In this episode of Counselor Chat, I’m thrilled to be joined by two inspiring elementary school counselors, Allie and Elizabeth from North Carolina. These two bring such incredible passion to their work, and today they’re giving us an inside look into the joys, challenges, and creative solutions they use to support their students.
We dive into what a “typical” day (if there even is one!) looks like for them, and they share everything from classroom lessons on empathy to creative attendance initiatives that keep students excited about coming to school. Their teamwork, problem-solving, and dedication to creating a welcoming environment are truly inspiring.
Here’s what you’ll hear about in this episode:
- Life as a School Counselor: Allie and Elizabeth discuss the highs, the lows, and the endless surprises in their day-to-day.
- Favorite Lessons & Activities: Discover their go-to activities like the toothpaste empathy lesson and teamwork-building with balloon activities.
- Small Group Success: Hear about the impact of small groups in building friendship skills, social competencies, and academic support.
- Creative Attendance Initiatives: Allie and Elizabeth reveal their unique approach to tackling chronic absenteeism with glow parties and personalized attendance goals.
- The Importance of Teamwork: Learn how having a supportive team makes all the difference and how they balance workloads to avoid burnout.
- Advice for New Counselors: Allie and Elizabeth share valuable insights on asking questions, taking risks, and working closely with admin to create lasting change.
If you’re looking for fresh ideas or just need a little inspiration to keep going, this episode is for you. Plus, it’s a reminder of why we all got into this field: to make a positive difference, one student at a time.
After you listen, I’d love to hear your thoughts or stories of impact!
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Transcript
Carol: You're listening to the Counselor Chat podcast, a show for school counselors looking for easy to implement strategies, how to tips, collaboration and a little spark of joy. I'm Carol Miller, your host. I'm a full time school counselor and the face behind counseling essentials. I'm all about creating simplified systems, data driven practices and using creative approaches to engage students. If you're looking for a little inspiration to help you make a big impact on student growth and success, your you're in the right place because we're better together. Ready to chat. Let's dive in everyone, and welcome back to another episode of Counselor Chat. I'm so glad that you're here and I'm really excited because today, and I hope you're excited for this too, you're not going to hear me just ramble on and on. I actually have some guests with me so I have Allie and Elizabeth here from North Carolina. They are elementary school counselors and I thought it would be fun to just hear about their day, what they do and all that kind of stuff. So with that I'm going to turn it over to our guests and I'm going to have them introduce themselves and just give us all the dirt.
Elizabeth: Right.
Allie: Well, I'm Allie. I'm a third year counselor, a first year counseling in North Carolina and I previously worked in Florida for two years. And I'm really excited to just kind of get into it and share what it's like being a counselor with my co counselor here, Elizabeth.
Elizabeth: Hey, I'm Elizabeth. I'm also in my third year of counseling. I've been at the same school for all of my years so far. We work at an elementary school, Pre K through fifth grade. We have about 570ish students, give or take and we split our caseload by every other grade level. So I have first, third and fifth this year, Allie has Kinder, second and fourth and then we loop up with our students. So we stay with the same students, same families all year, every year. And then we both kind of split support with our extension students and our pre K students. But it's been a great year so far, working together.
Carol: Awesome. I love that.
Allie: So when we, we really thought about, you know, what do we want to share? You know, most of us as counselors as especially in the elementary level, you ask what's a typical day as a counselor? And how do you answer that? Right. There's not one we would love to give you a typical day, but it's just, it's always changing and I think that is what has drawn me into the world of staying in education? I first was a classroom teacher working as a first grade teacher for three years as well. And I just love that element of there is nothing the same about your day. So when we thought about, we've been really, really fortunate to just hit the ground running together. This is my first year working at our school and I just was ready to dive in. Like most school counselors we do, it feels like a little bit of everything which our district, when we look at our whole, our whole and our school wide approach to positive behavior and mitigating and preventative and preventative programming, we do look to get in for classroom lessons as often as possible. What we have a unique position in our school is that our district requires once per quarter for us to get in for classroom lessons. But with Elizabeth's guidance and her, her knowledge of the school prior to me arriving, she has helped to direct it in a, in a different way of ensuring that we're getting into classrooms to meet the needs of our students, which ultimately puts us in about three times per quarter, which is amazing. And the support that we receive from our administration is amazing to get that preventative programming done. So we're looking at anywhere from 10 to 15 lessons per classroom, which I think is both a lofty but achievable goal for us. And then I was trying to think what is my favorite topic to cover as far as classroom guidance? And I think this year was just that. Get to know you. Welcome back to school. Because for me I was in a position where these, these kids, I really needed their buy in. I'm new this year, I'm a new face, I'm new to the teachers, I'm new to the staff, new to the kids, new to the families. So to really just say this is who I am and I'm here to help, you haven't seen me. But I needed to build that trust. And then that was, I think my favorite part of the classroom lessons here is just that is getting, getting to say, hey, I'm ready to support you. Um, so I also want to know from my co counselor here, what was, what was your favorite lesson you've done up to this point or even something you're looking forward to?
Elizabeth: Oh, good question. So you actually have fourth grade this year, which means you have my favorite lesson that we do, which is our empathy. Less with the toothpaste. If you're a school counselor, you probably know what that is, but if you haven't heard of it, it's a great lesson. You really have to put a lot of trust in your kids to not make it a disaster. But with really good expectations, it goes really well. My fourth graders, who are now fifth graders, still talk about it. The teachers refer to it. So basically, they are comparing their mouse to a tube of toothpaste. And we talk about how your words affect others and that you can't take them back. And it's a really powerful lesson. They can't get the toothpaste back in the tube. We talk about not just being what we call the squeezers or the people that are just having all these words come out of their mouths, the toothpaste coming out. But we also added an element of being a spreader. So spreading the toothpaste around, the gossip, how that makes things worse. And the teachers are really able to grasp onto that language, too. So when they start hearing things like, oh, don't be a spreader. We talked about this already. So they love it, too, because it gives them some language to talk to the kids. But my favorite fifth grade lesson that I've done was actually my intro lesson as well. And I used the There was, like, a balloon activity where every kid had their name on a balloon, and their goal was to find their balloon the first time. They were not allowed to talk. They weren't allowed to help each other. They had to find their balloon and their balloon only. And then we kind of moved to where they were able to help each other, and if they found someone else's balloon, they could give it to them. And we kind of talked about how their class is going to be like a team this year and how it was so much easier for us to accomplish a task when we're able to help each other, and we're not just only looking out for ourselves. So that was a really good way to open up the year for fifth grade. And then we obviously kind of led into our usual intro with confidentiality and what we're here for and what we can help with. But that was a really good way to start it out. And again, a lot of trust with my fifth graders and the balloons. But I like to keep it fun for them. And I do feel like since we're able to stay with the same kids for so often, you really do get to know their limits and what they're able to handle. So that's been my favorite. But I know we also our favorite things also. I think both of us love our small groups, and we've been able to do a lot of small group, not just on the behavior Intervention side, but also through just our proactive and preventative and even just fun small group lessons, just with the help of our admin kind of protecting our time. So I'll let Ali talk a little bit about her small groups first.
Allie: Sure. So I was able to jump right in again. I said, like, I've really just gone, I feel like headfirst into this new role, and I definitely am loving it. I say I'm busy and I'm tired, but that's good. That means I'm doing my job. But so when I Jumping right in is I did more of. To start with my second graders, I did a friendship group to start kind of Making and Keeping friends is where we had a small group of students who were maybe new this year and then maybe one or two who just needed some additional social skill support, but then also providing the opportunity for those helper friends and those model friends. So we've really talked about focusing on our words and how our words have meaning and maybe we're thinking something and we want to say it, but is that really going to help us? Um, so we've done a lot of. I feel like a lot of the friendship skills and making Keeping friends has translated more into the social skills aspect. And I think what I really had the opportunity last week, and it was awesome to see in just this group of girls who are all very different from four different classes. And we. I paired them up myself, which that they always want to pick their partners. And I had six of them, so it ended up being perfect. They had very simple questions like, do you like soccer or baseball? Do you like pizza or ice cream? But they had to tally looking at the things that we had the same and the things that we had different. And they were like, wait a minute. We only had four things the same and four things different. I didn't even think that was it. Realizing when you look at something so simple as, like, your favorite food to eat, we can still find other things to connect on, even if we don't like the same things. And it was just a really cool kind of aha moment for these girls, which then this is all ocean and sea creature themed lessons based on the materials that I'm using. So then we created a fish of all different scales to show that when we create and we, you know, put our work together, we don't all have to look the same. We don't all have to be the same, but we still kind of come together and create this really unique and special picture. So I felt like a lot really got accomplished in that 25, 30 minutes. And it was really cool to see after about six to seven lessons of six to seven small group pull outs that they're like, oh, this is, this is really cool. I'm really starting to connect with these. And let me tell you, I have a couple of the students who are counting down. They're like, today is Friday, I gotta get through the weekend and I will see her on Tuesday. And to know that I've already made such a great impact. These girls, and not just them, but so many others, it's been really cool to see. And then I've also started small groups for fourth grade and academic and study skills support. And that's been really cool. We just did a. This is my favorite of the series of lessons I've been using so far was looking at how do we organize things. I gave them pictures of like how to make lemonade and they had to sequence it and then they'd be like, well, does it really go here or should we do it here? And making them work together. Because one person may have this, one person may have this. But then when we put it together, let's see how. Using not only organizational skills, but collaboration skills as well, which then we took something from the how to of step by step by step to then moving it into how do you want to organize a binder? They're like, oh, I don't know. What are these? Like, they held up dividers. Like they held up dividers like, I don't know what these are. And I was like, dividers. And they just still looked at me like, what's this lady talking about? Or I dumped out a pencil box and I'm like, organize it. They said, you just made a mess. I'm like, nope, I just made it. I made you organize it. We're going to learn this. So it's. I took. I. I made that connection. And they're like, oh, I get it now. You're trying to teach us how to keep things in order. I was like, bingo, that's it. So just to have those opportunities has already been so, so cool. And I'm excited. I'm getting ready to start up kindergarten self regulation and bodies under control and really just reiterating the, the lessons that are being taught in the classroom as well. So that is my next round of small groups that are going to be going before the holiday season. So I'm really excited. Really, really cool.
Carol: Awesome. I. So I have to just say I have to jump in here for a second because one of the things that I really love is that you both are. You're pretty new to counseling, and the passion that you're just sharing right now is what I wish that all of our counselors could feel. Because, look, I've been doing this. I know I told Allie before we started recording. This is my 34th year, so it's not like I'm brand new to this at all, But I am still really energetic, and I just love what I do. There's a passion, and sometimes I think, especially when I'm in Facebook and I'm reading all the posts that are in there, there's just this, like, heaviness, this weight on so many newer counselors that, like, I. I don't know if I could do this every day or I'm kind of losing my passion for it, but to hear your excitement is just. Is just awesome. I love it. So yay.
Allie: I think we're here to stay.
Elizabeth: I think we both just. We both love our job. We both love that we come in every day and don't always view it as a job. And I do think that a big part of it, like, I'll speak for myself, but I think Allie agrees that it's like, having that really good team makes it fun to come into work every day. So, like, not, yeah, there's a lot of burdens and there's heavy stuff that we deal with, but, like, knowing that I can, like, walk down the hallway to her office and be like, oh, my gosh, like, you would not believe what just happened. And that's most days after school for us as well, as we do have a social worker who's there a few days a week. And our school psychologist is very experienced. We have people that we're able to kind of lean back on, which definitely, I don't think it necessarily makes the load lighter, but we just have more people to carry it. It's just been. It's been like a breath of fresh air, for sure. Having another newer counselor, we're both excited. We're both able to kind of complement each other's ideas and also tell each other when it's like, no, that's too much. We're not doing another thing. Being able to have that honesty as well has been really great. I think that has helped me a lot. Having a new counselor this year in the building. It's just been amazing to be able.
Allie: To work together and to speak to that, too, is. I came from a school with the most supportive and welcoming, you know, but it's. It's the burden of numbers too. Sometimes that is so challenging. I was my first year the only person that was there full time. I had a part time social worker and a part time school psychologist. So still learning the profession, I was able to call on them I felt like, and I still could. I still am in touch with them even though I've moved. They're just so wonderful. I could truly call them day or night when I needed something. But it's, it's just having someone to learn alongside of as well and being able to share that load in the counseling department because everyone on that student services team has their own role. So I moved up to the Charlotte area in April not kind of knowing what was next. So I am incredibly grateful that this was that next step to work alongside Elizabeth here as well.
Carol: Awesome. I will just say I think having a team is so nice. Most of my years I was actually the sole counselor. It was just me and I had some pretty, pretty big caseloads. In my first school when I was a brand spanking new counselor, I was split between six buildings and I mean inner city school. It was huge. And it was just me going to these different places every day and you don't know what you don't know and when you don't have that person sometimes to bounce things off of, you're kind of in such isolation. And I'm going to say we didn't have like the world of Facebook way back then and we didn't have like the most supportive group. So unless you actually had a person that you could go to, there really wasn't a whole lot of support. And now I'm part of a team. And you're right, having a team member can be just the greatest experience.
Elizabeth: Well and like just shout out to anybody who has to split schools because I can't imagine what that is like on the day to day I got called over as like an emergency life support to the middle school down the road actually on Friday at like 12:30 and just ended up there for the rest of the day supporting for a suicide assessment and just that that need to be in two different places at once. So you're leaving something at the other building that you need to be there for. It's oftentimes I know our student services there's not just between two different schools at the same level but they are going from an elementary school to a middle school or a high school down to an elementary school. Just the difference also in that just the topics and things that you're supporting. It was Challenging just for the day. So shout out to everyone who has to do that. I know we have half of our team at our school that has to do that. I just. I can't imagine how. You definitely are the most organized people that we have. So, yeah, I can't imagine.
Carol: While you're here and I have. You guys live. How do you think or what advice would you have for other counselors? Like, especially ones that are brand new and Allie, I know that you're brand new to this. What. What advice could you give someone maybe who's like, interning or just starting out?
Allie: My thought was like, my initial thought is ask the questions. My. I think. And I'm still asking the questions. It doesn't matter your level of new to seasoned and everything in between. Things are constantly changing in the field of education. So you. You don't. You don't know what you don't know. And it truly means I would rather someone ask me a question and we can come to the conclusion together than leave someone confused. So that's why I am someone who just asks questions because I would like things done. If I'm going to do it, I want to do it right and I want to do it well. And I just want to learn. And I think especially the. That's the first thing that came to my mind when you said, what would you tell someone who's interning? Like, even that? Because I think back to even my first intern. So I. I did a practicum in clinical mental health as well. So I go back to thinking both, kind of both sides out of the classroom setting and in the classroom setting. And you just want to do right by these students. And I think that's the best thing you can do is if you have a question, just ask it, because you're never going to learn that way either. So that's my biggest. And don't. Don't be afraid. I think a lot of right now, even being on this team together, we've definitely taken a lot of risks in just trying out different programs. So something that we are kind of taking a risk on and to try that we did want to talk about in one of our attendance initiatives.
Elizabeth: Um, this is literally my advice. So that's great. We have the same brain.
Allie: Go ahead.
Elizabeth: I was going to say you have to take risks on the things that you're really passionate about, because that's what we doing. So go ahead. This is.
Allie: I think this is literally it taking that risk. So mine ask questions. Elizabeth. Take risks. And we both take risks in that sense, too, because we. Elizabeth comes to me. She's like, yeah, maybe last month or so. And she's like, hey, I've got this great idea, but I need your help. And I'm like, well, okay, this could go one of two ways. We're going to see how it goes. And she. We are looking a lot at chronic absenteeism, which I know is an issue across many different schools. So when we looked at our data for chronic absenteeism, like, okay, that's a big push for us. What can we do on our end to make this a supportive element? So Elizabeth comes to me and is like, hey, have you ever heard of an attendance? And I was like, no, you're just kind of sitting here. She's like, we look at the top 25, which is. We kind of had the opportunity to then mold this into what we wanted. She comes and she's like, let's look at the top 25 chronically absent families, because oftentimes you're gonna get the pair, the two or three of them from the same family, and let's hold party like a celebration when they meet attendance goals. So I said, all right, let's go. That sounds great. So I do kind of want to let you talk a little bit more about the attendance, because you're the one who came to me, and I am just ready to support that risk. You want to take 1000%, so I'll let you go ahead.
Elizabeth: So I actually heard about this. Our district, at the end of the year, they have a share out with a team of maybe 10 other schools at our level. Just what we did and what our goals were and how we related them to ASCA and all. All these things that we have to kind of share out in a presentation. And I think three or four of the schools that I listened in on did the attendance. So I was like, something must be up with this. This must be really good. So we were able to kind of mold it. Most schools do the top 25 kids that are chronically absent. We expanded it, like Ali said, to families because we have so many sibling pairs. But it really came down to taking those students that are the highest chronic absenteeism, and then making personalized attendance goals for them. Okay. We felt like if we were rewarding them, that was kind of a fair limit to put on each student. But we did have some that were as low as one day for the month. And we are looking at days absent per school days in the month. And we are looking at right now at least two thirds of our students that are actually meeting those goals. And we only have a few days left, so we're really cheering them on to try to get them here through the 31st. But all of those students have a folder stapled on top. There's a coloring sheet that they did with us the first day when we kind of explained. Explained the initiative was got them pumped up for it. And then there are the number of stars on their sheet matches the number of days, school days that we have in the month. So they come in, they color a star every day. No matter what time they get there, they get to color a star so it ships to school. And then on the inside there's a check in sheet. So they're able to earn three check marks a day for being here at all and then for at dismissal. So we're also able to kind of check late or leaving early. And those students are eligible for more prizes based on being on time. As well as some of our kids, I think we have four or five kids that have perfect that were missing four days a month in the past on Thursday, first thing in the morning. So again encouraging them that they need to be at school on time with a big glow dance party. We're going to be picking them up with a lot of hype. We got all these glow things from our print and some of our teachers donated some things for us to borrow. Um, so we're really excited about that. And that has just been so fun to see kids running in off the bus, I gotta get my breakfast, I gotta color my star. And then kids that I wouldn't see as often that maybe aren't on my caseload, that because we're both checking in with them and seeing how they're doing for the attendance. They're coming over and they're showing me I have this many stars left to color and I'm going to be at the dance. So that's been super fun just to see how that's taken off. And we're really hoping it continues. Especially with these months with a lot of holidays, that should be easier. I know we've already counted only has 15 school days for our district. It sounds like it should be easier.
Allie: But I feel like those months living that different caseload. So some of the students even I'm just thinking to like a first grader who runs up to me in breakfast to tell me I am here, I'm ready. You know, that is the excitement. So this is, you know, when we talk about taking risks, you know, this was a big risk. We put a lot of time and effort into it, especially thinking about all the other stuff that we may be called for because on top of classroom lessons and small groups, we do work with individual students on a case by case basis and we do support for behavior interventions and check in, check out with students. So our, our caseload in our day is full for things that were more but what we really looked at, we're even talking what do we want to add next year and we're only in October, so maybe we need to slow our roll a little bit. But I think that is when you talk about the passion, that's the stuff that keeps us going is what's working now. But like maybe we slowly add in more as we continue to go to kind of keep that energy alive for us as well.
Elizabeth: And I would also say like you are first year counselors that are listening to this or those in your internship here. Like a supportive admin means everything. We would not be able to do this and have the time to this without that time being protected and our admin being really supportive of wanting attendance to improve and being willing to take those risks with us. And you just have. It wasn't that long ago that I was a first year counselor and I sat down with my principal and I said I have this vision for a mentorship program. I did a lot of researching on the importance of having, you know, two adults in a kid's life and we out of kids with single mothers. What if, what if I started a mentorship program. It started out for boys to get a male figure in their life. And my principal was like, I don't have time with this but if you want full support, go do it. And that program now supports over 50 kids. We actually serve both boys and girls. We have a lot of interest in our community where we have people, it's not just dads or grandfathers that are at our school, but people who are coming in to support the school from the community to be in these kids lives. And we've been able to take the kids to a Charlotte FC game. We have these guys coming in at least once every other week. A lot of them come every week to just see how kids light up for another adult in their life. And all the kids are then asking well when do I get one of those guys? And they come in with their T shirts and kid wants a hug from them and important for the community to be involved in our school too so they're able to see what the next generation will pour into them that just Happened because of a risk that I took. And yes, puts extra work into my day. But those that are like your joy spots of being able to do those things that are your passion, they make the things that, like, for me, like data Entry and Tier 2, Tier 3 behavior interventions, the like, not so fun part, that's just things that you have to do. I feel like it makes those things not as burdensome as I know. I have so many other things that I am allowed to do in the space that I have to feel like I'm making a difference through those other programs has been such a blessing for me. I feel like that's something that I would have. That encouragement that I got from actually my mentor when I was an internship was just like, you gotta go for it. And if you have a good idea, be confident in that idea. And hopefully you're surrounded by people that will encourage those too.
Carol: I definitely think that school counseling is one where you have to bring ideas to the ball. Because we're. We're in the game. We're in the business of creating systemic change. Not like I want this behavior to change for this 30 seconds. But we're looking for change that's going to really go into the future. And a lot of the times, the work that we do, it's really not measured by data because we are. We're the seed planter, right? We plant the little seeds and then it takes time to watch them grow. And some seeds don't grow like a day or so. Seeds take like a year before they start to sprout. You really have to put the time and the energy in. So, yeah, you have to be passionate. You have to definitely come with the ideas and you have to. Even if you. I think you're with an administration that's overly supportive, there are definitely ways that you can talk to them. And I think using data is their love language. Talking about data and how by looking at the data, these are the areas that we're weak in. And then these are the ideas that I'm coming to you with that I think can raise these data points. Then you're talking their language. You can make somebody who's maybe not all about school counseling into a school counselor fan.
Elizabeth: Yeah, I totally agree with that. I think the data was definitely on our side in terms of the mentorship program, because I had that background from grad school. I did a lot of research. I had the numbers to support it as well as with attendance. I mean, we are always trying to find ways to support attendance. So when we were about the attendance, I was like, oh, for sure. This is going to go by admin because they want to see our attendance improve. So willing to try anything. But also at the same time, like, being able to set boundaries of this is not some other extra things of I'm not able to take this on because we're doing attendance or I. I can't for XYZ reason. And being able to, like you said, kind of speak up moments and set boundaries so that we are able to still do our job effectively and we're not spread too thin. Um, I think that's a constant conversation have with our admin teammates. Like, there are definitely times that Allie will willingly run to a walkie call because she's like, elizabeth needs a minute and she knows that I would do the same. So just being able to set those boundaries and have people to support you in those moments, I think is really.
Carol: Important too, because you guys, you definitely have a team. You have to make the most of it. Right? And so with those walkie talk calls, it's not just one person supporting the school. I mean, you have a whole team. You talked about a social worker and a school psychologist. I'm sure there's other people in your that could also answer those calls as well. Because the one thing that you did talk about earlier was protected time, and I think that is crucial. I think when we talk about setting our time blocks and what we need as our protected time, then we're really advocating the most for ourselves.
Elizabeth: Yeah. Ali, do you want to talk a little bit about our code colors that we're so excited about this year?
Carol: I will.
Allie: I said I wanted to check on time, but this kind of just leads right into talking about those response calls. I have not been in a position where there's code colors. And for any counselors out there listening, this has been life changing because this is also new to the school this year. President has told me in the past we have multiple colors that are the walkie talkie, and right now there is only one that is specific for an always counselor response, and that is the color orange, and that is the counselor. So that's for something that's kind of like uncontrolled, maybe death and family, finding out details, things that happen at home that maybe needs a little support. That's a student risk assessment. So really looking at the, you know, definite jobs here, and that is our call. That is our area of specialty, because if someone else were to get called, they would call us for that. That has been very, very beneficial. And we have a wide range of support staff at our school. We have additional members of our staff for behavior support. We have an administrative role that specifically works with student discipline and working on promoting positive student behavior through PBIS as well. So they are other individuals in addition to our administration that do respond to walkie calls. So then it is. We are ultimately a team. So when days of individuals may be absent for a variety of reasons, on that list of co and co and walkie talkie calls, we will respond. That's just looking at being a supportive member of the team and just, just being there ultimately at the end of the day because you want to do right by your students. So that does lead into our protected time is that if it's called for an administrator, then that's who responds. If it's called for a student who just needs a refocus and a reset, then it's someone who is a behavior support. And so that has also been extremely helpful in allowing for both Elizabeth and I to perform those essential duties of our jobs, which has been things the more tedious tasks of data entry and tracking data. And we've been able to do things where we split the load for supporting our preschool students to look at how we can support them and by doing student observations as needed. So that really does lead well into the code colors that we use at our school.
Elizabeth: Yeah, I would definitely say since I have been at this school my entire time as a school counselor, I came in first year where counselors were responding all the time. I didn't run hardly any small groups. The small groups that I did run were never consistent. And this is something that, you know, we brought to admin and we said there's no way that we can do what is required of us as a school counselor, what our job should entail if we're constantly going to the walkie calls. And from there there was kind of a support tree that was made of who's supposed to be first in line. But having a new dean this year and being able to work with that person and kind of bounce some ideas off about these co colors, not just to we don't want to go to these walkie calls, but also to know if we're going what are we walking into, like what is needed in the moment. Because we do have colors that are a five minute walk, a reset or refocus. There was a safety issue. So we know a little bit with a teacher having to stop their class, come over, divulge that information, especially potentially in front of the student and that could escalate it more. We have that information. So even if we are going to those walkie calls, which we're going to much fewer because we have just that one code color for us specifically, like Allie said, unless there's day that people are absent, it's extremely helpful for me with it being the first year that we have it, to just know what I'm walking into that way I know how to best support and I also feel back on this as well. So that they're getting what they need in the moment and it's not just us coming. The kid tells us something that didn't happen or they kind of bring it down and say, well, I was just talking when the teacher wasn't talking and turns out that student was doing something unsafe. And we weren't able to address that because we didn't know and can only talk to the students. So it's just put us in a good position to be able to support the teachers. So the feedback all around has been really good. And even when we've been able to go to some of our district professional development and share some of our day, looks like we have counselors from other schools being like, oh my gosh, what is that card that's attached to your lanyard? And it's all our code colors. They're like, need this. If you do it, your school highly recommend it. It's just been a lifesaver for us and I think it's been really great for our students as well to get them back in the learning environment as possible too.
Carol: I'm from the philosophy that I'm trying to eliminate all walkie calls because I believe that the behavior, a lot of that is the teacher's responsibility and they're the front line and they're the ones that should try to be, first of all providing the emotional regulation to their kid because that's how you build a community. So I am all for like cutting that all off and really protecting my time because even something like, well, the kid was crying or the kid is asked, well, if I take that child out, I'm not helping that kid and I'm not helping that teacher build that relationship with that kid so that the kid feels welcomed in that class. So I'm trying to cut out all walkie talkie talkie.
Elizabeth: I'm totally with you on that with it Being a teacher first line of defense as well, and helped with that. In addition to our code colors is that our dean this year implemented what we're calling restorative steps and they have to follow certain steps in order to get to the point where a walkie call is wouldn't say allowed. There are some, obviously, if it's a safety issue, they have to call, but they are needing to give a reminder, send them to the calming corner. Every class in our school has a common corner. It's a buddy room, parent phone call and then calling for that child to potentially be removed or have an additional person come into the room. Because like what we talk about with our teachers all the time is that once you call, we're happy to come work, but it's kind of like it's out of your hands and you're not able to control in your classroom anymore because you've had to resource out. And depending on how often you have to do that, the kids, whether consciously or subconsciously understand that you're not able to have that movement in your classroom. That's been helpful too, is that there's definitely an a step, a list of steps that has to be followed before they're just defaulting to oh, this kid needs to get out. This kid needs to get out. This kid is like you said, under the desk. You know, if you can ignore it and everyone else is learning, you can address that with that student at a certain time. So yeah, and that is a lot.
Allie: Of positive that I feel like we see is the use of all those steps that are being implemented. But all of our teachers do provide social emotional learning through a different. Through social emotional learning curriculum each morning, every day through a morning meeting. So all of these community buildings and then the putting everything into practice is also really again, the beneficial that Ben ultimately comes back to us as counselors where our time does get protected with a lot of other preventative programming besides just us doing it as well.
Carol: That's, that's. And I think for the newer counselors or for counselors that are listening in, just knowing how to protect your time is just so important. And I love the suggest gave for that and how you're working with your admin and how you guys came up with systems that really work for your school. Because each school is kind of different, right? Oh yeah. Different than mine. The school that I worked at before is way different than the one I'm working at now. Nothing is the same. So you kind of have to like see what's going to work best for, for me in my place that I am right at this moment. So. But your passion and the stuff that you're doing is just. Oh, it's just wonderful. We could probably Talk another, like, show or two all about, like, the different things. Because we're like. One of our big goals is attendance two this year. And so we're also working on our chronic absentee. We could do, like, whole show.
Elizabeth: Oh, definitely. Call us back.
Allie: We will have the data here in just three more days. We will have the official data. You let us know. We'll be ready.
Elizabeth: Also have some pictures of kids at a glow party and us in ridiculous outfits. So stay tuned because we.
Carol: We're that, like, party stuff. We're more like, okay, so this kid hit 10 days. So now we have to call after. Like, we have this new protocol. So after three days, teacher has to call after 10 days. Then they also get a letter. But then we call. We have a parent meeting. Contracts that the parent signs. We have contracts that the kids signed. We're trying to do, like, some curriculum with them, but we don't have, like, the fun, fun stuff.
Elizabeth: So thankfully our social worker takes care of a lot of that stuff. We have that same. The three days, six day, ten day. All those letters and the meetings and. Yeah, she gets to do that. Unfortunately, we do the fun stuff.
Carol: I remember, like, before we started this, it was just like, the kids got a letter. And I always would say, the letter. A notification is not an intervention. My boss was like, oh, again with the notification and the interruption. But I like the idea of a party. I. We don't do anything like that. But that would be super fun.
Elizabeth: Yeah, it's.
Carol: So, yeah, I want to see pictures. I want to know, like, I want to hear all the dirt on that later.
Elizabeth: It's going to be super fun. And it's. It's just. It's fun for them every day, too, with something so small. And our principal supports some other things for perfect attendance and best attendance and all these things, but these are the kids that always get left out of those. We're just trying to find something that we could really target those kids where they're needing the most helpful. Um. So, yeah, it's just. It's been fun every day. Just every. Because I work. I'm. I'm on the bus lot. That's my morning duty. I mean, everyone who else has to have duty. It's not the best, but this is because I get to see all their. All their faces coming off the bus every morning. They're not always happy, but the ones that are coloring their stars are happy because I just tell them, good morning. I'm so happy they're at school. You guys better get your breakfast and go call your star. And they're like, yes, Miss Fozzy.
Allie: I'm going.
Elizabeth: So it's fun. I think it's going to be super fun when we're able to actually do the big celebration.
Carol: Okay, you know what? I. In my last elementary building that I worked at, I was one of the hallway greeters in the morning. That was my duty for our chronic satism. This is, I don't know what you're saying is like making me think right now, but one of the things that I would have my kids do, the ones that were chronically absent, is I would have some well wishers with me. I would get like, if they were in school, they got to stand with me and they got to wish everyone well. It's like, I wish you well today. They would say, it was so cute. I wish you a good day.
Elizabeth: I'm going to start making sure patrol do that. We have fifth grade that do safety patrol and they just sometimes, you know, they're not looking the most happy to be on safety patrol in the morning.
Allie: But that did give me an idea for one of our attendance prizes is to be like our kind of like our shadow to greet everybody.
Elizabeth: Oh, fun.
Allie: See, there you go. I'm thinking, I'm thinking about some friends who would literally love that.
Elizabeth: Same friends, as long as they're not on the.
Carol: You have to be on a podcast so you get ideas like, like you like bouncing forth off one another and like, oh my gosh, I can use this. So thank you.
Elizabeth: This was good.
Carol: Okay, one quick thing before I have you leave. Just a fun little weird question. Okay, Allie, we'll start with you. If you were any item in the refrigerator, what would you be and why?
Allie: Hmm. Right now, thinking about my fridge right now I've got these mini meat and cheese boxes to go that I picked up at Costco.
Elizabeth: I say this.
Allie: I was trying not.
Elizabeth: To laugh because I was like pieces that Allie bought for us to keep in the fridge at school because we never get to eat one.
Allie: So. So not only is that the reason, because they're like literally the best to go snag, but I also have a one year old son who is hilariously. I mean he's, he's a big boy and obsessed with food. Where B got the same meat and cheese pack over the weekend and my son basically was like, that's mine, so don't even bother. So it's a high ticket item and always wanted around here and it's kind of like our jobs as counselors. High ticket always Needed. Because I always say, like, I ask Elizabeth, I'm like, do you need me before I go? And she's like, no, I'm good. And I'm like, well, that was a loaded question. You always need me. I like that, though, because it not only was like, what do I love right now? But, like, all the other things I think about, and they're from Costco, at least in our areas. So. And I got Elizabeth. I said, hey, I'm going to Costco. Do you anything. And she's like, I'll Venmo you for my meats and cheese.
Carol: Okay, Elizabeth, I have a different question for you. Are you ready? Yes. All right. If you were one of Snow White, seven dwarfs, which dwarf would you be and why?
Elizabeth: Oh, 100% I'm sleepy. I can nap anywhere at any time. If my office door is not open, you should check on me to make sure I'm not sleeping on my little carpet. I'm. I never sleep at work if my admin is listening. I don't do that. It's just joke. But I. I'm always sleepy. Like, it doesn't matter how much sleep I get. I can be super energetic. Like, right now, I feel great. I am not tired. But, like, if I put myself on a bed, I'm out, I'm done. And it's just. It's kind of like I feel, like, definitely a blessing for people in education. I hear all these people at the Sunday Scaries, and they can't get to sleep, and that is just not me. You can put me anywhere, and I'm out. My. My mom is a professional musician. I got dragged around to all sorts of orchestra rehearsals and concerts and whatever, and I was back there at probably two years old, sleeping next to the percussion section. So maybe that's where I got my from. But, yeah, sleepy, for sure.
Carol: Okay. I. I love it. I'm also one that when I hit the pillow, I'm done. Like, it takes me, like, to the count of five. All right, well, this has been a lot of fun. Thank you guys so much for joining me. Is there anything else that you want to. Like, do you have contact information that you want to share with people or anything like that?
Elizabeth: Well, we work at Rhema Road elementary in Charlotte Mecklenburg Schools. So our emails are on our website. If anyone has any questions about attendance or meats and cheeses or any of those things, we're available. Rayma proud and.
Carol: Awesome. All right.
Allie: As I really mean it. I love just having the chance to connect. So when this opportunity to connect with you, Carol. I actually screenshotted it and was like, you in. And then within minutes, Elizabeth had tagged both of us on your Facebook post through the elementary group to say, yes, we're here. So it wasn't even a conversation. So the fact that we get to share and kind of connect in this way in just a unique way that even 10 years ago people weren't able to do, it's really, really cool. So thank you all for listening.
Elizabeth: The more ideas, the better.
Carol: The more ideas, the better, because you never know what's going to spark that. Oh my gosh. I have an idea for that. So thanks again and to our listeners. I hope that you got a couple little nuggets out of this because there's a couple things that I want to try now and I don't know, go off, be awesome. Have a great day. Bye for now. Thanks for listening to today's episode of Counselor Chat. All of the links I talked about can be found in the show notes and at counselingessentials.org podcast. Be sure to hit follow or subscribe on your favorite podcast player. And if you would be so kind to leave a review, I'd really appreciate it. Want to connect? Send me a DM on Facebook or Instagram at Counseling Essentials until next time. Can't wait till we chat. Bye for now.