Tuesday, February 24, 2015
Wednesday, February 18, 2015
Middle School Excitement
Today my colleague and I went to one of our feeder schools and talked to the 5th graders about enrollment for 6th grade and what to expect from middle school.
We had an attentive (while squirrelly) audience, filled with questions from, "How do I know what class to go to next?" to "What happens when you are late to a class?"
The kids are so full of excitement and it is so fun to meet them ahead of time and hear all their questions and concerns.
As they ask us questions, we like to subtly push a few things, like good behavior and attending summer school.
Students may not remember everything we present while visiting their school, but it sure is a great chance to introduce ourselves and hear their concern and fears. I can't wait to work with these kiddos next school year! :)
We had an attentive (while squirrelly) audience, filled with questions from, "How do I know what class to go to next?" to "What happens when you are late to a class?"
The kids are so full of excitement and it is so fun to meet them ahead of time and hear all their questions and concerns.
As they ask us questions, we like to subtly push a few things, like good behavior and attending summer school.
Students may not remember everything we present while visiting their school, but it sure is a great chance to introduce ourselves and hear their concern and fears. I can't wait to work with these kiddos next school year! :)
Monday, February 16, 2015
Crunch Time
We start out the month with National School Counseling Week, which fires us up and gets us motivated! :)
At least in my district, we start enrollment for the upcoming school year at the end of January and beginning of February. This means we coordinate with the high school our students feed into so that they come out to speak to our students about 9th grade enrollment. This year the high school counselors came on January 29th and on February 6th we went into 8th grade classrooms to use the enrollment information to help students develop their personal plans of study. I have to admit, it was a little much at once and we are re-thinking how we do this for next year. We are thinking of starting with personal plans of study in September so that when high school counselors come out to visit in January, our students will actually have a head's up on some of the information.
Now wait! 8th graders aren't the only ones in our building. The first week of February brought myself and my colleague into the 6th and 7th grade classrooms, helping those students enroll for next year.
We are one of six middle schools in our district. 20 elementary schools feed into those six middle schools. My colleague and I visit three elementary schools to speak with the 5th graders on enrollment for 6th grade and what middle school looks like. We have completed one such visit so far and have two more to go.
So...as you can see enrollment is a priority right now, but we are also about to start testing season! Tomorrow we have meetings about what our state testing will look like this year. It will be very different...testing is online for us this year.
Now maybe you can see why I entitled this Crunch Time. This is a time when I write everything in my calendar and check and double check that I am doing all that is required of me. It's not that it can't be done, but we have to be strategic with our time right now.
It is also time for most of the 504 plans that I manage to come due so I have to keep up with those and make sure I schedule the meetings in a timely manner.
A good comprehensive calendar is essential for this time of year! So is self-care. I LOVE LOVE LOVE being a school counselor, and I know that this time of year can be stressful with a lot on my plate. If I work together with my colleague, plan ahead, and take care of myself, I can also continue helping students and staff find their success. Game on! :)
Saturday, February 14, 2015
#SCCS15 Scholarship for #ASCA15
I just entered the 2015 School Counselor Community Scholarship for ASCA 2015 registration at http://www.thecounselinggeek.com/sccs-2015-scholarship-appl… – Apply by Feb. 14th, 2015. Hosted by The Counseling Geek and The Middle School Counselor.
Friday, October 31, 2014
How did YOU mix it up?
Students knew the day was coming as our Advisory lessons the week before focused on Mix It Up Day. I find that this is a VERY difficult day for many students. It takes them out of their comfort zone at the very time where maybe they feel the most comfort...lunch. Does that mean we shouldn't do it? NO WAY!!! :)
I LOVE Mix It Up Day and how it stretches kids to connect with different people. This is a super important life skill and I love that they get to practice it in middle school.
Here is how we organized the event: We counted the tables in the lunch room (30). Then we bought 30 helium filled balloons from the Dollar Tree ($1 each) and numbered them 1-30. As kids came into the cafeteria, we numbered their hands with a Sharpie 1-30. They just had to find the table with the appropriate numbered balloon. At the table, we placed laminated front/back lists of questions to get the conversation going.
Of course, we did have those students who tried to change their number and dodge the event (mostly 8th graders), but for the most part it was successful. It was a lot quieter than regular lunch. :)
How did you mix it up?
Tuesday, September 23, 2014
Parent Phone Calls
One of the things I hate most in life is making phone calls. I just don't like calling people on the phone...especially with cell phones. How do I know if I am calling at a good time? Perhaps the person is driving and our conversation could cause an accident. Lots of thoughts go through my mind! :)
Since going into the field of education, I have learned to force myself to make the necessary phone calls. I may not like it, but I think I do a pretty good job of calming down an angry parent...especially now that I am a school counselor and have been trained to handle sticky situations.
The cartoon above shows how many parents hold the school responsible for the grades that are reported rather than holding the student responsible as in the past. I would have to agree that we do see this more and more. Not sure why we see it, but my guess it has to do with parents being so much busier. Nowadays both parents working is very common and parents just do not have as much time with their kids when they are running them to and from different activities. Do parents and students really have the time to talk about grades?
This is my 2nd year as a school counselor and yesterday I recieved a very disgruntled parent phone call. Much like the above cartoon, the dad blamed the school, and me, in particular for not doing everything we could to help his son be successful. The phone call really upset me because I felt like I stumbled with my words and got a little snarky with the parent. I just didn't feel good at the end of the conversation and this was the first time in my counseling career that that has happened.
Thank goodness for collaboration!! I shared the gist of what happened with our other school counselor just so that I could get it off my chest and to see if maybe she would have handled it differently. She did make some comments that I had not thought to bring up with the parent, but basically she said the parent must have been in a place where he didn't want any help...he just wanted to vent. Maybe I could have been more empathetic, or said something a little differently...sure. BUT...more importantly we cannot let negative situations get us down! He is one parent in our building. ONE. I have successfully worked with many many more! :)
As a solution focused school counselor, I need to think about solutions and moving forward rather than staying stuck on one interaction.
The truth is...this parent really cares about his son! How thankful I am for that!
Since going into the field of education, I have learned to force myself to make the necessary phone calls. I may not like it, but I think I do a pretty good job of calming down an angry parent...especially now that I am a school counselor and have been trained to handle sticky situations.
This is my 2nd year as a school counselor and yesterday I recieved a very disgruntled parent phone call. Much like the above cartoon, the dad blamed the school, and me, in particular for not doing everything we could to help his son be successful. The phone call really upset me because I felt like I stumbled with my words and got a little snarky with the parent. I just didn't feel good at the end of the conversation and this was the first time in my counseling career that that has happened.
Thank goodness for collaboration!! I shared the gist of what happened with our other school counselor just so that I could get it off my chest and to see if maybe she would have handled it differently. She did make some comments that I had not thought to bring up with the parent, but basically she said the parent must have been in a place where he didn't want any help...he just wanted to vent. Maybe I could have been more empathetic, or said something a little differently...sure. BUT...more importantly we cannot let negative situations get us down! He is one parent in our building. ONE. I have successfully worked with many many more! :)
As a solution focused school counselor, I need to think about solutions and moving forward rather than staying stuck on one interaction.
The truth is...this parent really cares about his son! How thankful I am for that!
Sunday, August 24, 2014
Best Year Ever!
We just completed the first week of school and it was quite a success!
Monday was Jumpstart Day for our 6th graders. It was an optional shorter day, organized to be fun yet allow the 6th graders to feel comfortable with lockers, class location, teachers, etc. before the 7th and 8th graders arrive. IT WAS A GREAT DAY! Smiles everywhere! It ended with a tug of war competition between some of the 6th graders and the teachers. Everyone in the gym was cheering on the 6th grade players. I loved watching the teachers right behind the players as they cheered, encouraged, supported, and offered tips in the hopes of winning the competition. AND when the 6th grade players were losing their footing and started to slide, the teachers jumped in and helped pull the rope! :) What a great metaphor for the teacher-student relationship!!
Tuesday was our first "real" day. We have a little over 600 students in our 6-8 building. How exciting to see them come in, ready for a new year!
Over the first few days of school, the teachers are required to teach several PBIS lessons to make sure our entire school knows the expectations. This might not be the most exciting thing to teach, but it is definitely a necessity. The students are doing very well with following directions as the teachers are using common language and are really working hard to be consistent. It sure pays off!! As I was walking in the building last week, it just FELT GOOD! Students were engaged and learning was taking place! :) I hope we keep this positive energy up all year long!!
How was your start to school?
Monday was Jumpstart Day for our 6th graders. It was an optional shorter day, organized to be fun yet allow the 6th graders to feel comfortable with lockers, class location, teachers, etc. before the 7th and 8th graders arrive. IT WAS A GREAT DAY! Smiles everywhere! It ended with a tug of war competition between some of the 6th graders and the teachers. Everyone in the gym was cheering on the 6th grade players. I loved watching the teachers right behind the players as they cheered, encouraged, supported, and offered tips in the hopes of winning the competition. AND when the 6th grade players were losing their footing and started to slide, the teachers jumped in and helped pull the rope! :) What a great metaphor for the teacher-student relationship!!
Tuesday was our first "real" day. We have a little over 600 students in our 6-8 building. How exciting to see them come in, ready for a new year!
Over the first few days of school, the teachers are required to teach several PBIS lessons to make sure our entire school knows the expectations. This might not be the most exciting thing to teach, but it is definitely a necessity. The students are doing very well with following directions as the teachers are using common language and are really working hard to be consistent. It sure pays off!! As I was walking in the building last week, it just FELT GOOD! Students were engaged and learning was taking place! :) I hope we keep this positive energy up all year long!!
How was your start to school?
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