Happy Friday Everyone! This week has flown by; I have been busy prepping for my school year and getting schedules together for my students. For those of you who are new to school counseling, or maybe just looking for ways to be more efficient, I thought I would share the five forms I use the most to help me run my school counseling program. These are forms that work for me; you don't necessarily need to have them in order to be successful. There are some days at school that get crazy and these help me stay organized at the end of the day. 1. To-Do Lists I know this one may seem like a no-brainer, but seriously I don't know what I would do without it. Every day when I get to school I make my to-do list. Does this mean I accomplish everything on it? Absolutely not! Writing down what I need to do helps me remember to do it. If I do not get to the task by the end of the day, it simply goes at the top of my list for the next day. Do to-do list sound boring? Here are some cute printable I found from Kathie's Cloud I have used in the past. Simply print out and put on a clipboard!! 2. School Counselor Referral Forms Referral forms are half-sheets or quarter-sheets teachers can fill out when a student needs to come see you for an unscheduled visit. These are helpful for me, because they have many uses. It is a tangible note that I can keep on my desk until I get a chance to see the student; or it lets me know I need to talk to a student immediately. Here is mine for this school year: 3. Outside Counselor Contact Information Sheet This sheet is very helpful for me. We are in a rural area with limited resources, so sometimes parents are at a loss when it comes to knowing where to take their children when a mental health issue arises outside of the school's expertise. How do you find these resources? About once a year, I call local mental health professionals in the area and ask them if they are willing to be on out outside counselor referral list. Most agencies are more than willing! I put all of this information in an Excel spreadsheet and and keep them handy so whenever the situation arises, I pull one out and hand it to parents. 4. Individual Counseling Planning Sheet This form changed my individual meetings with my students; it gives your time direction and goals. Plus, it keeps you as a school counselor accountable. We all have those situations: A teacher or administer comes to you and asks you to "work with a student." I now have become better versed in asking questions after this statement is made. Behavioral, family, or academics? How long would you like me to meet with them, etc. When I first started out I did not ask these questions, and it made my individual sessions very tough and ambiguous. Here the sheet I use to track my individual sessions: 5. Time-Task Analysis This form can sometimes get lost in the shuffle of a busy school year, but if positions in your district start to be cut, it can be the most important. Time Task Analysis shows exactly where school counselors allot their time, so it is important to put on paper how you are spending your day. After all, I LOVE to answer the question, "What do you do all day?" by pulling out a sheet that has it documented! This form from Missouri's Department of Elementary and Secondary Education can help you document your daily time simply by marking an X in each thirty minute slot. I hope that you find these forms and links helpful! What are some forms you cannot live without during the school year?? I would love to hear your comments below! Have a fabulous weekend! Jessica
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Nautical Theme Sneak Peek! Good Morning all! I thought I would share with you what I have been working on in my office! I am so excited for this school year; spending time in my office before students and teachers come back truly gears me up and rejuvenates me. The last three years I have focused on the Seven Habits of Happy Kids and Seven Habits of Highly Effective Teens, all based on Stephen Covey's Seven Habits of Highly Effective People. The habits provide my students with positive vocabulary and wonderful lessons to help them implement the habits in their daily lives. Check out my bulletin board for this year! Our school theme is "Under the Sea", and I am going with a nautical feel for my office. A couple of tricks I use when it comes to bulletin boards:
I hope you are all having fun gearing up for your school year! What has inspired you to get ready for the upcoming year? I would love to hear from you! Happy Hump Day! Jessica Happy Friday All!
Good Morning All! I hope you all are enjoying my curriculum posts; writing these posts somehow ease my anxiety about the upcoming school year. I absolutely love my job; but sometimes with all of the uncertainties that we face in education, planning I have found is the key to my sanity. It is such a great feeling when there is a crazy moment or day right before I have to teach a lesson or class that I can just grab my lesson and go without any panic or fear setting in. It truly makes me feel more calm, which in turn makes my students feel more calm and relaxed. Here is my first grade curriculum map for the upcoming school year. You may notice some similarities with Kindergarten; and that is correct! Kindergarten and first grade overlap a lot in my opinion, so what I do adjust the activity in the lesson to match the Depth of Knowledge. What is a Depth of Knowledge? Great question. I do not have a teaching degree; I earned my Bachelor's degree is Psychology. So when I first joined the world of education and they were talking about the Depth of Knowledge, or DOK, I just smiled and nodded like I knew what they were talking about. However, as I have gained some insight on this topic, it really makes a lot of sense when you are planning your lessons, and gives you an idea on what kind of activities you need to be planning with your classes. Check out this handout, Webb's Depth of Knowledge to give your a little more insight. All of the Missouri GLEs for school counseling have a DOK attached to them, so generally try to match my activity to the DOK. Am I always on point? No, absolutely not. But I am making the effort! 1st Grade School Counseling Curriculum Map I hope you find these curriculum maps helpful!
Happy Planning, Jessica On Friday, it is July 1st. So what does that mean? It means my mind is starting to drift towards school! Whether you are one where this thought brings tears to your eyes or it makes you want to jump for joy, there is always the daunting task of planning your curriculum for the school year. Going into my seventh year of counseling, I feel like I finally have a grasp on things and how I want my year to go. I vividly remember my first few years of counseling when I would aimlessly search for lessons, deciding what to work on and how to organize my school year. It created a lot of anxiety for me, on top of dealing with the daily issues that would pop up for any normal school counselor. On top of the fact that your first year in education is exhausting in general, I felt that I was constantly spinning my wheels at the end of the day trying to think of lessons for the next week (or, let's be honest, the next day). I do not want to take away from the sheer newness of being a counselor; I truly feel that this is where I was made professionally. Learning how to bounce back from some terrible lessons,and the re-focusing so that my students were getting the best from me. But I do wish that someone would have provided me with a guideline, outline, or SOMETHING that would have given me a small hint of direction the summer before I started. The first year I was given tons of resources, but as most school counselors know, building your curriculum is something best done in the summer (at least for me). So, I decided to provide you all with a guideline of what I use when I am planning curriculum. I use the Missouri School Counseling GLEs (which can be accessed HERE), but if you are a school counselor in another state, I suggest checking to make sure your state does not have its own set of GLEs. Missouri's GLEs are very well-written, and are a great starting point if your state does not have their own. Over the next few weeks, I will post some different grade levels curriculum maps. Today I will focus on Kindergarten, since that is the grade I usually start with in the summer. I do this because it helps me remember what students have learned the year before, that way my units can build off each other chronologically. Here is my Kindergarten Curriculum map for the 2016-2017 school year: How do I decide what I need to teach? Here are some tips to help you plan your curriculum the best:
1. Look at your GLEs. Your GLEs are going to help you decide what your students need to learn throughout the year. 2. Conduct Needs Assessments. What is a needs assessment? This is a simple survey that you hand out usually at the end of the year to help you decide what topics other feel students may need to learn. This can be a scary thing to do, but you will be surprised on how much insight you gain. I have done needs assessments with parents, students, and teachers. I keep parent and teacher insight in mind when I am creating my curriculum maps the most. It is best to do this at the end of the school year. 3. Remember to consider yearly events. Pay attention to the school calendar when you are planning your lessons. Red Ribbon Week falls in October, so I always plan my peer pressure unit around that time for middle school. Spring is great for test-taking skills, and diversity units fit in well during November and December when lots of holidays are being celebrated. By no means do you have to plan your lessons during these times, this is just how I have worked it the last few year. 4. Be flexible. Some times there may be lessons you NEED to teach a certain class; that is ok! Just like teachers, we have to teach to our students, not just our curriculum schedule. 5. Network, Network, Network! I would have never found the lessons I have right now without networking with other school counselors. I am the only counselor in my building, and we have 4 total in our district, so I have to reach out to other sources to help me learn new things. And I hope that in five years I am not teaching the same lessons I am now; I am always trying to do better! Have your own ideas for curriculum?? Have questions about my lessons? Please respond below and I will be happy to answer any questions! |
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