When I was in grad school a million years ago, we often used timelines when talking with clients. When I began working as a school counselor, primarily with juniors and seniors and concentrating on the college admission process, I rarely pulled out the timeline. Working again at a middle school,
My friend, Kylie, wrote a blog post for me about the Size of the Problem. Aimed to help middle school boys with coping skills and understanding the cause and effect relationship of behaviors and reactions, this is a really helpful lesson for ALL students. I hope you check out her
Day 2 with the 8th graders and I wanted to expand on the values lesson from yesterday (click here for the values lesson). We talked about the quote, “Values are like fingerprints. Nobody’s are the same, but you leave them all over everything you do.” But first, we talked about
Last week I had the opportunity to spend 3 class days with our 8th graders. I wanted to combine career planning, goal setting, mindsets, and values all in with starting to think about high school. In a few short months, I will be calling each 8th grader and his/her parents
My lunch bunch groups were talking about what makes us special and unique. Here is a recent lesson that I did with them that teaches about looking beyond our first glance and looking deeper.To begin, I had students take a piece of paper and their favorite color marker. I asked
Smart Guidance is an interactive computer/smart board program for school counseling. It can be used with individual students, with small groups, and with classrooms and larger groups. There are sound effects and animations that help to engage students and topics included from study skills, self-regulation, anger management, peer pressure,
I had the opportunity to spend 3 days in the 8th grade classrooms. Teachers had asked if I could talk to them about perseverance and getting ready for high school and their future. After debating for several days about what to teach, I finally decided on setting goals, academic success
I can’t wait to go to the 5th grade classes tomorrow. I have my tennis balls ready and a great lesson to help them learn why setting goals is so important! I’m starting the students out by having them reflect on their year and thinking about 2016. From there
When the 8th grade team asked me on Monday if I wanted to come in and talk with the entire 8th grade I jumped at my chance to get into the classroom. Today was a half day and I was given the entire 8th grade (71 students) for 77 minutes.Basically
Career Exploration is a process. It isn’t a one time event. It takes years to really figure out what is the best possible career out there for us. There are lots of things to consider. Do you like working with people, things, data, or ideas? Do you want to work
ren·e·gade ˈrenəˌɡād/ noun 1. a person who deserts and betrays an organization, country, or set of principles. synonyms: traitor, defector, deserter, turncoat, rebel, mutineer “he was denounced as a renegade” adjective 1. having treacherously changed allegiance. “a renegade bodyguard” synonyms: treacherous, traitorous, disloyal, treasonous, rebel, mutinous “renegade troops” If you look at the definition, most people wouldn’t want to be
Day 2 and I was back in 7th grade classes to talk with them more about bullying. Yesterday’s lesson took the whole period and there was little time to process and discuss the presentation and activity. I used the first part of the period today to wrap up. I
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