Saturday, February 9, 2013

National School Counseling Week & a useful tech tool

I am sad to say National School Counseling Week flew by faster than I expected it to. It was quite a week at the middle school: multiple girl fights, working very hard to get a start on my small counseling groups, preparing for FCAT writes testing, guided imagery with my grief group, and so much more I feel that I am forgetting. Here is the link to an article I found and truly enjoyed that discusses the celebration of school counselors.

Each morning this past week, students at the middle school were greeted by my smiling (sometimes very awkward) face and a message for the day. The messages came from a variety of sources:



day 1, a line from Dr. Seuss' Oh, the Places You'll Go. "You'll get mixed up, of course, as you already know. You'll get mixed up with many strange birds as you go. So be sure when you step, step with great care and tact, and remember that life's a great balancing act! Just never forget to be dexterous and deft. And never mix up your right foot with your left."day 2, shared the theme for the week of Liberty and Learning for All, defined liberty and learning, and encouraged students to be responsible for their actions and think about what the theme meant to them. day 3, one of my favorite sayings, which I saw on Pinterest, "An arrow can only be shot by pulling it backward. When life is dragging you back with difficulties, it only means it is going to launch you into something great." day 4, Thomas Edison, "Our lives are not determined by what happens to us but by how we react to what happens, not by what life brings to us, but by the attitude we bring to life...There are two types of people: those who fear failure so they never try, and those who fear failure so they never quit." and finally on day 5, Aristotle, "Excellence is an art won by training and habituation. We do not act rightly because we have virtue or excellence, but we rather have those because we have acted rightly. We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then, is not an act but a habit."

In addition, we were able to hang some posters at the school which read "Celebrate National School Counseling Week." I found a number of poster ideas on school counseling blogs and the ASCA website. Some ideas I have for future posters to hang during this week include the following:

  • On a light bulb shaped poster: "School counselors help light the way."
  • On an arrow shaped poster: "School counselors help point you in the right direction."
  • On a plus sign poster: "School counselors help us see the positives."
  • On an mp3 player shaped poster: "Need someone to listen? Visit your school counselor."
  • On a cell phone shaped poster: "Need someone to talk to? Call on your school counselor."
Another plan we had to mark this week of celebration was to send out a survey to all teachers in the school. Somehow, between all the dramatic moments, we never had the opportunity to do so. That will be the first thing on my plan for next week at the school. The survey is brief, consisting of only 6 questions, and can be viewed here. I ask that you only view it and do not submit a response to the survey as I have set it up to keep track of responses so that I may review the data later on. 

With that said, I am sharing a valuable technology tool. With any Gmail account, one has access to Google Drive. Google Drive is a wonderful service that stores files and is also very useful for collaborating on single documents, presentations, spreadsheets, etc. with multiple people. Think group work! Super, super useful and I wish I had known of its awesomeness when I was working on my undergraduate degree and wanting to pull my hair out every time group work was mentioned. Okay, who am I kidding...I still want to pull my hair out every time group work is mentioned. #doesn'tworkwellwithothers  Back to my point, Google Drive is very useful for the Closing the Gap project I am completing this semester but also as a tool for being an accountable school counselor who tracks data. The survey feature is a great tool for gathering data from teachers and others about students that I am tracking. A link to the survey can be emailed out to numerous individuals and when they submit a response, those responses can be tracked via a spreadsheet in Google Drive. Enough advice and suggesting from me, try it for yourself and if you hate it, let me know, because I have yet to find someone who does not see its value. I am daring you all to prove me wrong!


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