School Counselor Blog

There is a lot of great discussion happening on the  School Counselor Blog Facebook Page   Each Friday I share some of the week's most popular posts and fan questions from the  School Counselor Blog Facebook Page . Check out the questions below and then visit the links to read comments, suggestions, and ideas from other school counselors! Questions from the week ending Aug 9, 2013 Where to Shop for School Counseling Office Decor: Jacyln is looking for posters and decorations for her new office. What stores and online retailers do you recommend she check out? Click here to read the comments . Intro Items for School Staff: Do you give out anything (trinkets, candy, brochures, etc.) to introduce yourself to school staff? Share your creativity below! Click here to read the comments . Connecting School Counselors with Spouses in the Military: Brandy is looking to connect with other school counselors who have a spouse in the military. She wants to know how o...

I am currently receiving supervision hours toward licensure as a Licenced Professional Counselor (LPC). My supervisor has been instrumental in helping me acknowledge the impact my relationship has with students. I have a few examples of interactions with students that demonstrate the power a relationship can have.  A Fresh Start At the beginning of the school year, our district had a massive realignment. Schools were shut down and others were consolidated. Our school received an influx of students from other schools in the city. One student was referred to me right at the beginning of the year. At her old school she was "disruptive, got into fights all the time, and bullied other students." I wanted to try to reach this student before she could demonstrate her previous behavior. I picked her up from her class and introduced myself to her. I made sure to iterate to her from the beginning that seeing me did not mean that she was in trouble. I told her that I wanted to get to...

Are you looking for a super fun and engaging way to increase career awareness and exposure at your school? Career Café may be exactly what you are searching for! This year, one of my goals was to create greater awareness and exposure to careers at my school. When planning at the beginning of the school year, the other school counselor I work with and I sought out ideas for ways we could infuse career into our curriculum. We met with a school counselor at a neighboring district who gave us the idea to start a weekly career program at our school, called Career Café.  We started Career Café at the beginning of the school year and it has been instrumental in building excitement around careers at our school! Bulletin board/display advertising Career Café to students. What is Career Café? Career Café is an opportunity for students to meet individuals from their community and learn about their career journeys. At our school, we invite students in fifth through eighth grade...

This week, February 7 - 11 is   National School Counseling Week ! This year we are celebrating by raising awareness of our roles as school counselors and thanking staff for their support of our program and the students we serve.  My intern made an awesome brochure highlighting the school counseling program at my school. We are going to give the brochure to all the teachers and administrators.  In addition to the brochure, we are giving teachers, administrators, and other school staff a "thank you." I got the idea to give teachers, administrators, and staff a thank you with a "3 Musketeers" theme from  A Year of School Counseling: Tools and Techniques for K-12 Themes Throughout the Year   edited by Barbara Muller-Ackerman, who runs the   elementary counselor listserv .  A Year of School Counseling   has tons of information and ideas for  National School Counseling Week  including a proclamation, countdown calendar, and ideas...

For the past couple of weeks I have been searching all over my office for a specific counseling activity worksheet. As I was packing up my office, I finally found the worksheet amid a myriad of career lesson plans (not where it was supposed to be!). The worksheet is titled, "Soundtrack of Your Life."   The worksheet was given to me in a graduate course by a fellow colleague. The purpose of "Soundtrack of Your Life" is for students to identify songs that describe or relate to aspects of their lives. I modified it from its original version to make it geared to middle school students. Some of the tracks on "Soundtrack of Your Life" are "Opening Scene," "School Experience," "Friends," and "When I Get Older." "Soundtrack of Your Life" could be utilized in many different ways.  I used "Soundtrack of Your Life" with a student this past week. The student had a lot of fun completing the works...