Awesome Blog!

Are you familiar with the blog entitled, "School Counselor.com Must See Videos"?  As is true of most of my internet experience, I was playing around and stumbled across this fabulous blog!  The title describes it perfectly.  It is a blog filled with videos pertinent to our area of practice.

I'd love to share the newest video on the blog with you.  It speaks to the kindness of strangers.  Please, check it out:  SchoolCounselor.com Must See Videos: Man's act of kindness to autistic girl on plane go...:

Enrollment Presentations

Today was another exciting day in the world of school counseling!  Today the high school counselors came to talk to our 8th grade students about enrolling for high school classes.  The students were attentive because this is IMPORTANT information to them.

One girl said, "I don't know why I'm getting excited about going to high school?"

Another student:  "Now THESE are the classes I want to take!"

I love seeing kids get excited about their future!

Some students have really blown off middle school and are not excited about moving on because they see an even rougher road ahead.  We are so fortunate to have a new program called AVID available to students who need that extra support to succeed in high school and college.  (If you are unfamiliar with AVID, check out this link:  AVID).  Today some AVID students shared their journey and their successes with our 8th graders.  It is truly an exciting program with high expectations!  Our school district's goal is that all students in the AVID program select a college they want to attend and earn a full ride scholarship!  I am excited to see that happen!

Speaking of AVID, I just checked out their website and found an article about Battle High School in Columbia, MO.  That is the school we feed into!  Look up December 30th, 2013 under News.  Wow!  So proud of those AVID kiddos!

Odd job

I certainly love the freedom of being a school counselor.  At first, it was difficult to get used to.  For 19 years my work life revolved around a bell schedule that had 4 minutes passing time.  Having the freedom to schedule myself is so exciting!

Before winter break, my principal asked if I would drive 2 of our students to the board office for their monthly meeting with the superintendent (they are on a middle school advisory council).  I agreed to do it.  

So today was the day to play taxi.  One student remembered, and the other forget.  I called her classroom to remind her to come on down.  When she got to the office, she said, "I just got so carried away with Algebra!"  I knew at that point that I was in for a ride!  :)

The kids and I chatted the whole trip there and back (about 15 minutes one way).  I thought maybe it would be slow going for conversation, but I was pleasantly surprised...and impressed!  These two kiddos, who I really did not know before our trip, even made sure to offer me a fortune cookie when their meeting was finished (they had Chinese for lunch).  I told them I didn't realize that I could have joined them.  Their response?  "Next month we're having Italian!"

It is so refreshing to me to see a different side of kids that the classroom teacher does not always get a chance to see.  This was a perfect example of that!

We discussed how fun it was to get out of the school building.  It sure was fun to hang out with some really awesome kids today!

That's school counseling!  You don't always know what your day will look like until you are in the moment.  So much fun!!

Anti-bullying

I cannot think of one school in our nation that does not have trouble with bullying.

There are so many resources out there in cyber space it is unbelievable!  Here is a new website I found today:  http://www.stopbullying.gov/  It even has videos!  Lots of good information out there.

What is your favorite website to share?

Be more adventurous with Twitter!

Do you have a Twitter account?  One of the most used forms of social media for educators (including school counselors--check out #scchat and #sccrowd) is Twitter.  The fact that you can only post 140 characters at a time makes those who post be succint and concise in their posting.

I have had an account for a few years, but haven't used it much.

Last year my son started playing high school lacrosse and the coach would send out tweets regarding where and when games/practices would be held.  We folled coach to get those tweets, but I must admit my husband did more of the following than I.

Then I started seeing all this # stuff on facebook (my preferred social media).  I had tried Twitter for a little while, but found it hard to figure out.  But the more I was reading blogs, the more I saw the hashtags and the more I felt left out because I didn't tweet.

So, over winter break I played around a little more with my account.  And, I tried my first ever Twitter chat.  WOW!

Twitter chats are super fast paced, but you can always lurk first before actually participating.  Usually the moderators will compose a storify of the chat so you can read all the tweets, in case you missed any.

SCOPE has a great 30 minute video on youtube explaining Twitter SCOPE Twitter video, but if you don't have 30 minutes, I found that Edudemic wrote a good article to get you started:  Edudumic Twitter Article.  You might learn something!

What is your favorite form of social media that keeps you up to date with the counseling world?

Why I Love My Job

<a href="http://www.bloglovin.com/blog/11566769/?claim=3zthe2cj3sc">Follow my blog with Bloglovin</a>

Today I greeted one of the girls I have been working with in the hallway.  I have not seen her since before winter break.  She had a little gift for me that she made over the break.  She learned to sew and she made me a beautiful coaster!  Hand stitched.  Double sided.  I always have a water bottle with me at school and need a coaster to collect the condensation.  What a perfect gift!

The relationships that we build as school counselors are the reason I love my job.!  It isn't that I want gifts, but heartfelt gifts like these are feedback to me.  Feedback that I AM connecting with the student and am making a difference.

Sometimes we don't get that feedback.  We wonder if we are making an impact.  We keep trying, but we may never know.

Feedback can come in all shapes and sizes.  These are some examples of feedback I have gotten:

• Kids asking to eat lunch with me
• Emails and phone calls from parents
• Hugs
• Shout outs like, "Mrs. Hughes!  I passed my first Algebra test EVER!!!"
• Notes from students telling me I really understand
• Smiles
• Thank yous from administrators, staff, and parents
• "I feel wanted when I'm in your office."
• "I could spend all day in your office."
• Kids who stay after school with me to decorate my office

Not all feedback is positive.  Sometimes I can't make the change that students/parents think I can.  Sometimes I have to say, "We don't make schedule changes because you want a different teacher."  Even in those cases, where the student/parent/staff member does not feel better, I think he/she is learning a lesson about life.

When I taught Spanish, I didn't think of it as teaching a specific subject.  In all reality, I taught kids.  While the subject matter was Spanish, I wanted them to walk away having learned lessons about life.  

As a school counselor, I still feel the educator inside me.  My job is to teach others how to handle what life deals them so that they can grow up to be independent, successful adults.

I LOVE my job!  :)

How about you?  

Recognizing Blog Writers

Top School Counseling Blogs

Use the link above to nominate your top 3 favorite school counseling blogs!

We are so fortunate to have such amazing social media support for our profession.  Let's recognize those who give so much of themselves.  I know that I would not have so many tools in my counseling toolbox without these great bloggers!