Video Podcast: "A Day in the Life of a School Counselor"

01/21/2013

15 Comments

 
I've received a lot of emails from my readers, asking me to describe how I spend my time and why I love my job.

Instead of writing a long post about this topic, I decided to make a VERY LONG (nearly 30 minute) podcast, which you'll find on the left.

In this video, I explain how I organize my schedule. I also reveal the pros and cons of the school counseling profession, as I see them. If you're able to watch the whole video, you'll hear about one of my recent success stories that may help you in your own school counseling journey.

Enjoy!
15 Comments
 

Behavior Management

10/27/2012

0 Comments

 
Picture
Every other month, my school has grade level team meetings that focus on core instruction and student behavior. For the behavior section, I bring data and facilitate a discussion on how to manage the personal/social concerns of our students. This year, I decided to bring 1-2 behavior management strategies to each meeting as a way to introduce fresh, exciting ideas. 

The ice cube strategy (described at Entirely Elementary...School Counseling blog) is great for individual students and small groups. I altered the technique slightly by having numbers on the cubes instead of words. That way, you can reuse the cubes with different cool down strategies. Click here to purchase your own ice cubes.
Picture
Cool Down Strategies (PDF)
File Size: 17 kb
File Type: pdf
Download File
Cool Down Strategies (WORD)
File Size: 16 kb
File Type: docx
Download File
Here is a different behavior management technique (from the Something to Chirp About blog) that is easy to explain and implement with your students. When your group demonstrates positive behaviors, you add a part to Mr. Potato Head. If they put him back to together, then your group can earn a reward, whatever you decide is most appopriate.
Picture
Download your own checklist for free!
Checklist
File Size: 29 kb
File Type: pdf
Download File
Picture
Add Comment
 

Supporting Parents and Families During Meetings

09/30/2012

2 Comments

 
Yet another sign that I am running on empty: I emailed this video to myself as a reminder and now I can't remember where it came from! If you wrote an article and highlighted this video, thank you for the inspiration! Oh, and if you find my brain, will you tell it to kindly find its way back to my head? Thanks so much! ;)

Anyway, this video is designed for parents and helps prep them for a big meeting at school. I think it's easy to forget how stressful these meetings can be for parents because we attend them all the time and, more importantly, it's not our child being academically and/or behaviorally "dissected," so to speak.
Imagine walking into a room filled with teachers and administrators...it's like an interview. You sit there, hoping you have good answers to their questions and that you understand everything that's being discussed. It's stressful, to say the least. We have to remember that parents come to these meetings as beginners most of the time; they are not sure what to expect. Our job is to help prepare them before they come to the meeting so that there can be a productive, team approach.

As school counselors, we are often in charge of scheduling meetings with parents. How do you help explain the meeting process? Any tips for other school counselors?
2 Comments
 

Organization Inspiration!

08/21/2012

22 Comments

 
I have received a lot of emails regarding documentation and school counseling planners. Renee Stack, one of my district's elementary school counselors, sent out a bunch of great forms that could definitely meet your needs.
Picture
Picture
PDF Copies
File Size: 232 kb
File Type: pdf
Download File
Picture
Picture
Weekly Counseling Schedule (WORD)
File Size: 19 kb
File Type: docx
Download File

Here's what I use...

Picture
Cover
Picture
Inside Pages
I print the cover on cardstock and the pages on regular white printer paper. The inside pages are back-to-back.
Schedule Cover (PDF)
File Size: 985 kb
File Type: pdf
Download File
Schedule Cover (WORD)
File Size: 380 kb
File Type: doc
Download File
Weekly Schedule Pages
File Size: 173 kb
File Type: pdf
Download File

More about how I document...

22 Comments
 

Inspiration

04/13/2012

2 Comments

 
During last month's staff meeting, our school watched this inspiring video. The student's name is Dalton Sherman, a 9-year-old from Texas. In 2008, he was able to inspire 20,000 adults during his keynote speech for the Dallas Texas School District.

Many school personnel start to feel exhausted and stressed during this point in the school year; this video is one great way to get everyone back on track and motivated to finish the year with just as much dedication, optimism, and motivation as the they had on the first day back.
2 Comments
 

Meetings

02/20/2012

0 Comments

 
I don't know how things work in your buildings, but at my school, I am responsible for facilitating and scheduling meetings. This is a funny video clip to share with staff members to show how we all have our roles during meetings and, in my case, I can thank them for being the opposite of those shown in this video. I find that by reviewing meeting expectations, more gets accomplished and everyone carries their share of the workload.
Add Comment