Hello all! How is it already February?? In the midst of preparing small groups, prepping for 8th grade transition, and starting the year off on the right foot, somehow January has flown by! The weather has been so mild here in Missouri, and we have taken advantage of the beautiful weather in school and outside. Who else doesn't enjoy 60-egree weather in the middle of January?? Since February is quickly approaching, it is time for me to start planning one of my favorite weeks: National School Counseling Week! This year ASCA has chosen Helping Students Realize Their Potential as 2017's theme. This theme is great, and our school district is taking it a step further and adding our own twist onto it. This idea comes from the 2016 Missouri School Counselor Association's theme. Check it out below: The 80's may be the decad I was born, but I am almost positive it is the decade I was meant to live my youth in. So I am very pumped to be implementing this theme this year! So what do I do with this week? This week is all about advocating for my school counseling program; I make my students feel valued, bring awareness to important character traits, and thank all the people that make it possible to implement my program. Below is a list of key factors I feel can help implement a successful school counseling week: 1. Daily Announcements Having a daily short announcement that gives a quick, positive message for the day is important. I usually have a short paragraph or quote that can be read during our school's morning announcements. You can do this through an email, newsletter, or video. Feel free to get creative with it! Looking for ideas or inspiration? Check out ASCA's sample morning announcements. 2. Individualized Student Tags Students are the sole reason why we do what we do, so my goal is always to somehow make sure that I make every student feel special in some way. One way that I have thought of to do this is to make a mini-sign for each student that is related to the year's theme. For example, a few years ago when they theme was building blocks, I make Legos out of paper and put each students name on them. I hung them up in the cafeteria next to the school counseling week sign I made. Here is an example from last year: I would tell teachers that if students came to find their name, they could bring it to me and they would get a prize (pencil, piece of candy, etc). This way I get to touch base with each of my students for the week and see them. 3. Teacher Thank-you Gifts Without teachers, I would be nothing as a school counselor. It is only fitting that I make sure they know how special they are! Pinterest has TONS of ideas for this; go ahead, go crazy and show those teachers some love! 4. Prizes There is nothing students and teachers like more than an opportunity to win something! Make a drawing happen, or have a teacher win an extra school counseling lesson time for the week. What better way to get to see your students more, and let teachers know you appreciate them. You can also have a contest among students. One year I had students guess how many legos there were in a jar, and the student that was the closest won a prize. Any way you can promote your program is a win-win situation for you! 5. Have Fun! Last, but definitely not least, have some fun with the week! Sometimes the daily grind of being a counselor can get to you, but at the end of the day there is at least one reason why we do what we do. Whatever that reason is for you, I challenge you to find it during school counseling week and embrace it. Our jobs are unique; I truly feel there isn't another job that I could do that would help as many students or let me use my strengths to help my community. A career of service can be exhausting, but there is no other that is more rewarding. In closing, please remember that you are a great counselor, and no matter what, YOU are making a difference!! How are you planning on celebrating National School Counseling Week 2017?? Stay tuned for FREE downloads and ideas! Please comment below! Have a great week! Jessica
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The abundance of papers. The lockers that are bursting at the seams. The "I don't know where it is, I lost it" phrase that echos the hallways. If you work in any sort of middle school setting, I guarantee that at all of these situations happen at least on a daily basis. If it doesn't, then I would love to hear how you are being successful with your students! The reality is that middle school is already a tough for most students, and then we attempt to overload them with responsibility of staying organized and changing their schedule without properly showing them HOW to do this. In the last seven years, I have seen lots of unorganized students. In fact, sometimes I have been convinced that they are performing magic, because I have witnessed students lose a piece of paper in ten minutes, and literally have no idea where it went. To me, it is unreal; to these students, this is real life! As a counselor, I am constantly challenged to put aside my Type A personality and really delve into the lives of the students who are struggling with staying organized. So, how do we do this? How do we reach the students who are struggling every day to stay on top of things, while still holding high expectations for them? I may not have the magical answer, but I do have a list of resources that may be able to help: 1. Homework, Organization, and Planning Skills Intervention (HOPS) by Joshua M. Langberg This intervention book has a great step-by-step system to help students with their organizational woes. A colleague and I are currently implementing this intervention during a 50 minute time frame. We have a total of six students in the group, and the goal is to help students with the program components the first 25 minutes, and the last 25 minutes is geared towards homework help or study hall time. The intervention has wonderful components, but can seem overwhelming if you are trying to implement it during a small time frame. The first three sessions were broken up into almost a week for us, so that may be helpful. Overall, it really does break down into detailed skills what we would like to see from our students. 2. How To Do Homework Without Losing It by Janet S. Fox This is a great short-read to introduce the transition from elementary to middle school homework load. I have had great experience with reading the key points to my fifth graders at the end of their school year before they are about to go into middle school. Since the actual size of the book is small, I would recommend ordering a few copies and using it in a small group setting. This will help keeping students focused and with the conversation as you read it. 3. The Organized Student by Donna Goldberg
4. Smart But Scattered by Peg Dawson This book focuses on the the executive functioning skills and how to adapt the learning environment to help student succeed with them. This book is parent focused, but provides some very insightful questions for educators and counselors. There are many useful handouts and template available within the text, as well as questionnaires and reflection questions. 5. Small Group Settings No matter what, there is nothing that helps middle school students more than a daily (or at least weekly) meeting to discuss organizational skills and academic goals. All the resources above can be used in a small group setting, but it is imperative to make sure you are visiting with these students (and their backpacks) at least on a weekly basis. Habits take at least 20 days to develop, so if we are wanting these student to develop good academic skills, we need to make helping them a priority for at least 6 weeks of the school year. My home state has some great resources for academic small groups, click here to see a middle school small group solution. Middle school can be a challenging time for students, but I feel it is our responsibility to help them navigate the way and help them develop successful habits. What are some ways you help students academically? Comment below to share your ideas or questions! Happy Monday!! Happy New Year everyone! I hope 2017 finds you well and I wish for all of you the best year yet! I cannot wait to get started this year with some of my plans for my students. Every year I am always so excited to go back after break, I truly do miss my job! But planning is key to not get overwhelmed after the first few days. Here is how I stay on top of things and maintain my comprehensive school counseling program: 1. Plan out lessons for the rest of the year. For some of you, this may sound like something you do already; for others, I know it sounds VERY overwhelming. According to the comprehensive school counseling model, your whole class lessons should take up the majority of the time. Even if they don't, these are usually the first thing to go on the back-burner due to all the other different hats we have to wear. In our district, our counseling team has worked together to come up with a curriculum map for the whole year for each grade. We decide which units we are teaching at what times in the year, and then every counselor is able to pick the lessons they feel match their student's needs in that unit. Planning your lessons out ahead of time will make things SO much simpler. If planning the entire 2nd semester sounds daunting, just do it one month a time. Unsure how to start? Check out my Resources tab. I give examples of our districts curriculum maps for kindergarten and first grade. Remember, "Failing to plan is planning to fail", and I truly believe that as a school counselor! 2. Plan for weather days. This may or may not apply to you, but if you are an educator in the Midwest or any other place where snow days exist, it certainly does! You never know when they are going to hit, and nothing can throw off your schedule like a cluster of snow days. The name of our game is flexibility, so when they happen, you need to prioritize and condense. Make a list of the top things that need to be done or made up out of the days you missed, and then go from there. You can't do it all, and no one expects you to to. Oh, and make sure you enjoy your snow day instead of stressing about all the stuff you are missing! 3. Be realistic about testing time. We all were a part of a school counseling program that taught us that test coordinating should not be an activity of a school counselor. In theory, it sounds great. In reality, we know that is not the case. A lot of us end up with playing some role in testing even if we are not the coordinator, so the best advice I would give you is to talk with your administrator and discuss openly what your schedule will look like during the weeks of testing. This way you can let teachers know ahead of time if lessons and small groups will have to be postponed or cancelled. This is never ideal, but I promise having a plan will help your schedule and the teachers. If you are new to your position or have a new administrator, I urge you to sit down and talk about what expectations they have for you during this time. That way you are on the same page and there is not miscommunication about who is doing what. Trust me, this is not the time to be playing guessing games. 4. Maintain your small groups, no matter what! Small groups are the easiest things that can get pushed to the side during the craziness of snow days, testing, and every other daily task that comes up out of nowhere. For me, my small groups are the way I stay connected to my students who may not be my high-flyers; the way I still address those students who do not need a behavioral intervention, but still need another session on skill practice. I have days of the week scheduled for each grade's small groups, and I have wonderful teachers that are ok with me pulling them even if it is not the time we discussed at the beginning of the year. I pull my third through fifth grade small groups during their lunch times so we avoid missing any instructional time with those grades. I know there may be some days where you feel you need to sit in your office and just work for those twenty minutes, but I urge you to pull that small group! Any sort of small group is better than no small group! 5. Stay positive! This is always easier said than done, especially during February and March. However, maintaining positivity is crucial as the role of the school counselor. Teachers look to you for assistance with students emotional needs, and your administrators look to for skills and assistance with family connections. You are (hopefully) seen and heard in many different aspects of your school, so it is important that positivity is something that you portray to students, staff, and parents. Having a hard time staying positive? Here are some resources that I have read to help maintain the positive attitude during those rough days (or weeks)!:
I hope the second half of your school year starts off on a positive note! What are some things you do with your students at the beginning of the year?? I would love to hear about them! Please comment below or ask any questions about the beginning of 2017 for my school counseling program.
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