School Counselor Blog

Just to recap, my professional goal was to administer needs assessments and determine the best way to serve the population that I am working with. My personal goal, was to train for a half-marathon . I will give an update on the status of both... I have given all of the students in sixth grade needs assessments based on the Peacemakers program. The questions that were on the assessment include "In the last two weeks I have ..." and outlines various behaviors  "got into a fight, gave someone a compliment, talked to someone to solve a problem," etc. The students rate the questions by frequency. I have not tallied the data yet, but I think it will give me a good idea about how students are currently solving their problems. Although, from my interactions with students, most students are not solving conflicts peacefully. This brings me to the Peacemakers curriculum itself. I think it is a wonderful framework. It is research based and data-driven.  The only problem I a

One of my favorite movies is Dan in Real Life, staring Steve Carell. I watched it over the holiday break and could not help but think of the final quote of the movie with the week I have had so far.... I have been constantly reminded this week that as a school counselor, you can plan, but it is inevitable that your plans will change. It is ironic that I love to be surprised at school, because in all the other areas of my life I am a MAJOR planner. It makes me anxious when I am not in control of the situation or when I cannot plan things in advance. Outside of work, change, in general, tends to make me uneasy. In my career as a school counselor, however, I love the uncertainty of my day. Each day, I go into school with a plan of how I am going to spend my day, what students I will meet with, what lessons I will facilitate, which classrooms I will visit, etc.   I know however, despite my efforts to plan, my day will be a complete surprise.  Things come up such as new student tours,

The holiday break has given me the opportunity to think about the needs of my school and what I want to accomplish in the coming year. My main goal for the New Year is to determine the needs of my students and the best way for me to serve them. When I get back to school I plan on administering needs assessments for grades four through eight, the grades I serve. I already had plans to run a fourth grade anger management group , a sixth grade girls group, and facilitate classroom lessons utilizing the Peacemakers Program in sixth grade.  I think that a needs assessment will help me determine other areas that I will be able to support students. You can find sample needs assessments under resources on the American School Counselor Association (ASCA) website . You must be a member to access the files. I also plan on collaborating with a colleague on fifth grade transition to sixth grade.  My school serves students in grades Pre-K through eighth.  There is a nearby school that se