School Counselor Blog

On the School Counselor Blog Facebook Page we are sharing pictures of our School Counseling Offices  in the School Counselor Blog School Counseling Office "Show and Tell!" If you are a regular School Counselor Blog reader, you probably know I used to have a small classroom as an office . It was an amazing space and I was able to do so much with it. I now have a much smaller office in a suite with the other school counselor I work with and the school social worker. I have had to be creative with my space since I downsized. It is still hard to fit everything it... but I am beginning to adjust. This is a view of the door leading into my office. I have my career area right beside the door. I also have applications for 8th graders to apply for 9th grade programs.  Here is a view of my desk and the far right side of my office from the door. I used clear storage containers to put lots of materials and supplies in them. I used construction paper  and my crayola s...

The First School Counselor Tweet Chat of the New Year was held on January 3, 2012 at 8pmEST! We chatted about school counseling New Years resolutions and soultions . We also chatted about ideas for celebrating  National School Counseling Week ! School Counselors shared tons of great ideas and resources, including ideas for parent involvement and starting a Career Cafe at your school! 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 February 7th at 8pmEST. We will be chatting about Tech Savvy School Counselor Essentials ! 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 ....

It was difficult to pick my 11 favorite posts of 2011 considering I wrote 108 posts this year, not counting this post! 2011 was a pretty great year. I had the opportunity to present at the  ASCA conference in Seattle, WA , started School Counselor Tweet Chats , hosted lots of giveaways , made video posts , and much more! I have enjoyed connecting with you in 2011 and can't wait to see what is in store for 2012! Below I outlined 11 of my favorite posts and why they made the list. Serving Up Career Standards Through Community Involvement One of my biggest accomplishments of the 2010-2011 school year was starting Career Cafe at my school.  It has been an amazing ride since implementing it.  Students are so excited to learn about careers first-hand from people in their community.  I am learning so much from the speakers too! Career Cafe  is one of my favorite programs I implement as a school counselor. Many School Counselor Blog readers have emailed me...

Looking for a quick and easy way to meet with EVERY student on your caseload? Keep reading to find out how you can start off the New Year by getting to know ALL of your students. I have been trying to figure out a way to meet with all students I serve.  The school counselor I share a building with, Natasha, suggested we conduct mini meetings with students and call them "Minute Meetings!"  I immediately LOVED this idea and could not wait to get started. We decided to ask students four questions during the Minute Meetings: "How are you doing/feeling?" (personal/social), "How is school and grades?" (academic), "What do you want to be when you grow up?"(career), and "What questions/concerns do you have?" to address any other needs they may have. I made a "Minute Meeting Form"Google Document of the sheet we used to take with us to the classroom. I printed the sheet out on card stock and clipped it to a clipboard. The "M...

Join  School Counselor Blog  and  SCOPE  for the next #sctweetchat on Tuesday, December 6th @ 8pmEST! We will be chatting about School Counselors role in promoting and supporting college and career readiness ! Kelly Johnson  ( @Kjohnson222 ) will be the #sctweetchat moderator. In preparation for the  #sctweetchat  on December 6th, check out this newly released document by the National Organization for School Counselor Advocacy: Counseling at a Crossroads . For information on how to participate in a School Counselor Tweet Chat,  click here ! Check out transcripts  from previous School Counselor Tweet Chats or access all of the tweets with the hashtag #sctweetchat . Visit   School Counselor Blog  and  SCOPE  after the  #sctweetchat  tweet chat for a full chat transcript. We look forward to tweeting with you! Erin Mason is a former Middle School Counselor, now Counselor Edu...

Looking for a fun and engaging way to introduce students to careers? Starting a Career Cafe will help you build excitement about careers through community members sharing their career journeys! I wrote a previous post about starting and facilitating a Career Cafe .  I recently presented at the Integrated Learning Conference and the Pennsylvania School Counselors Association Conference about  Career  Café  with the school counselor I work with and the school counselor from whom we initially got the idea to start  Career  Café .  Both presentations went very well! I wanted to give you an update about  Career  Café  and provide you with additional information you can use to start your own! Last year we facilitated eight  Career  Cafés  for 5th through 8th grade. Our speakers included an art teacher, bank branch manager, lawyer, chef, cosmetologist, news reporter, humaine society worker, and college basketball p...

My mom made adorable gerber daisy flower center pieces for the tables at my bridal shower. The flowers are colorful, bright, and cheerful. I thought the flowers would be great for Career Café tables to add some ambiance and make Career Café feel even more like a cafe experience. Then, I got an idea to make the flowers even better and serve two purposes, by making flower pens! I have always wanted to make flower pens... now I had a great excuse! Watch the video below to learn how to make your own flower pens! I realized while making the flower pens that they would make a great gift for a school counselor, teacher, principal or educator. Really, they would make a great gift for anyone who has a desk. ;) I love that they serve a purpose and look cute! Here's a picture of the flower pens on a  Career  Café table. Have you ever made flower pens? How would you use flower pens in your work as a school counselor? Comment below,  tweet ,  c...

I made a bulletin board for my office that highlights some of the "puzzling" things that middle school students deal with on a daily basis. There are many different things middle school students face that can make life confusing.  Some of these puzzling things include: homework, friends, family, high school options, a parent being sick, a death of a loved one, or someone you love being in prison, and much more. This "Feeling PUZZLED?"bulletin board will serve as a conversation starter for students.  I liked the idea of using the play on words from the "puzzle" theme to help students understand school counselors can play a role in helping them cope with the puzzling aspects of their lives. In the corner of the board I put some puzzle pieces together and wrote, "School counselors can help you put it all together!" I plan to use the blank puzzle pieces for student suggestions of "puzzling" things to add to the board. ...

Friday was Dream Career Day for our theme "Follow Your Dreams - Don't Do Drugs!" Students were encouraged to dress up as their dream career. Staff were encouraged to dress up like a career too! Students dressed up like lawyers, teachers, movie stars, singers, cheerleaders, football players, nurses, doctors, and much more. Some students who dressed in their normal uniform attire told me that they were dressing up as students! :) Teachers were dressed as a variety of careers as well. They dressed up as flight attendants, baseball players, coaches, nurses, doctors, and more. Some teachers wore their graduation caps and gowns from their undergraduate or graduate ceremonies! I dressed up as a veterinarian! To make my "costume" I bought a white lab coat and wore it with dress pants and a button down shirt. I wore a stethoscope that I borrowed from my brother around my neck.  I printed out a name tag for myself that said "Dr. Schultz, Veterinarian"...

Today was Wear Red Day! Our theme was "Celebrate Red Ribbon Week! Not just for a day - but for life!" There was a sea of red today! There was a lot of student, faculty, and staff participation! I continued to hang drug free pledge sheets with the help of student council members. They did a great job using the pledges to form large red ribbons in the school lobby. Student council members were also responsible for judging the doors for the college door decorating contest today. I took pictures of all of the doors and the students came up with criteria to judge the doors. We watched a slide show of all of the doors first and then went back through to vote. It was tough because everyone did such a great job with their door decorations. Tomorrow is going to be an action-packed day.  Tomorrow is our Dream Career Day for our theme "Follow Your Dreams - Don't Do Drugs!" Students are encouraged to dress up as their dream career. Last year we had a great leve...