School Counselor Blog

I have gotten tons of questions and comments about the "What You Say in Here, Stays in Here" Banner that I have in my school counseling office.  Shown here in above the desk in the upper left side of the picture. Also shown here above my desk. I created the banner using VistaPrint.  I got the idea for the banner from a School Counselor Blog Facebook Page Fan. The banner is made out of indoor vinyl and is 3' x 1.6' in size. VistaPrint  is a great place to order personalized items. In the next few weeks I will be sharing some other great things you can order using VistaPrint .  I have been trying to figure out an easy way to share this design with you so that you can reorder it yourself. Unfortunately, when I "share" a design, it does not come up complete with the words. I can share the link to order a banner with this same background, but not the completed banner. The link below will allow you to design the banner yourself. You ca...

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...

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...

I am so excited to share this college pennant display with you! I am collecting pennants from colleges and universities. I decided to start with my alma maters, Pennsylvania State University (where I earned my B.A.) and Shippensburg University of Pennsylvania (where I earned my M.Ed.). All I did was called them and told them I wanted to display the pennants in my school to expose students to colleges and they sent them to me for free! One day when I was at the high school I noticed they had pennants hanging in various places. Then I got an idea... I asked the high school counselor if he would send me any pennants in which he had a double. He told me that he gets so many that he sometimes throws them away! He was excited to have someone to give them to who would put them to good use. So I am up to 10 pennants now! I am so thankful for the high school counselor for helping me out and helping me to expose students to colleges! Over the summer I made a banner on VistaPrint that...

I arrived early at the "WE SOAR TV: 10 Minutes Makes a Difference" session because I was so excited about attending it.  I wanted to gain ideas about how I could infuse ASCA standards into the morning announcements at school next year. "WE SOAR TV" is a student run television show. Presenters Anaid Shaver, the school counselor and Cheryl Phillips a Instructional Technology Resource Teacher facilitate the program. "WE SOAR" airs live everyday on TVs in the school. Anaid is able to integrate ASCA academic, career, and personal/social standards into the program to reach every student, every day. Since I came early to the session and was invited to be a "host" to demonstrate the program live for the conference audience along with another "host." It was so much fun. We both really got into it. The whole time I was "hosting" I was picturing students at my own school and how much they would LOVE to be the hosts of a televisio...

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...

I received an email from a reader the other day about graduate school for school counseling. After answering her initial questions, I came to the last line of the email, which asked, "What is your most important advice for an aspiring school counselor?" Wow, I thought, I really need to think about that one. I thought about it last night and now this morning sitting down to write,  I realized I knew the answer all along. I thought about one of the best pieces of advice I ever received and how it has helped me as a professional school counselor and as a blogger. The advice was from my dad, and he continues to give this advice to me often. "It's just who knows who. Then over here you have favoritism." One of my favorite movies of all time is Raising Arizona , a Joel and Ethan Coen movie. My family watches it every year when we go on vacation.  My mom, dad, and I quote the movie all the time.  The quote from the movie that has the most meaning for me,...

Our district has a large transient population. We have new families coming into our school district daily. As a school counselor at my school, I have the opportunity to greet new students and welcome them to our school and district. Sometimes students come to our school from another school within the district, but other times the family is relocating and they are unfamiliar with our district. Taking the time to meet with new students and families helps them to feel connected and lets them know that the school counselor is someone they can talk to about questions and concerns. This year I want to be more proactive about making new students feel welcome. I am planning to provide new students with a “welcome packet” including basic materials such as a pencil, notebook, and a school planner.  Some students come to their first day of school without any school supplies and some students do not even have a backpack. (I get family members to collect backpacks, tote bags, and drawstring b...

Each week I will be selecting an item for Fabulous Find Friday. This Friday's Fabulous Find is Vistaprint ! Vistaprint  is a company specializing in personalized products for professional and/or personal use.  Vistaprint personalizes items such as business cards, pens, t-shirts, notepads, car door magnets, tote bags and much more! Vistaprint hosts great sales and specials and always has FREE personalized items too! (you only have to pay the shipping!) I have ordered products from Vistaprint and I continue to be impressed by the quality and value of the products.  Business cards are one of my favorite products Vistaprint offers. The first time I ordered business cards I used the basic design business cards and received 250 business cards for FREE (I only paid shipping). Vistaprint also allows you to customize your business cards with your own design or logo.  I created a double sideded business card to match my website theme.  My website , em...