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).
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.
Recently I’ve received several emails from readers asking about how I created my online portfolio. While in graduate school, I was assigned to make a portfolio for my intro to school counseling course. The idea was that once we had this binder we could add things as we moved through the program and we could use it during our job hunt. This is exactly what I did, but then I decided I wanted to showcase my knowledge and ability to use technology, hence the online portfolio.
I spent a lot of time researching and planning prior to creating my online portfolio. I looked at many different sites that would support my portfolio and ultimately decided to use Weebly. Weebly is super user friendly. They have a beautiful, clean site that is easy to navigate. They use drag and drop features so it really is easy to build a website. You can see how it works on this youtube video! You can also check out this step-by-step tutorial presented on Weebly’s own website. I also liked weebly because of the data tracker that allows me to see how many unique visitors came to my site. In case you are wondering – I am in no way affiliated with Weebly. I’ve just been really pleased with the site and customer support. There are other great portfolio sites out there, but I picked Weebly because it worked the best for me.
Once you decide which platform you are going to use then its time to create your portfolio! One of the first things you will be asked to do is create a name for your portfolio that is included in the url. I opted for my name so that my url was straightforward and simple to potential employers. You will also be asked to select a template. Templates have a lot of variety. I picked one that I could add my own personality to while also looking professional. Once you have done those two things then its time to add the content!
In my opinion these are the top things to include in a portfolio:
-Resume
-Professional Statement or Philosophy
-Sample Lesson Plan
As I built my own portfolio I looked at many other prospective and working school counselors’ online portfolios. I found ideas I liked, such as a 1 page sheet on how my work aligns with the ASCA model, and realized what formats I found pleasing to the eye. I encourage you to look at other people’s portfolios in and outside of the realm of counseling to get ideas about what might work for you.
With that said, please do not copy other people’s work, mine included. One reader did exactly what I am suggesting above, she looked at a variety of portfolios to see what she liked and to get ideas for her own. Through her search she found several portfolios that used my counseling approach, either parts of it or the statement in its entirety. When I received her email my stomach sank and turned upside down. I was hurt and disappointed by a few of my fellow school counselors. I encourage you to look for inspiration but remember, there is a difference between being inspired and plagiarism.
Some questions to consider as you build your own online professional portfolio:
What is the main idea I am trying to address on this page? Is it clear to the reader? As I built my weebly I found myself constantly editing. I wanted to make sure I was not wasting space or trying to put too much information in once place. I wanted my main idea to be clear and easy to find or understand.
Are there things on my portfolio that I find distracting? As I looked at other portfolios I discovered that I had a preference about side bars, something I had never considered before. I found them to be very distracting so I created a site that does not have side bars. Going back to the first question – I thought they took away from the main idea. Is there anything on your site that could be distracting to the reader?
Is this helping my job prospects? This seems like an obvious question but really think about it. If you are building an online professional portfolio to land a job ask yourself if its helping you land a job? Is it helping you get an interview? If there is information or documents that are not helping you then don’t include it.
Is the content putting my best self forward? Have you edited your portfolio? Just as typos are frowned upon on resumes and cover letters, make sure that your portfolio is making a good first impression too! Your portfolio acts as an extension of your resume. It is okay to let your personality to shine through but also make sure its professional and highlighting your strengths.
If you checked out Weebly and aren’t sure it is for you, here are a couple of articles that mention other online platforms, as well as helpful tips:
Just as I finished the last post, I thought maybe you would like to see how I used mindfulness as an intern.
I completed my 2nd semester internship at a local middle school. While there a great opportunity presented itself. The school psychology practicum student needed to co-lead a 4-5 session group and the counselors and school psychologist thought I might like to co-lead it with her. They were right! We worked in a special education classroom with 4-8 students each week for 4 sessions (attendance varied due to time with the speech therapist, behavioral consequences (suspension/office), and just day to day absences. These students were in mainstream classes for the majority of the day but were placed in a skills lab class for extra academic support. After consulting with their teacher, we realized that social skills is where our main focus needed to be; however, we also wanted to included a mindfulness piece to the group lessons.
As I mentioned in an earlier post – a little bit of mindfulness can go a long way! We spent about 5 minutes on mindfulness each class period but the results were exciting. Students reported being able to often or almost always keep their bodies from getting
tight and tense when they were feeling angry and upset. When we initially asked this question the range of answers was across the scale (never-seldom-sometimes-often-almost always). I wonder what would have happened if we had increased the number of session as well as our focus on this topic. It makes me excited to include this practice in the future.
So what did I do?
On my weebly I posted my 4 session lesson plans (5 lessons total – we combined 2) titled: Mindful Breaths, Social Skills, & Teamwork: Group Lesson Plans. The lessons crosswalk ASCA standards, Virginia counseling standards, and Virginia standards of learning. In the lessons you will notice that we used the same short clip each session. This was to help students get into a calm mindset during our time together, as well as time to practice what we were teaching them. I cannot share the exact mindful schools clip that I used during our group time since its part of their course Mindfulness Fundamentals; however, I found one that is very similar on their website called Mindfulness of the Breath. They also have several other free options on their site, as well.
How are you incorporating mindfulness into your counseling program?
The Spirited School Counselor 