating conversational communities where educators, parents, administrators, policy makers, and students are engaged in thinking, rethinking, and acting. Audiences will laugh, but they will also be moved to action; audiences will engage in self-reflection about their attitudes, practices, and actions—are they working?
Click here to download a Speaking Request Form