It's Finally Here!

Tomorrow is the first day of school for the kiddos!  I am so excited to see their smiling faces tomorrow, and to meet some new ones.  This past week has been jam-packed as far as professional development, which has been somewhat stressful, but definitely motivating!  On Wednesday, the counselors all got together to go over our new NC Essential Standards, so that got me thinking about data and what I do to show what I do.  I've decided to re-vamp my whole system, and I'm so excited to see how it goes.  I got a few ideas from fellow bloggers.  I'm going to keep scheduling students, either using Google calendar, or some other source.

I've also been inspired by many other blogs to try some new things. First of all, I've decided to go back to something we were required to do in graduate school.  I will be keeping a log for each day to show how many hours I spent in each activity (direct services, responsive services, etc.).  Also, I was inspired by Lauren Gentry at Cool School Counseling to track my individual students (confidentially) and list what issue I saw them for.  That way, I can create a end of the year report (inspired by Marissa Rex at Elementary School Counseling).

Finally, I'm excited to announce that I will be doing Minute Meetings at the beginning of the year as well as the end of the year.  This idea came from Danielle Schultz at School Counselor Blog.  I was a little nervous as to what the teachers would think of this idea, as it will be another time for me to pull their students, but the feedback has been awesome!  So many teachers have come to me to tell me how excited they are that I will be doing this.  It will allow me to meet with 100% of the students, and provide some excellent data (and referrals).

As I shared earlier, I have been involved in a lot of professional development over the past week.  I'm excited to announce that my school has been chosen to participate in the Leader in Me process!  If you are unfamiliar with the Leader in Me, it is a school wide program based on The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People by Stephen Covey.  We have taught the 7 Habits the past for years, but I cannot wait to become a Lighthouse school!  So far, we have completed the Signature training, which has been life changing!  It has challenged us to look at ourselves and realize our own leadership potential.  I am so excited for this opportunity to grow personally and professionally.  I can't wait to share this with my school staff and my students!