Documentation Binder

Last year I posted about my documentation system that I planned on using this year.  I formerly used Google Drive to document students seen, as described in this post, but I felt a little uncomfortable posting student information on the internet.  So as stated, I have switched to a binder system!  I have had several e-mails asking to see how I organized my binder.  I created my binder and decided I wanted to test it out before deciding whether to share it or not.  Well, the verdict is in and I love it! I designed the binder using some documents that I created and then added in alphabetized dividers like these.  I also added some pocket dividers to hold my extra forms.  That way I have plenty blank copies inside my binder to pull from when I meet with a new student or have a new consultation.  These are the ones I like.  Below, I have included pictures of all of the documents I created and if you click the pictures, you can download the forms to use!! So here is how I designed my binder:

At the very front is a blank form where I record students I have seen for individual counseling.  This could be a quick check in, or a long counseling session.  But I record every encounter with a child on this page.  Here is a picture:

If it is a student I am seeing for a longer counseling session or need to take notes on, I will put a star beside their name and then they will get an individual counseling summary sheet which will be filed behind the letter their last name begins with.  The item that says "scale #" refers to the likert scale I use during counseling sessions with students to assess their mood.  Here is a picture of that form:

If it is a consultation I have had about a student (with an administrator, teacher, parent, or community resource person), I will use the consultation summary form seen below.  They will not get their name written on the students seen form, but this will be filed under their alphabetical tab.

Another form I have included in my binder is a getting to know you sheet.  I created my own using the idea found in Diane Senn's Creative Approaches for Counseling Individual Children.  This is something I sometimes use when it's my first meeting with a student.  It helps me to make sure I've covered several different aspects of the child to get a sense of what we may need to work on and to help me get to know them better.

Last but not least, I also wanted to a way to track my small groups.  See below for the form I created to track who is in what group and what we discussed.  These are placed behind my student seen form.  At the end of the year, the students seen form and the small group documentation forms will be filed behind the dividers where extra forms are held.

I hope that you find some or all of these items useful while trying to organize your comprehensive counseling program!  I'm also interested in hearing about your systems and how you stay organized!

New Documentation System

Holy smokes, I've been bad with keeping up with this!  As previously posted, I am currently working as an elementary school counselor split between two schools.  There are full time counselors at both schools and I love having a co-counselor to work with!  As it is my 2nd year in this new position, I have learned many new ways to conduct my counseling program with my caseloads.  Some of my old systems are not necessarily as efficient anymore.  I have already started thinking about new ways to document.  Currently I have been using a notebook with sticky flags to write my student notes in.  (I do not write detailed notes, keep it simple for reference only).  This is also where I write down any parent contacts, meetings, etc. pertaining to students.  Next year, I have decided to officially become a binder person! :)  I still plan to use technology for recording student contacts (see previous post about google forms).  

As far as my individual student notes I will be using a binder system.  In my binder I will also keep my classroom lesson and group schedules and any other information I may need to get to quickly and use as documentation.  I have created two forms that I will put in my binder concerning individual students.  The first form is my individual counseling log.  I like being able to see how many times I see a particular student in a year.  Each year, students will get a new sheet if needed.  There is a place for the date and scale #.  I like to use a likert scale for each session and will record there progress here.

I will also be using a consultation summary sheet to record any parent phone calls, parent conferences, teacher meetings, etc. concerning students.  All of these documents will be organized by last name and I will use alphabetical dividers in my binder.  I will also be coming up with a system to document which groups students have participated in.

You can download my individual counseling form here and my consultation form here.

Having a plan for documentation always makes me feel so smart and organized! :)

I am always looking for new ways to document what I do...what do you use?

Cooperation Clubs

I hope that you all are able to use my lesson that I previously posted on synergizing...but I have one more to share!

This lesson is one of my absolute favorites to use with 4th or 5th grade!  A lot of times I see students in this grade level having a difficult time getting along with others.  They are typically forming their close groups of friends, but have a harder time working with other students that they may be assigned to work with.  This lesson is a great one to discover the behaviors that they may exhibit that enhance or inhibit their group's success.  I would love to give credit to whoever came up with this one, but I honestly can't remember where I found it...

Cooperation Clubs

Split students into groups...I select the groups myself and typically try to split up the little friendships so that I can really challenge my students to work with different people.  

Explain to students that they will need to work together as a team to come up with a club.  Their club needs to have:

1. A Club Name
2. A President
3. A secret password
4. A secret handshake
5. A purpose of their club

It is important to not tell students how to accomplish this task, but observe the process, only intervening if they need help.

After students have finished completing their assigned task, have students come up and present their club to the rest of the class.  Discuss what behaviors helped the group work effectively, and what behaviors were not as productive.  Some discussion questions I typically ask are:

• How did you make decisions as a group?
• Did one person take over?
• Did any members sit back and let others do the work?
• How well did you feel that your group did at synergizing?
• What could have helped your group work better together?
• What can we learn from this that can help us in a regular classroom setting?

The kids always love this lesson and learn about themselves to boot, and I love it too!  I hope you have fun synergizing with your cooperative trays and cooperation clubs! :)

Cooperative Tray

As I have already shared with you, I am split between two schools this year.  At one school, I primarily work with Kindergarten and 1st grade, and at the other school I primarily work with 2nd and 3rd grade.  I love that even being at two different schools, I am still able to serve a variety of ages.  At both schools, we teach the 7 Habits of Happy Kids as our classroom curriculum.  I was very excited about this, because I have been using the 7 Habits for years in my classroom lessons, small groups, and individual counseling sessions.  Last month, our focus was on "Habit 6: Synergize" which has to do with cooperation, tolerance, and teamwork.  One of my favorite lessons is one that was shared with me several years ago from my counseling internship supervisor, Ann!  I still love this lesson and use it to this day...

The Cooperative Tray:

The purpose of this lesson is for students to see first hand that you are able to accomplish more as a team than you are alone.  (We also discuss how sometimes it is hard to work with different people, but that this is what a true "synergizer" is able to do).

First, you will need to prepare your tray:  

1.  Find some type of tray to use (or beg your cafeteria for one if they still have them...) :)
2.  Select 14-15 random items that you can mount to your tray.
3.  Mount the items onto the tray securely...mounting tape, hot glue, or super glue should all work.
4.  Use some type of cloth to cover your tray.

Lesson Procedures:

As the lesson begins, pretend to be super serious and explain to students that they need to quickly be quiet, pull out a piece of paper and a pencil.  Today we will be taking a test.  This is very serious so there should be no talking or I will know that they are cheating!  Tell students to number their paper from 1-14 (or however many items you have)

After the moans and groans, explain to students that today we will be taking a memory test.  This is an individual activity because we want to see how much they can remember.  Make sure to tell them to cover their papers because you are looking to see who remembers the most.

Walk around the room showing each table the items on the tray, explaining to students that they  may not pick up their pencil until you tell them "GO!"  Once everyone has had a good look, cover up the tray again and tell the students to begin.

Typically, students remember about 6-8 items from the tray.  I tell them all "great job!" and that this is what I expected for them to remember.  Next, I tell them that they did a pretty good job on their own, but I want to see how they do as a team.  Allow students to work with a partner (or their table group) to see if they can get all 14 items.

Students will usually remember more items, but not all 14.  We talk about this.  Then, I tell them we will work as a whole class to see if we can remember all 14 items.  We are easily able to remember them all.  We check our work by looking at the tray and then discuss the activity.  Students are easily able to gather that when we work as a team, we are able to accomplish more and do a better job than when we work alone.  This leads to a discussion of behaviors that help us be successful in working as a team and behaviors that keep us from doing our best.


I hope you enjoy this "Synergize" lesson and would love to hear more lessons that you use to teach the 7 Habits!

PSSCA Conference

This year, I was fortunate enough to be able to attend the 2015 Palmetto State School Counselor Assocation's Conference in beautiful Myrtle Beach.  This is the first state conference I have attended since graduate school.  I was blessed to be able to go with one of my co-counselors.  We had a great time and learned A LOT!  The theme of the conference was Find Your OASIS:  Reflect, Refresh, Recharge.  This is exactly what we did.  We had a great time learning new information that can benefit our school counseling programs, got to network with other school counselors, and even got to meet Julia Cook! ....and bought wayyyy too many of her books--hey, they were autographed!

Since we teach the 7 Habits at both of my schools, we are constantly emphasizing the importance of sharpening the saw.  It's important for us counselors to remember to sharpen our saw as well.

Some of the sessions that I attended were:

Putting Out Fires to Preventing Fires:  Implementing Effective Tier II Behavior Supports (we learned some great ideas for supporting our programs with data and also some great ideas for groups)

School Counseling With HeART...Connecting With Elementary Students (Great ideas for using art in individual and small group counseling)

Be An Active Participant in Your Own Rescue (ideas for using self regulation and yoga)

The Tech Savvy School Counselor (One of our fellow Greenville County counselors presented on using various types of surveys to collect data)

Bullies Need Love Too (How to support not just the victim, but the child exhibiting bullying behavior as well)

Creative Counseling (Great ideas for using play and art therapies in school counseling)

And last but not least...Books That Make a Positive Difference by Julia Cook!

Not only did we get great ideas from these sessions, but we also were treated to a lunch with Julia Cook as our Keynote Speaker, speaking about motivating underachievers.

I hope that you all take time to sharpen your saws, both personally and professionally.  Sometimes we forget how important it is to network with other school counselors because we can't do it alone, whether that is by attending conferences or using the blogging community.  As one speaker said in our opening ceremony, "we're in good company with school counselors!"

I'm Back!

Whew!  I recently realized that it has been almost a year since I have written anything on this blog!  That's embarrassing!  I feel like I have so many new things to share that I don't know where to start.  First off, let me get myself off the hook a little by explaining what I've been up to this past year.

I have had many life changes that have happened this last year that have turned my world upside down (in a good way!).  In the past year I have gotten engaged, moved to a new state, and started a new job!  My fiance relocated to South Carolina for his career so I was put into a professional-personal tug of war.  I loved my school and felt like the school counseling program there was my baby--I had developed and molded it into a program that worked for me, my students, my staff, and my school overall.  Was it a stressful job?  YES!  Was it hard being the only school counselor there? YES!  Did I love being a Wildcat?  DEFINITELY!

Look at my awesome family!

On the other hand, I knew that I had to put my personal life and family first, and made the difficult decision to leave my position and move to South Carolina.  Changing my licensure over to a new state was harder than I thought it would be and I spent many hours on the phone and on the computer making that happen.

I finally accepted a position split between two schools (mornings at one school and afternoons at the other).  We moved to SC the first week of August and two weeks later I was starting my new career as a SC School Counselor.
Starting a new job in a new state (and just moving to a new state in general) was difficult, but I wouldn't change my decision for the world.  Of course I miss my Wildcat family and they will always have a special place in my heart (and I miss those kids so much!), but making a decision to benefit my family was a no brainer.

My new life as a split school counselor has been a great learning opportunity!  I am fortunate enough that I FINALLY get to work with other school counselors in my buildings, and I have learned a lot from both of them.  In the language of Stephen Covey, I have had a huge paradigm shift and am becoming a better school counselor every day because of it!

Thanks for being patient with me, and the best is yet to come...

PS:  Happy National School Counseling Week!

Bowl for Kids Sake!

 

For the past couple of years, my school has participated in a fundraiser called Bowl for Kids Sake.  All money raised goes to support Big Brothers Big Sisters of WNC (a mentoring program that makes a difference in deserving children's lives).  Personally, our school has partnered with Big Brothers Big Sisters and a local high school to start a pilot program where we match high school ROTC students with elementary students.  We have seen great success as a result.  Please support our team by following the link below.  Every little bit helps this deserving organization!

https://www.firstgiving.com/fundraiser/tracihart/bowl-for-kids-sake-to-support-henderson-county

Spoonful of Sweetness Book Review & Giveaway!

I feel very honored to be asked by one of my favorite authors to post on my blog about one of her newest books.  Maria Dismondy is a #1best-selling children's book author, former teacher, and highly sought-after speaker.  One of my favorite books by her is Spaghetti in a Hot Dog Bun!  Spoonful of Sweetness is her 5th children's book.  What I love about this book is that it starts instilling the habits and character traits that we want for our children to have at a very young age.  The book is entended for children from birth to age 3.  The reason this is appropriate for my Elementary school counseling blog, is that I strive to be proactive in my school counseling program.  I believe that if children are enstilled with positive character traits at a young age, they will become more natural as they grow into school aged children.  I can't wait to share this fun book with my neice so too can exhibit acts of kindness.  If you go to Maria's website (link below), you can even download a free parent guide and coloring page!

More about Maria Dismondy:

Maria has a passion for spreading an anti-bullying message and making a difference in her writing, public speaking, blogging and charity work. She lives in southeastern

Michigan with her husband and children. To find out more about Maria and her award-winning books.

visit www.mariadismondy.com

 

Purchase the book on Amazon:

http://www.amazon.com/Spoonful-Sweetness-other-delicious-manners/dp/0984855823/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1383160687&sr=8-1&keywords=spoonful+of+sweetness

Book Trailer on YouTube:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9HPyDL2hgKk


Enter below using the Rafflecopter widget to win your very own copy of the boardbook Spoonful of Sweetness by Maria Dismondy.  In order to win, you must leave a comment in the comments section of this blogpost!
The contest will run from January 14 through January 21.  Good luck!
 

a Rafflecopter giveaway

School Counselor Reincarnated

Long time no see!  I know it has been a long time since I have written anything.  Things have been very hectic, to say the least.  There were days where I was questioning what I was doing and whether school counseling was the right career for me.  I was stressed out nonstop, all day every day. I would go home and forget all about my job and just honestly wanted nothing to do with school counseling.  I didn't even want to look at anything on Pinterest related to school counseling or read my favorite school counseling blogs (a big deal for me).  Things have settled down and I have found my footing again.  Anyone who lives in, or works in North Carolina, knows about all of the legal happenings surrounding education.  I won't get in to all of that, nor voice my political opinions, but suffice to say, it's not a great time to be an educator in this state.  Needless to say, I wasn't taking care of myself.

On a happier note, I have finally been able to start my small groups, and I have been filling my day with counseling appointments, to help remind me why I'm doing what I'm doing.  It worked! I'm back and enjoying school counseling once again!  Soon I will be posting more about what I'm doing differently in individual and small group counseling, as well as a big change in my classroom counseling schedule!  Thanks for understanding and for continuing to read my ideas (and those stolen from others and shared with you!).

Sharing how you feel is magic!

I have successfully survived the first 2 weeks of school!  It has been very busy around here, meeting new students, helping kindergarteners adjust to school, collaborating with parents and teachers, as well as conducting student surveys.  I try to visit each class in the school every month to do my lessons.  This month, I decided to tag-team my lessons with a student survey.  We had a student survey a couple of years ago, but decided to do it again.  I created the survey using google docs, and it asked questions such as: what's your favorite subject? Do you feel safe at school? And do you feel like you have a friend at school?

One of our classes on the special rotation is called Sharpen the Saw, which focuses on the 7th habit, taking care of yourself.  I teamed up with this teacher this week to complete the surveys.  Literally, I have been in the computer lab all week!  When students come to their usual Sharpen the Saw rotation, they come down to the computer lab where I show them how to get on the student survey, and then we have our September "Meet the Counselor" classroom lesson.  It has worked out great!  I'm getting all of my initial lessons done in the first week, as well as collecting data through the surveys!  We decided not to do the surveys with Kindergarten, as they do not have the computer skills yet, and then decided half way through 1st grade, that it was too difficult for them at this time as well.  The rest of the groups did great!  They were excited to give their feedback and a lot of them had some great comments. 

As for my Meet the Counselor lesson, I wanted to share something that was passed down to me and I have enjoyed using over my past 5 years as a school counselor.  It's the Magic Coloring Book of Feelings by Robert P. Bowman, Ph.D. and Kim Frank, Ed.S., LPC.  This is a great tool when discussing the role of the school counselor and how sharing your feelings is like magic:  you feel better, and you help others understand you.  First, I show the students the different feelings represented in the coloring book and we talk about times we may have felt that way.

Next, I ask the kids what is missing.  Usually they will figure out that it needs the colors.  I explain to them that they all have the different feelings inside of them, and they need to share those feelings with me to see what happens.  I have the kids rub their legs and arms to get the "feelings" on them and then on the count of 3, they throw them into the book.  I pull the book back dramatically like I caught them.  Next, I flip through the book and all of the pages are filled with colors!! It's magic!  

The kids start gasping and laughing.  Next, I tell them they all need those feelings inside of them, so they need to take them back.  The kids take back their feelings, but when I open the book, the lines are gone too!  I act really surprised and say "You took my lines! Very Funny! But I need those back for my next class!"  

On the count of three, they throw back just the lines and we all laugh some more.  We talk about how this is a reminder that when you share your feelings, it is like magic.  (the directions for the magic trick are on the back of the book.)  The kids love it and ask me about it all the time.  I started out just doing it in Kindergarten, but now I use it in every grade level every year.

I also created this StoryBird about the School Counselor to use with my special needs classes!

New Year, New Look

This has been a full week of workdays, getting ready for our kiddos to return for another successful school year.  I have been working on preparing my room, making plans for my "meet the counselor" lessons, as well as preparing some surveys and other tools for gathering data.  I have also been meeting with teams and collaborating with teachers, parents, and community agencies so that we are prepared to meet our students needs.  Every year, I change things around.  I'm such a perfectionist that I am never satisfied!  I still plan on using technology to collect data, such as minute meetings and rating scales, but I'm always thinking of new ways to get the job done.  I thought I would share some new pictures of my office (since i've rearranged and acquired some things).

Still a mess with donated school supplies

my new shelf for craft supplies and other materials I frequently use.

I am also excited to be switching back to a paper planner. There were things I liked about my google digital calendar, but I missed being able to jot down notes and other useful information, so here's the cute one I got at Target.

 

I am excited to grown even more this year than I have in my past 5 years at this school.  Every year, I change things up and do things a little different.  I am always trying to find better and more efficient ways to run my school counseling program.  I am excited about opportunities for collaboration and professional development this year and I hope to keep you in the loop as I go along.

 

Happy 2013-2014 school year!

Target Dollar Spot Gems 2013-2014 school year

Since we got out of school for the summer, i have been kind of MIA from the blogging world.  i decided to take this time to sharpen my saw, spend time with my family, and help my boyfriend recuperate from knee surgery.  However, the school year is quickly approaching, so I'm excited to once again prepare for an even better year than last year!  That's always my goal: to do at least one thing each year to make it better than the last.  I always tell myself "this is going to be my best year yet!"  Of course ip,an to use my new data strategies, I'm always excited to find new things to use with kids.

 So, last year I posted about some of the awesome things I found in the dollar spot section of Target that I can use in my school counseling program.  As the school year is quickly approaching, I was excited to see what I might find this year. Here's what I bought:

Bulletin Board Border: although I don't have a bulletin board, I trout I might use this around my whiteboard to make it look a little more kid-friendly

ID card holder: last year, my ID badge ripped where it attaches to my lanyard so I had taped it...not cute. As I was perusing the dollar bins, I came across these ID badge holders in various colors and knew I had to get one.

Sticky Googly Eyes: I couldn't pass these ups..oh the possibilities in creative counseling! I'm excited to use these in individual and small group counseling.

Beads: one of my favorite things to do in my friendship groups is to make friendship bracelets, so I'm always looking for cheap ones to add to my selection.

Doctor Kit: finding this was like hitting the jackpot!  I have dabbled in play therapy over the years, but am trying to learn more about it and add to my play therapy kit.  I learned some more about it at a regional conference in April, and will be learning more this year from Heather Thompson, a professor at Western Carolina University, who has specialized in (and done a lot of research in) play therapy.  It's doctor's kit will be a great addition.

Stickers: kids love stickers..and I do too!  I plan to use these for positive reinforcement in small groups and to celebrate successes in individual counseling.

Finding these "gems" always helps to motivate me to kick off the school year (and when I need a little reminder of why I do what I do when times are tough). It's funny how some little things that only cost $1 can bring so much excitement to a school counselor. 

One more thing that I wanted to share is not a new gem, its an old one! I love the idea of keeping a worry box in my office for kids to let go of their worries and "leave them with me." In the past, I've always used an empty Kleenex box that I decorated.  I had remembered that I used to have a little tin box with a lock (I used it as a piggy bank because it has a slit on top). I decided to ask ,y mom if she still had it, and she did!! I am so excited to put this to use as my new worry box! I love the idea of locking away their worries until another time when we an pull them out to revisit them (this is part of the process discussed in What To Do When You Worry Too Much).

What kind of gems (new or old) have you discovered this summer to use in your school counseling program?

Do you Drive?

One thing I love finding are new ways to use technology in my school counseling program.  I have tried more ways than I can count to try and find the best way to document student notes.  My biggest focus this year has also been on collecting data.  I started out by stealing an idea from JYJ counselor's blog about creating a form in google drive to document students i've seen, what for, and which ones need to be followed up with.  I love that I can easily click through the form to document, AND it puts it all into a handy spreadsheet for me to sort and graph to my hearts desire!  (here's the link so you can love it too...plus this awesome counselor blog has so many other useful tips..and she's from North Carolina like me!) This will be so helpful when presenting "what I do" to others in my school as well as stakeholders.  Since I don't know much about creating formulas in spreadsheets from this type of data, I googled how to create a pie chart, and now I have a visual of what types of issues i'm seeing students for--this will help me to decide what I need to focus more time on in classroom guidance and target potential small groups.

 Once I realized how much I LOVED using this form, I thought...why not use a form to document the other things I do? Thus my student rating scale was born.  I had already used a rating scale for some of my "frequent flyers" so that I could track their progress as we meet. This also gives me a starting point for dicussions.  However, I was slaughtering helpless trees to create these beauties.  I created tech-savvy scale and put a link on my iPad and BAM!  Success!  Students love being able to use the iPad...little do they know, they're giving me the data I need. Sneaky, Sneaky!  

I will also be using Google Drive to document how I spend my time, which students I'm seeing in small groups, and will send one out to teachers to find out what times they want me to visit their classes.  Lastly, I made out a list of how I'm going to track data in each aspect of my school counseling program:

Classroom Guidance

·        Teachers sign up for time using Google form, responses recorded in spreadsheet

·        K-2 students will create a class book after each lesson

·        3-5 students will complete a pre and post survey on topics to be covered for the year

Small Groups

·        Students in groups will be documented on spreadsheet to prevent unnecessary repetition

·        Teachers will complete a pre-group assessment on each student entering the group prior to the first meeting

·        Students will complete a pre-group assessment on the first day of group

·        Students will check in each day of group to monitor progress

·        Students and teachers will complete post-group assessments

Individual Counseling

·        Each student who is seen by the school counselor will be recorded on a Google form, responses will be recorded on a spreadsheet.

·        School counselor will use this data to look for trends to be addressed in small group and large group classroom guidance

·        Students who are seen regularly will check-in using a Google form rating scale to track their progress through the counseling process.

School-Wide Programming

·        School Counselor will create a parent survey at the beginning of the year

·        School Counselor will continue to host Coffee with the Counselor, if this time continues to be best for parents.

·        Parents attending Coffee with the Counselor will complete an evaluation

·        Behavior referrals will be tracked monthly using the ORATS notebook in the front office.  This data will be graphed.

·        School counselor will track time spent in a spreadsheet

·        An End-Of-Year report will be provided to all staff members

This made my nerdy organized self feel a little more prepared for next year so that I can really focus on sharpening my saw this summer! :)

How do you use Google Drive in your school counseling program?

Friday Finds: Weird!

I have already blogged about so many great bullying resources out there, but what I was looking for was something so that kids could see all of the people involved:  the target, the bully, and the bystanders.  I wanted to be able to discuss what each person's role and responsibility was in bullying.  When reading another blog, I came across the most fantastic series of books about this very topic!  The books in the series are Weird!, Tough! and Dare! by Erin Frankel.  All three books tell the same story, but from different perspecties:  Weird! gives the persective of Luisa (the target of the bullying), Tough! gives the perspective of Sam (the bully), and Dare! gives the perspective of Jayla (the bystander). 

The thing I like the most about this series of books is that it is so comprehensive!  As I previously stated, it covers the responsiblities that each person involved in bullying has.  Students learn that they have a role in stopping bullying, even if they are not the bully or the target.  Everyone has a role.  Depending on your need, these books can be used one at a time, or in a series of lessons.  At my school, we have something called Wildcat Team Time where classes spend the first 20 minutes of every day talking about the 7 Habits and related prosocial skills.  I have not been able to keep these books on my shelf because so many teachers are wanting to use them for WTT lessons!  Most of them take the time to go through each book with a fine tooth comb so that kids really understand.  Another thing that is AWESOME is that in the back of each book, there are discussion ideas, lesson ideas, etc.  Also, if you go to www.theweirdseries.com, there is a free downloadable leaders guide!  Free is my favorite.

Like I previously stated, teachers have been begging to use this book in their classrooms during WTT.  I've even talked to my principal about ordering several sets so we can keep them available for classrooms to check out.  I have used this series in classrooms and individual counseling, and would definately be suitable for small groups as well.  I hope to use the series in its entirety during classroom guidance next year.

I know that you will love these books as much as I have, and that you will see how your students understand the concept of the bystander so much better when it's connected to the other two stories.  ENJOY!

Committing to Make a Difference

I've already posted about the Trudy Ludwig books that make my heart sing!  This year I worked with 5th grade on bullying between friends.  We read the story My Secret Bully and had a great discussion on how bullying between friends can occur.  Later in the year, I decided to focus more on bullying and what role each and every one of us plays.  I had one 5th grade classroom who had a particularly hard time, so I went in for 5 days to co-teach with the teacher.  After this, we decided for me to focus my monthly guidance lesson in all of the 5th grade classrooms on bullying again.  I picked out parts of Confessions of a Former Bully to discuss with students, focusing on the roles of the bystander, the bully, and the target.  We talked about what each of us could do to make an impact on bullying.  As we read the story, I told the students that whenever they felt inspired to do so, they could go up to the poster and write down their commitment to stopping bullying.  Here's what the end result looks like:

I also hung up a poster with some of the helpful information from the book so that students could reference it if needed.  This is hung in the 5th grade hallway so that students can always be reminded of their commitment.

How do you get students to commit to stop bullying at your school?

Using the Habits to Solve Conflicts

It has been such a busy time for us all, I haven't had time to blog.  But as part of my personal growth, "sharpening the saw" is one of the 7 Habits I need to dedicate more time to.  For me, blogging sharpens my saw! 

Yesterday I was meeting with 2 students who were experiencing some friendship issues (I dedicate a lot of counseling sessions to this type of thing).  Usually I find it is best to have all parties involved present so that we can all talk safely and honestly.  Anyway, I was giving my usual "conflict resolution" strategy suggestions when the light bulb went off!  Why did I never think of this?!  These ARE the 7 Habits.  As I've already posted, we're going through the Leader in Me process and have been teaching the 7 habits for some time now.  I realized that these strategies would probably make a lot more sense to students if I used the language they are used to:  7 habits lingo.  Thus, my teaching tool was born:  Using the 7 Habits to Solve Conflicts.  This was something that was easy for me to explain to students, made sense to them, and integrated concepts we were already teaching.  I even put up this poster outside my office (which is also located right by the bathrooms that my 4th grade friends use).  4th graders by far write me the most notes about this topic, so I thought...hmm, maybe if I post this in a central location, they can try to use the skills first, BEFORE they get to me.  I use the 7 habits in so many ways, but I'm still amazed to see how easily they integrate into everything I do. 

How do you use the 7 Habits to teach conflict resolution?

Pawsitive Behavior Day

Today at our school we celebrated Pawsitive Behavior Day!  (Pawsitive because we are the wildcats).  Although we are not a PBIS school, we still recognize student's positive behavior by giving them "shout outs."  Shout outs are little notes you write when you see a student doing something good.  The notes go in a jar in the front office and my principal reads them over the announcements in the morning and at assemblies.  Students are always so excited to hear their name announced!  Every time students earn a collective 500 shout outs as a school, they earn a Pawsitive Behavior Day!   Pawsitive Behavior Day is a day that is centered around a theme.  Students still do many of their academic tasks, but with a twist.  Even our "specials" block is set up with games centered around the theme.  We go all out--costumes, decorations, etc.  It is so exciting to see student's faces when they get to school that day because they are smiling bigger than ever.  Today we celebrated our students with a Dr. Seuss themed Pawsitive Behavior Day.  Students got to have a green egg relay race, play a "fox in sox" game, and do many more Dr. Seuss themed activities.  By far my favorite moment was seeing a 5th grader who I know pretty well skipping down the hallway because he was so excited.  That is such a rare moment! 

How do you celebrate positive behavior at your school?

The little things

We've all had those days where nothing seems to go right and we feel like a failure.  There's always that time that you think "i'm the worst counselor ever!"  There are so many things that happen in the day to day that we were never prepared for in graduate school.  We are looked upon to make in-the-minute decisions and sometimes we make the wrong one.  Students confide in us and tell us secrets that we must tuck aways inside ourselves.  Parents take out their anger on us or don't understand.  Many school counselors (especially in elementary schools) are lone rangers.  We develop our programs, we implement our school wide programs, we make our own schedules (only to have a crisis come up and throw it out the window), we plan and conduct our own small groups and classroom guidance lessons, and then we alone go home and keep it bottled up.  I've already written a blog post on the importance of self care, but I forgot to mention one of the most important things:  the reason we do this job--for the kids.  One afternoon, I was walking down the hallway when another teacher stopped me.  She said "I have to put a copy of something in your mailbox.  We did a lesson in 2nd grade where we read a story about a bully and then had to write about it.  One student wrote about you."  My heart jumped for joy!  Here's a time when a student was able to identify the role of the counselor, when I wasn't even involved in the lesson!  I hadn't even seen that kid that day!  I knew in that moment that I am making an impact, and kids DO KNOW what I do and who I am and that I am here to help.  Sometimes we don't need a big recognition (although I felt so loved during National School Counseling Week), it's the little things that matter the most. 

The Electric Company: Feel Electric!



Mood Dude:  Create one to show how you're feeling!



I am excited this week to be writing about an iPad app that i have fallen in love with!  It is by The Electric Company and is called "Feel Electric!" by Sesame Street. I was so excited when another school counselor in my county (thank you Ann!) told me about this app and I couldn't wait to try it out.  This app has so many different aspects that cover all types of moods and feelings.  There are games that students can play, videos to watch, and other activities to help students understand different feelings, identify facial expressions, and expand their vocabulary.  Students indicate how they are currently feeling (see below) when they first log in, and their feelings are tracked over time in the Moodosphere.

How do you feel today?



home screen



My favorite part of this app is how extensive it is!  When I first looked at it, I though it might be pretty basic, but as I started playing with it and explored with my students, I found that there is such a wide array of feeling words and feeling faces.  I love how students learn to match facial expressions with the appropriate feeling through fun games and activities.  It is colorful and plays cheerful music which quickly draws in students.  My favorite section on the app is Mood Tales.  This is kind of like Mad Lib, because students read a story and fill in feeling words.  It's kind of silly but the kids really enjoy it.  I also love how it tracks students' feelings overtime in the Moodosphere.  This can be really useful when identifying what services might be appropriate for students.



I have used this app mostly in my individual counseling sessions, but I think it could also be really useful in small groups:  especially those focused on social skills.  Feeling identification and facial expressions are such a huge skill that young students need to learn.  As far as individual counseling, I have a Kindergarten student who I have started working with.  She is extremely shy and has not opened up to me yet.  I have been trying different ways to get her to express her emotions, and by far this one has been my favorite.  Although she will not tell me with her words how she is feeling, she likes to show me on this app, and that is a success!



What's the Word!  Earn points for learning new words





Happy National School Counseling Week!