School Counselor Blog

Last week I had the opportunity to meet with 5th grade teachers at their team meeting.  They asked if I could come into their classes and do lessons on bullying. Of course I was thrilled to do classroom lessons with 5th graders! I planned with the teachers to come in for a series of lessons with 5th grade during their morning meeting time.  I am making a schedule so that I will facilitate two lessons in each classroom and then start at the first class again for more sessions.  I am working on planning the lessons so they will go in a progression. In my continued attempt to avoid "Random Acts of Guidance," I decided that this would be a perfect opportunity to create a classroom lesson planner for bullying.  I created the classroom lesson planner to help me keep track of what lessons I plan to facilitate and how they align to  ASCA standards . The first classroom lesson planner I created is a Bullying Classroom Lesson Planner .  I created a PDF file of the Bullying Classr

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 sect

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

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

February's #SCCHAT was held on February 7, 2012 at 8pmEST. We chatted about Tech Savvy School Counselor Essentials . 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

This week is National School Counseling Week! First of all I want to wish you a heartfelt Happy National School Counseling Week to you! I have been so fortunate to connect with you through this blog and through various forms of social media. I am thankful for you and I want you to know that you are appreciated this week and everyday! I believe the purpose of National School Counseling Week is to advocate for our profession and to educate stakeholders about how we impact the lives of students! Even if no one in your building/district thanks you for the work that you do or recognizes you this week, make a pledge to yourself and our profession to educate others this week about school counseling. Share with your stakeholders how what you do makes a difference in the lives of students. Whether you read a message on the morning announcements ( ASCA has prepared announcements that are ready to go! ) or put messages in teachers' mailboxes about ways you support students, a little eff

School Counselor Tweet Chat is Tuesday, February 7, 2012 at 8pmEST! The topic of School Counselor Tweet Chat this month is Tech Savvy School Counselor Essentials .  I am so excited to be moderating the chat this month! We will be tweeting about our favorite technology tools and how to utilize them as a professional school counselor! For directions on how to participate in a School Counselor Tweet Cha t ,  click here . Join  School Counselor Blog  and  SCOPE  for  #scchat  the first Tuesday of the month @ 8pmEST!  View the School Counselor Tweet Chat schedule for dates and topics! Click here for a list of past School Counselor Tweet Chats and full transcripts. If you are interested in moderating a School Counselor Tweet Chat, direct message me on twitter! 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,