Self-Esteem Group Planner Printable

Lately I have been trying to come up with ways to make what I do more purposeful in an effort to avoid doing "Random Acts of Guidance." :)

I decided to create ways to keep track of what I am doing how what I am doing aligns to ASCA standards.

The first thing I have created is a group session planner to store and record group sessions I facilitate with students.

My goal is to make a group session planner for each of the groups I facilitate.  This will help me determine which ASCA standards I am addressing during each session. Using a group session planner will not only help me in the short term, but it will help me in the long term when I plan to facilitate the activity or lesson again!

The first group planner I created is a Self-Esteem Group Planner.  I created a PDF file of the Self-Esteem Group Planner you can download by clicking on the highlighted text or by clicking on the pictures!

The first page of the Self-Esteem Group Planner includes a section to record the grade, name, and teacher of the group members.  There is also a space to write about the group goals and the focus of the groups.  You could also write any other notes you may have before beginning the group.

The second page of the Self-Esteem Group Planner has space for you to record the Session Number and the date at the top.  There are four boxes to include information.  The first box, LEQ is the Learning Essential Question, or the question you want students to be able to answer at the end of the lesson/group. The second box is a space to record the ASCA standards you are addressing in the session.  The third box is for resources or materials you may need for the session. The fourth box is a space for any session notes you may have.

The Self-Esteem Group Planner has already begun to help me be more focused and purposeful.  I hope it helps you as well! So far this year I have facilitated a self-esteem group for 5th grade girls and a self-esteem group for 5th grade boys.  I wish I would have created this at the beginning of the group so that I would have a finished one! I will be sharing some of the group sessions I already recorded with you, but my planner is at school right now.

Feel free to print and share the Self-Esteem Group Planner with other school counselors!

What group session planners would you like to see me create and share on School Counselor Blog?

Comment below, tweet, contact Danielle, or share on the School Counselor Blog Facebook Page!

Danielle is a K-12 Certified School Counselor, Nationally Certified Counselor, and blogger at School Counselor Blog, a place where school counselors share innovative ideas, creative lesson plans, and quality resources. Connect with Danielle via email, Twitter, Pinterest, LinkedIn, Google+, and become a fan of the School Counselor Blog Facebook Page.

Emotions Tree

I am so excited to share the Emotions Tree with you because it is one of my favorite counseling techniques!  There are so many ways you can use the Emotions Tree with students.

I hadn't used the Emotions Tree yet this year in my work with students because I misplaced it somewhere when I moved my office downstairs. I wanted to use the Emotions Tree for the remainder of my Minute Meetings to help students who have difficulty identifying feelings or coming up with feeling words.  I searched online and couldn't find a high quality copy of the Emotions Tree.  I printed one out even though it wasn't very high quality to test it out and see how it worked with Minute Meetings for students.

As I suspected using the Emotions Tree for Minute Meetings worked wonderfully!

Using the Emotions Tree was very helpful for students who struggled to come up with a word besides "good" or "okay" to describe how they were feeling.  I showed students the Emotions Tree and asked them to "pick out a person on this tree you feel like most of the time outside of school" or "pick a person on this tree you feel like most of the time during school." Students were easily able to identify how they were feeling when looking at the Emotions Tree.

"On Top of the World"

One student who originally said "good" was able to identify herself as feeling "on top of the world" after pointing to the emotion person standing at on the top of the tree. Using the Emotions Tree allows children and adolescents to project their feelings onto something else, which tends to make them feel safer. When students pointed to the emotion person I asked them to "describe how the emotion person feels." After they identified how the person felt I brought it back to how they were feeling, and asked questions like "What about school makes you feel on top of the world?" The student responded "I have high honors and school is fun."

I have used the Emotions Tree with children and adolescents of many ages. I have used it in groups and individual counseling sessions. I also had the Emotions Tree hanging on my wall before and plan to hang it on my wall again.  Students are drawn to the Emotions Tree and enjoy identifying which emotion person they feel like.

Yesterday I made it my mission to find my personal copy of the Emotions Tree after school.  I was very excited when I found it and even more excited that I was able to scan it to a PDF file. Now I can share the Emotions Tree with you and have a copy for myself that is easy to reproduce.  (Click on any of Emotions Tree links to be directed to a PDF file you can download!)

How will you use the Emotion Tree in your work with students? 


Comment below, tweet, contact Danielle, or share on the School Counselor Blog Facebook Page!

Danielle is a K-12 Certified School Counselor, Nationally Certified Counselor, and blogger at School Counselor Blog, a place where school counselors share innovative ideas, creative lesson plans, and quality resources. Connect with Danielle via email, Twitter, Pinterest, LinkedIn, Google+, and become a fan of the School Counselor Blog Facebook Page.

Car Tunes: What I listened to and HOW on a recent trip

Yesterday was my first opportunity to try a new car tech gadget!

My school counselor colleague, Natasha, recently introduced me to a tech item for my car of which I was not aware! Gasp! She gave me a demo of her Motorola wireless bluetooth FM-transmitter/Speakerphone that plays through your car speakers.

How I listened
I purchased this Motorola T505 Portable In-Car Speakerphone in time for a trip I took yesterday. It rocks! My only regret is that I wish I would have purchased it as soon as she showed me hers...

The Motorola T505 Portable In-Car Speakerphone is awesome! The device allows you to play music and podcasts on your bluetooth enabled smartphone through your car's radio. The device is a speakerphone so you can make and receive calls through your speakers. The device pauses your music and resumes when the call ends!

What I listened to

I was so excited to be able to listen to American School Counselor Association ASCAway podcasts in my car!

I listened to the following ASCAway podcasts yesterday:

ASCAway: 2012 School Counselor of the Year - Interview with Nicole Pfleger, 2012 ASCA School Counselor of the year!  She talks about the Rachel's Challenge program, an anti-violence program founded by the family of Columbine victim Rachel Scott. The program focuses on kindness and compassion. I am very interested in it and requested information to see how much money it would be to have an assembly at my school.  Nicole Pfleger also talks about another program she runs with at-risk boys called the D.R.E.A.M. Team.  It was a great podcast!

ASCAway: Combatting Cyberbullying - Interview with Dr. Russ Sabella on Education Talk Radio.  Dr. Sabella was great and informative as usual. He gave lots of great information about cyberbullying and referenced information his website Guarding Kids.

ASCAway: Elementary School Bully Prevention - Interview with Brent Burnham, 2011 School Counselor of the Year finalist. He spoke about a program he started at his school to combat bullying.

If you haven't had the opportunity to listen to any ASCAway podcasts, I highly recommend them! They are a great resource! I always learn so much when I listen to them!

I'm a big NPR fan, so I also listened to a few episodes of This American Life. I included a This American Life about Middle School in a post awhile back.

I usually listen to NPR on my way to and from work. My work commute isn't that bad... it is about 20 minutes each way. In the morning NPR keeps me informed about local, national, and world-wide events. On the way home I usually catch some interviews or reviews of new documentaries, movies, music artists, etc.

Radio stations tend to fade out fast when I travel. Up until this point I haven't found a convient way to listen to podcasts and songs while driving. My parents live two hours away and my in-laws live five hours away, so when I am in the car I am in the car for a considerable amount of time. I am so glad that Natasha introduced me to Motorola T505 Portable In-Car Speakerphone. I wanted to share this with you in case you have been looking for a similar device.  I know this new device will be getting a lot of use in my car! I have already found myself looking for more music and podcasts to listen to! I am excited to use it to stream Pandora, which is internet radio that customizes a station based on songs or artists you like.  Sara Bareillas Radio and Adele Radio are two of my current favorites.

What podcasts or music do you listen to in your car? What are some of your favorite school counselor or education related podcasts?


Comment below, tweet, contact Danielle, or share on the School Counselor Blog Facebook Page!

Danielle is a K-12 Certified School Counselor, Nationally Certified Counselor, and blogger at School Counselor Blog, a place where school counselors share innovative ideas, creative lesson plans, and quality resources. Connect with Danielle via email, Twitter, Pinterest, LinkedIn, Google+, and become a fan of the School Counselor Blog Facebook Page.

You warmed our heads, our hands, and OUR HEARTS!

For the winter season, my Aunt Polly's church wanted to do a community service project with the children in Sunday school.

I was very humbled to find out that my aunt thought of my students and wanted to do a project to benefit them.

The Sunday school students collected hats and gloves to donate to my school. I received a huge bag of new hats and gloves to give to students in need!

I made the card below as a heartfelt thank you for my Aunt Polly and her church for supporting my students! I hope this card means as much to them as the hats and gloves meant to my students and me!

Stationery card

View the entire collection of cards.

To make the card I took pictures of students' hands wearing the gloves that they received. I also took a picture of one of the hats. I was trying to think of a good message to write and I thought of "Thank you for your kindness! You warmed our heads, our hands, and OUR HEARTS!"  

I wanted to share this with you in case you received any donations and would like an idea for a cute message to send as a thank you! 

Does your school ever receive donations from churches or other groups? Have you ever used Shutterfly to create cards or other products for your school?

Comment below, tweet, contact Danielle, or share on the School Counselor Blog Facebook Page!

Danielle is a K-12 Certified School Counselor, Nationally Certified Counselor, and blogger at School Counselor Blog, a place where school counselors share innovative ideas, creative lesson plans, and quality resources. Connect with Danielle via email, Twitter, Pinterest, LinkedIn, Google+, and become a fan of the School Counselor Blog Facebook Page.

#SCCHAT Transcript (February 7, 2012)

February's #SCCHAT was held on February 7, 2012 at 8pmEST.

We chatted about tech tools school counselors can utilize.

School Counselors shared tons of great ideas and resources, including time-saving technology tools! Check out the full chat transcript!

To access all of the tweets with the hashtag #scchat, click here.

The next School Counselor Tweet Chat is on March 6 at 8pmEST. Natalie Spencer will be moderating the chat about  Group Ideas and Group Challenges!

View the 2012 School Counselor Tweet Chat schedule and transcripts here.

For information on how to participate in a future School Counselor Tweet Chat, click here!

Click here for transcripts of the 2011 School Counselor Tweet Chats.

School Counselor Tweet Chat is a collaboration between School Counselor Blog and SCOPE.

Did you participate in the School Counselor Tweet Chat? What did you think about it? What new ideas did you learn? Comment below or share via twitter #scchat!

Erin Mason is a former Middle School Counselor, now Counselor Educator who manages SCOPE, a group blog dedicated to chronicling the positive impact of School Counseling professionals. Connect with Erin via email, follow her on Twitter, add her on LinkedIn or Google+, and become a fan of the SCOPE Facebook Page.

Danielle is a K-12 Certified School Counselor, Nationally Certified Counselor, and blogger at School Counselor Blog, a place where school counselors share innovative ideas, creative lesson plans, and quality resources. Connect with Danielle via email, Twitter, Pinterest, LinkedIn, Google+, and become a fan of the School Counselor Blog Facebook Page.