Guidance Essential Standards

Tomorrow I am sharing a Guidance Essential Standards presentation at the NC School Counselor's Regional Drive-in Workshop for the Capital Region of North Carolina.  I could not be more excited to be with my NC peeps and the fantastic state organization that offers us so many professional development opportunities.  I am posting my presentation here so the attendees of my workshop can easily access the information as we discuss and delve into the Guidance Essential Standards.  My blog readers can also check out the information below.  I hope it will be helpful to you!

If you are interested in getting a copy of the K-5 Guidance Essential Standards crosswalk document I have created, you can find it at my Life on the Fly store here.
 Happy Counseling! ~  Angela

#4

Making my top 5 summer list has kept me HONEST this summer, and I like that! I am almost done with my office decorating projects, and I already submitted a county grant with my principal's approval.  It is focused on getting some technology equipment I would like to use for character education and leadership projects with students (but more on that in another post!).  I'm going to submit a similar grant to another education foundation in hopes that I can get ONE of them, and I also have a Donor's Choose project request that I am going to submit.  So, I have been tackling my to-do list in between pool visits, beach trips, and general hanging with my kiddos.

However, item #4- Guidance Essential Standards- was kind of hanging over my head until last week. I was really excited about hosting a summer PLC with some elementary counselors in my county, and I wanted to finally put the ideas I have been thinking about onto paper in preparation for our meeting. So, I got out my trusty ASCA National Model handbook and got to work.  Here's what I did:

1.  Matched the ASCA National Model competencies I use for K-5 to the Guidance Essential Standards (GES).  There were lots that DID NOT match so I put them to the side.

2.  Created a crosswalk for the GES to show which standards I would use in each K-5 grade level. I know the GES are part of a developmental model so I used knowledge of my students to choose the average developmental level in each grade and can differentiate up or down depending on the lesson topic.  This process is somewhat subjective depending on your students so there could be tweaking based on your student population. 

3.  Created a list for each grade level of the GES I assigned and added supplemental ASCA competencies that weren't aligned to the GES but were important to me to include for that grade level.

I ended up with a document that has a lot going on but helps me feel organized when I am thinking about all the different standards and competencies. I can now make sure my annual calendar includes classroom guidance lessons, small group topics, and school-wide initiatives that cover all the standards/competencies for each grade level. 

As an aside, I searched online extensively before I created this document because I was hoping to find something similar to save me time and not re-invent the wheel. If this document would be helpful to you, check it out at my Life on the Fly Store.
Happy Counseling!  

~Angela