Advocate for School Counselors

Disclosure of material connection: Some of the links in the post below are “affiliated links.” This means if you click on the link and purchase the item I will receive a small commission. With that said, I only recommend items that I have found useful as a school counselor and educator. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16CFR, Part 255: “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.”

Have you seen this excellent graphic put out by NYU?

It was too good not to share…

Brought to you by Counseling@NYU: NYU’s new online master’s in school counseling

Looking for ways to advocate for yourself and your school counseling program?

Check out the following resources:

• The Missouri School Counselor Association has a great little article on practicle ways to advocate.
• If you a member of ASCA you can download past editions of the ASCA magazine. The September/October 2015 edition has some information in it about advocating for your program by using the ASCA model.
• The Arizona School Counselor Association put together an A-Z advocacy toolkit with great ideas to advocate for yourself and your program.

I’m currently reading Trish Hatch’s The Use of Data in School Counseling: Hatching Results for Students, Programs, and the Profession. I’m not too far into the book yet but she talks about how she has worked hard over the years to advocate for the school counseling profession and how data plays a role in that.

I’d love to hear how you are advocating for your program. I just finished my first year at my new school and feel that this is an area I want to work on as I grow as a counselor and grow in my position. I hope to implement some of the ideas above. I really like the idea of doing a parent and/or staff newsletter. I am thinking about trying to send one out once a semester this year and then hopefully grow into once a quarter. What are your goals?

Thanks for stopping by!

 

Blog about all things school counseling and education

Summer Reading for School Counselors, 2016 edition

Disclosure of material connection: Some of the links in the post below are “affiliated links.” This means if you click on the link and purchase the item I will receive a small commission. With that said, I only recommend items that I have found useful as a school counselor and educator. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16CFR, Part 255: “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.”

 

One of my most popular past posts has been my summer reading list so I decided to make it an annual occurrence. This year I have a stack of books picked out and I hope to read them all this summer. You may notice one is a repeat from the last list. This is because I don’t always make it through all of my summer reading books.

I’m half way through Fostering Resilient Learners and am loving it! I have learned some great information as well as new ways to help teachers build stronger relationships with their students. It’s written by a veteran mental health clinician and an experienced principal. The authors are a fantastic combination for a school counselor, but really any educator. I don’t know about you, but my grad program didn’t go into too much detail on ways to help children who’ve had a traumatic event be successful in school. This book has been a great introduction for me and I can’t wait to learn more ways to create a trauma-sensitive classroom (and school).

 

One of the things I mentioned on my year-end reflection was that I would like to use data to show my effectiveness as a counselor next year. I hope to do this by reading 2 books: The Use of Data in School Counseling: Hatching Results for Students, Programs, and the Profession & Facilitating Evidence-Based, Data-Driven School Counseling: A Manual for Practice. I did collect enough data to create a G.R.I.P. for one of my groups this year but I want to do more in the future. I’m hoping these books can help!

Two of the books are from Love & Logic. I recently attended a one day training on this approach and connected with many of the ideas and strategies to use with students. They put a great emphasis on relationships and empathy, which I love! I want to learn more and hope to this summer! The two books I decided to buy at the conference were Creating a Love & Logic School Culture and From Bad Grades to a Great Life!: Unlocking the Mystery of Achievement for Your Child (Love and Logic).

 

A couple other books that are on the table for possible reading this summer focus on challenging behaviors and mindset. As an elementary counselor I find myself helping with challenging behaviors far more than I did as a middle school counselor. One of my co-workers recommended How to Reach and Teach Children with Challenging Behavior (K-8): Practical, Ready-to-Use Interventions That Work and I am looking forward to checking it out. Positive Strategies for Students with Behavior Problems is in the same realm but I am hoping to get some fresh ideas from it! Lastly, a couple on mindset! I attended our state counselor conference earlier this year and attended a great session on mindset. I even did a lesson on growth and fixed mindset for my 4th graders after I attended. Mindset: The New Psychology of Success and Mindsets in the Classroom: Building a Culture of Success and Student Achievement in Schools were both referred to during the presentation.

 

                 

What are you reading this summer? I’d love to hear whats on your P.D. summer reading list (or your for-fun reading list!) as well as any recommendations.

Thanks for stopping by!

#ASCA14 Conference Notes: Day 2

Disclosure of material connection: Some of the links in the post below are “affiliated links.” This means if you click on the link and purchase the item I will receive a small commission. With that said, I only recommend items that I have found useful as a school counselor and educator. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16CFR, Part 255: “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.”

As you may know I did not attend the ASCA conference in Orlando, Florida this year. I was glued to twitter and soaking in as much as I could without being actually present during the sessions. Below is my list of resources I learned about and heard about on day 2 of the conference. You may notice that there are a few less here then there were on Day 1. I think its because everyone, myself included, was so excited, inspired, uplifted, and overjoyed by the First Lady’s remarks that morning. I know I was! Even so, there are a lot of things here that I really excited about. What has been your favorite new resource from ASCA14? 

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Attachment Styles at the Workplace – article shared during a school climate ASCA session

Career planning mini-guide for high school students

NCAA pdf on probability of competing in post-high school sports

Powerpoint on Branding & marketing your school counseling program

Powerpoint on PBIS from ASCA14

Powerpoint on Interventions to support anxious students

The Race – a poem read by keynote speaker Stedman Graham

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• EHS School Counseling Weebly – Resources for school counselors including their ASCA presentation & youtube video
• For High School Counselors – Top 124 Pinterest Boards for School Counselors  (and non-school counselors)
• Guarding Kids – Dr. Russell Sabella‘s work on technology & safety. This site is full or resources, including handouts, powerpoints, and lessons.
• Hatching Results – Trish Hatch has some amazing resources online from her latest book, The Use of Data in School Counseling.
• JC Shakespeare – List of resources to help sell Social-Emotional Learning (SEL) in your school
• Lessons Earned – Michael & Susan Dell Foundation. “Transforming the lives of children living in
  urban poverty through better health and education”
• MA Social Media  – Ashley Garth & Ross Wolfson presented this at the MASCA conference  – great info about social media & PLN
• My Voice – Student surveys to assess the 8 conditions that can make a difference and impact the school climate
• #NotatASCA14 chat – This google doc has info collected during and for the #NotatASCA14 chat that took place on July 1.
• Passionate High School Counselor – Charity Dodd has created a list of resources by using tweets of those attending #ASCA14 (day 1 & day 2)
• Positive Behavioral Interventions & Support – this website offers tons of resources and ideas to support a PBIS program in your school
• Ryan VanKampen: Today in School – he is posting his notes on sessions he attended on his blog.
• SCOPE – Danielle Schultz & Erin Mason‘s ASCA14 Presentation on Using Twitter
• School Counselors Space – Franciene Sabens notes from todays sessions
• Start Here. Go Places – A student-focused website on exploring accounting careers
• Symbaloo – a website to help organize important websites so you can access them quickly
• Symbaloo for School Counselors – tons of resources at your fingertips on this symbaloo.
• WVHS Career Connections – high school with a strong career program

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The 50th Law by 50 Cent & Robert Greene – use this book, which looks at the life of Curtis Jackson (rapper 50 cent) and his ability to overcome adverse situations, for classroom or group lessons

Freakonomics [Revised and Expanded]: A Rogue Economist Explores the Hidden Side of Everything by Steven Levitt & Stephen Dubner – this book is also an unexpected, but great, resource for creating engaging classroom lessons

The Use of Data in School Counseling: Hatching Results for Students, Programs, and the Profession by Trish Hatch – this book provides practical advice on how to collect, incorporate, and utilize data in a school counseling program.

You Can Make It Happen: A Nine Step Plan for Success by Stedman Graham – keynote speaker at #ASCA14

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Bitly – shorten url links instantly and collect stats on the number of times the bitly is being clicked. It also keeps all of the bitly urls you create in a searchable list.

Comfort Boxes – Pinterest expressive art therapy idea

Kahoot – an online way to collect data by having students take surveys and quizzes through their site. You can include pictures and videos too.

Poll Everywhere – awesome tool to use with students, staff or parents during lessons or presentations. Collect data and ensuring comprehension at the same time!

#scchat Twitter Chats – 1st Tuesday of every month chat with school counselors from around the world on twitter

The Leader in Me – This is a program that is based on the book, 7 Habits of Highly Effective People for students.

Veracity Matters – a character education program

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Assessing Data and Be Accountable #asca14pic.twitter.com/nAwZYtTsgi — matthew berry (@1wildcounselor) July 1, 2014

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• “The greatest fear people have is of being themselves” awesome quote from a book by 50 cent! Great ideas for lessons! #asca14 — Kelli Isamat (@McIsamat) July 1, 2014

• We need to work on the school culture, for both students and staff. Don’t forget about your staff #ASCA14#SCCHAT — Ryan VanKampen (@TheRVK) July 1, 2014
• Find collaborators, review data, create a plan and LISTEN to your stakeholders, parents, students, teachers, community, etc. #ASCA14 #Lead — Chris Wood (@ChrisWood415) July 1, 2014
• Big day at Conference Learning about school climate need a flow chart of staff structure; have a STAFF CELEBRATION committee #ASCA14 — Mary Beth McCormac (@mbmccormac) July 1, 2014
  
• Use a video game clip instead of a movie clip if you want to draw boys/gamers in when you want to emphasize an issue in CR guidance. #asca14 — Keith McMillin (@McMillinMEd) July 1, 2014

 

Look for Day 3 of ASCA Resources soon!

Thanks for stopping by!