90. Is That Trash Actually Treasure? A Holiday Reminder For School Counselors

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, you're in the right place.

Because we're better together. Ready to chat. Let's dive in.

Carol: Hi everyone. Welcome back to another episode of Counselor Chat. I am so glad that you are here with us today and we are going to be talking about the holidays.

As we are approaching the holidays and we are also getting really close to break. By the time this episode airs, we are going to be midway through December and the holidays are basically upon us.

But before we really go into that, I just want to remind everyone that holidays can be kind of stressful for people. It's not all like, oh, thank you, we are off for two weeks and I am going to enjoy myself because not everyone really enjoys the holiday and I think that goes for students and staff alike.

We don't know what people are dealing with when they are not at school unless we are part of their lives on an everyday basis.

Not everyone's in the same place and I'm sure that you guys are all aware of that. But it is worth mentioning, and it's probably also worth mentioning this to our staff as well, because I know in my home school Thanksgiving is over and it is all about the holiday season and the decorations are going up and the countdown to break has begun.

And like I said, it can be quite stressful for some people. So it is worth mentioning.

Before we really dive in though, I just wanted to share some things that I encountered recently.

So I was presenting at our state conference and I was doing a little session on how to use everyday materials and turn them into extraordinary counseling resources.

And as part of that, I did a little activity with the group that I was with and this is something that I think that you can use if you have a faculty meeting coming up or some sort of team meeting.

This is something that you can even do with your with your people in your building here. It is plain and simple.

I was handing out just all kinds of stuff, basically the **** that I found at the end of the day or I went into a first grade classroom and the teacher was very kind and let me pick through some of the Kids little arts and crafts box or their pencil boxes.

And I was pulling things like the end of the eraser, not like the tip part that you can erase with, but the. The ring that is left when the tip is broken off.

That. Let's say I had several of those. I had these little stubby crayons that kids had bitten on, and there was teeth marks in it. I had glue sticks that were completely empty, markers that didn't work, pencils that were like, they could be used as shanks because there was.

They didn't look like pencils anymore. I mean, they were broken off. There was like this shaggy end on one side.

There was an eraser for whiteboard, one of those little square ones that the kids have that was completely covered with black ink. So that really couldn't be used as an eraser anymore.

I had some chapstick that was used by me that I had used and thrown into the bag. But this bag had really nothing good, Nothing good in it. I even had a few pieces of chewed up gum that I put back in the wrapper and threw in there.

This was my bag of goodies.

And what I did was I went through and I said, I have a gift for everybody. And I went through and I gave everybody one of these beautiful pieces of things that I had in this bag.

I just love handing out the two pieces of gum or the. I would use the chapstick, put the cap back on and hand it to somebody. But I would give everybody something.

Everybody in the audience had something.

So from, like I said, the gum to the broken pencils, to the bitten crayons, to the markers that didn't work, the glue sticks that were empty.

You name the stuff that you can find at the end of the day in the janitor's sweep up pile. Like, take that stuff.

They all had it. They're all hand, like having it in their hands, and they're looking at me like I'm a little crazy.

And I say to the group, all right, now with your little shoulder partner that you have, the person that you're sitting next to, I want you to really take that little nugget that I just gave you, that little thing, and hand it to the person.

Like, it is the most precious gift that you could give them and explain to them why you're giving them this gift and what it means and all the stuff we were doing this.

And they would make up just some of the most beautiful stories. Like, somebody had this brown crayon that seriously had some teeth marks on it. There Was no wrapper left on it and they handed it to somebody and they're like, this is a magic crayon, just like Harold, except it's not purple, it's brown.

And if you just draw with this, all your magic wishes come true. It's something that's very special and I hope that you really enjoy this and on your darkest days that you use this brown crayon and remember that there's, there's just good.

Others were like, oh, I have yellow, like a piece of yellow pencil. And this is to remind you that you are a little ray of sunshine. The chewed gum was, oh well, if you in just in case you need to hang something on your wall, this is already pre chewed for you.

So all you have to do is unwrap it and use it to stick your precious photo up on the wall. And they came up with these really great examples of how things could be used.

The empty glue sticks were ways to hide their treasures. So it was a secret hiding spot that they could use all kinds of stuff.

And then of course I had to have them discuss it. So why did I have you do this? What does it mean? And how do we use this stuff going forward?

So those are the basic questions that I think with any activity. I like to ask what did we just do?

What did, why did we do it? And where do we go from here? And of course they're all like, because there's, everything has value, right? And it's all how somebody sees the value of something.

And I think that's so true, right? We need to see the value and what people are giving.

And I think especially at this time of year, I think it's a really important reminder that we might be getting some gifts from some kiddos or treats that they bring from home that we're like a little questionable about.

Like, is this kind of sanitary or like, ugh, I don't know about this. But we have to know that there's love behind it and there's such joy and pride with those kids giving us those treasures because they see the value that maybe we can't see and we can't lose sight of that.

As I was doing this activity though, it really sparked a memory that I didn't even think about in a really long time. And it goes back to when I was in school and I ended up, I shared this story with them and by the end I was like, I had tears in my eyes.

Like, I was like, oh my God, I can't believe I'm like tearing up Here. But I did. I wanted to share that story with you as well because it does relate to the activity that I was just telling you about.

And hopefully you can use this going forward.

But when I was in school, I was.

I think it was either sixth or seventh grade. I'm not exactly a hundred percent sure on the year, but actually it was sixth grade because in fifth grade my father had passed away.

And I had a friend in sixth grade that had to go to the hospital for appendicitis. And we. I thought we were friends. Like, this was somebody that I. I liked.

We sat by each other and I felt so bad that he had to go to the hospital and that he wasn't feeling well and his appendix had burst. And he was actually.

He was out for like a while because back in the day, you didn't go in and out in just a day or two. You were there for like a good week or so.

I wanted to put together a little present for him. I came from a household where, single mom. We didn't have a whole lot of money. My mother never worked until my father passed away.

And then when she did, she made, like, bare bones, minimum wage.

And I had this deck of cards that was from the airline that we had flown when we had to go see my father, because my father was working at my uncle's house who lived across the country from us.

He was a mason, he was building their house.

And I had to get on a plane to go see him because he had a heart attack.

And because of the situation, my mom told the airlines and this was like an emergency flight that we took out and emergency standby. But they had given me a pack of cards, just a simple, plain deck of playing cards.

And I also had, like, the little airline wings. Remember when they used to do that back in the day, Little kids, they would give them, like, the pilot wings. So I had these two things and I thought, wow, I have these.

These are pretty special. I'm going to give them to this. This boy that's in my class. So I wrapped them all up and I gave it to his sister to bring him to the hospital.

And when he came back from the hospital, he actually made fun of me because I had given him a used gift.

And not only was it used, but it was something that obviously I had gotten for free and I had passed on to him.

And, like, how could anybody give somebody like, a used present?

And I was heartbroken basically, because I gave him those cards because they brought me a lot of peace in a time where I wasn't feeling peaceful and the wings were just, I don't know, a little something that I thought it was kind of cute and I felt horrible.

I mean it was so his words had such a sting to them that I don't think we spoke for the rest of the time that we were in school. I mean when you go to a smaller school you are with pretty much the same people until you graduate.

And we were in class from know 6th grade through 12th grade. And yeah, I don't think I talked to him again after that.

But that's something that even though I didn't think about in a long time, it really came back. Those memories really flooded me at that moment.

But it was really a true reminder of how different people see the value in things differently.

And we have to not look at that through our eyes, but the eyes of the giver.

And during the holiday time. I just wanted to remind you of that because it's so important.

I know I have been guilty of looking at those Christmas cookies or cupcakes that the kids have brought from home that were handmade and not from the store and I wanted to like stick my nose up a little bit like, or crinkle it up like ew.

Now I going to be more insightful, more thankful, more grateful for those presents because I'm sure they mean a lot.

So I hope my friends that you use this activity with your, your team at school, that you remember this little story that I'm sharing with you and that this helps you going forward.

Just thinking about the different values that people have. It is the holiday season. It's a special time of year. Enjoy every minute of it and just be grateful. Be grateful of all that we have.

Anyway, that's it for this week. I hope you enjoyed this and until next time, have a great week. Bye for now.

Carol: 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

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Carol: Bye for now.