School Counselor Blog

While planning my career interest inventory implementation, I realized I needed a back up plan for printing... I was planning to have students print their career inventory results, but I wanted to have a back up plan in case the printers weren't working. This happens a lot at my school... so I wanted to be prepared. I went in search of a fast and easy way for students to send me files. Students at my school do not have school email so I needed a solution that would not require email. I discovered  DROP it TOme  a great FREE tool you can utilize in conjunction with  DropBox  to securely receive files from anyone!  I wrote a post yesterday encouraging readers to  Think Outside of The USB Drive  by utilizing  DropBox  for FREE online file hosting and file storage. DROP it TOme  is quick and easy to use. After you register for a FREE  DropBox  account and a FREE  DROP it TOme  account, you can use  DROP it TOme  to receive files from anyone via a password protected upload page

Are you sick of toting around a USB flash drive? Do you find yourself searching through your inbox to find files you sent.... to yourself? Do you wish there was a quick and easy way to access your files from anywhere? DropBox  is your answer! DropBox  is a FREE file hosting program that you can download on multiple computers, access online, and access by smart phone. My daD told me about  DropBox  a long, long time ago. I was an early adopter, but I did not really understand how  DropBox  could be beneficial to me as a school counselor until the beginning of this school year. Let's compare USB flash drives to  DropBox ... I have a million USB flash drives... Ok, so maybe that is an exaggeration. I have waaaaay too many USB drives. USB drives are easy to lose. You have to keep track of USB flash drives. You have to plug a USB flash drive into a computer's USB drive. DropBox  allows you to access files from anywhere you can connect to the Internet, offline via the do

I am so excited to present "Essentials for Becoming a Tech Savvy School Counselor" on October 10th at the Montgomery County Counselors Association (MCCA) Fall Workshop. During my presentation I will be sharing tips, tricks, and techniques for utilizing Google Docs and social networking tools (Facebook, Twitter, Blogger) to enhance your professional identity as a school counselor and your school counseling program. Participants are encouraged to bring a laptop for this interactive workshop! Check out the MCCA Fall Workshop Flyer to register! You must return the registration form to Julie Hamel by October 3, 2011 to attend. Will you be attending the MCCA Fall workshop? Comment below,  tweet ,  contact Danielle , or share on the  School Counselor Blog Facebook Page ! Are you interested in having Danielle present at your local or state school counselor organization?  Contact Danielle ! Danielle is a K-12 Certified School Counselor, Nationally Certified Counselo

Penn State Nittany Lion posing with our Red Ribbon Week Drug Free Pledge Red Ribbon Week is Monday, October 24th through Friday, October 29th. Red Ribbon Week is a week to raise awareness about the importance of being drug free. Last year our theme for Red Ribbon week was "Believe, Achieve, Succeed - Drug Free!" All of the events we planned for Red Ribbon Week were related career to reinforce the school to career connection and the importance of students choosing to be drug free for their future. Below are descriptions of the theme days and events we hosted for our Red Ribbon Week last year.   School Spirit Day For School Spirit Day we are asked all students, faculty, and staff to show school pride by wearing school colors. Our school colors are black and gold. We had a good level of participation in this day, especially because so many of our teachers are Steelers fans! College, University, Trade School, and Military Day For College, University, Trade Scho

Over the summer I had the exciting opportunity of being interviewed by Sarah Altman from Indiana for an article in  The Indiana School Counselor   magazine. The article is titled Let Your Creative Juices Flow . You can read the whole article and interview in the online edition of The Indiana School Counselor magazine online. You can also check out the rest of the articles in The Indiana School Counselor magazine. There are articles on bullying, high school school counselors, graduate school, and more! The digital format of  The Indiana School Counselor   magazine is great because you can click on the links in the article and they open a new page! My state, Pennsylvania, also has a digital edition of their magazine, The Pennsylvania Counselor. You can read a pdf version of the article I wrote, Serving Up Career Standards with Career Cafe ,  in The Pennsylvania Counselor magazine. What did you think of the interview? Does your state school counselor association have a digita

I have been searching for fun and interactive career activities to facilitate with students this year. I rediscovered  Virginia Career View , which has a wealth of computer based and printable career activities. I have used this website many times, but each time I visit I am surprised by how truly awesome this site is. In the K-5 Section of  Virginia Career View  there is an interactive game called  Career Town ! I used the  Career Town  game with some 5th grade students last year and they loved it. Career Town has three levels with different games to learn about jobs on each level.  The  Career Town  has an educators guide  for each "level' of the game. The  educators guide  has ideas of how you can utilize the game to meet standards and includes ideas for extension activities.  In the 6-8 Grade section, there is a career cluster assessment activity called "Who R U?" . It is web-based. The Virginia Career View website also has printable resources tho

Remember my before pictures of my 2011-2012 office space ? I was just about ready to share after pictures with you, but then I decided to change my office location! After much thought and consideration, I determined that it would be better if I moved to the "Student Services Suite," where the K-4 school counselor and the school social worker are located. As much as I loved my big space on the third floor, I saw this as a huge opportunity to re-vamp the common space in the "Student Services Suite" (pictures of that to come!) It was definitely frustrating to have my space all set up and then have to move everything to a different office, but I really think it has great potential to be better. The space is much smaller than my other space, but once the common space is up and running we should be able to share the common space for groups. I will be moving a U-table to my office so that I can meet with groups in my office too. So here is my progress so far.

My school principal just sent a link to this amazing video, Too Important To Fail, to our school staff.   The video is powerful. It is a MUST watch if you work in an urban school.  You can watch the video below or on the  PBS website .  There are also  related clips and web extras .                                                       Watch the  full episode . See more  Tavis Smiley. Too Important to Fail is   about how schools are failing African American males and students of color and how schools can help them succeed.   Tavis Smiley interviews children, teens, teachers and other individuals in education about what can make a difference for African American males and students of color.  When talking to one of the teens, Smiley asks what kind of guys he hangs out with. The teen responds that he hangs out with other students who plan to go to college.  Smiley states,"The only way to get somewhere is to hang with people who are g

48 Hours did a special on bullying called Bullying: Words Can Kill.   I haven't watched it yet, but I wanted to share it with you because I just found out about it! You can watch the video below. Also, check out the 48 Hours: Bullying: Words Can Kill  website for tons of web extras and related videos. What did you think of this video? What other related videos did you watch any on this site? Comment below,  tweet , or  contact Danielle , 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 , follow her on  twitter , add her on  LinkedIn  or  Google+ , and become a fan of the  School Counselor Blog Facebook Page .

School Counselor Blog hosted a back to school contest with a different giveaway each day from September 1st to September 10th! Below is a recap of all the giveaway items from the contest. Although the contest is now closed, you can visit the posts and get TONS of ideas of how to use each of these awesome resources! Thank you so much to everyone who participated in the contest and congratulations to the contest winners!  Your participation in this contest will help other school counselors gain creative ideas to utilize these awesome resources in their work with students! Also thank you to the sponsors of this contest, Free Spirit , Really Good Stuff , Research Press , and School Counselor Blog  for donating the giveaway items! Good-Bye Bully Machine Book and Good-Bye Bully Machine Card Game The giveaway for Day 1 of the  School Counselor Blog Back to School Contest  was the  Good-Bye Bully Machine  book  and the  Good-Bye Bully Machine  Card Game   by Debbie Fox and Allan L.