Off to the Races.....

Here's to another school year!  We are "Off to the Races" at my elementary school with a Kentucky Derby theme this year. Each August we receive our principal's welcome back letter that gives our surprise theme, and I was really excited to see that we were doing a horse racing theme. Luckily, I already had a hat to wear to our opening meeting, and we had a great time dressing up!  Check out my friend Maggie (left) and me (right) below.  I also love a BACK TO SCHOOL SALE and am offering a sale tomorrow at my TPT store. If there's something you've had your eye on, now's the time to grab it up!

After the derby festivities, I had to get focused and start prioritizing because there are so many things to do!  My list has gone something like this:
1.  Organize my office
2.  Welcome and introduce myself to new staff members
3.  Get prepared for county professional development for school counselors
4.  Get prepared for "Meet the Teacher"

I already mentioned I was planning on creating a tree in my office in my last post here.  I focused on that for part of the optional workday last Friday, and I could not be more pleased with how it turned out, especially since I was kind of winging it with my design.  

I hot glued brown bulletin board paper to my wall for the trunk and added the tree hollow.  Then, I twisted up the same bulletin board paper to create the branches.  The leaves were created in different shades of green with my trusty Silhouette die-cut machine, and I hung two paper lanterns I found on clearance at Target to give it a whimsical feel.  Then, I used my die-cut machine for "The Giving Tree" letters. I can't wait for the kids to see it!  

I also put up my Big Deal Problem Scale numbers that I use for perspective-taking activities with my students who tend to catastrophize (more info at my TPT store here).  We will attach problem situations to the clothespin line above the numbers as we brainstorm coping skills. 

With those changes and a new paper cover on my table, I think my office is ready to go for now!

I also wanted to welcome and introduce myself to the new staff, particularly the classroom teachers who I will be working with closely as I help students.  I found these cute tags on Pinterest (go figure!) and printed them on white cardstock.  Then, I attached them to hand soap from Michael's (about $0.85 each after the teacher discount).  I taped a brief list of things I can help them with this year on the front:  Classroom guidance, small group referrals, RtI, parent conferences, behavior contracts, etc., and asked them to post it near their computer so they will have my phone extension and can call me. We have a large group of new teachers this year, and I have a new part time co-counselor so there will be a lot of time spent helping create a positive school culture and building relationships with our new Cleveland Stars.

I am presenting at county staff development tomorrow and can't wait to have our whole group together in one place.  I believe we have a great vision for our PLC this year as we plan to implement more components of the ASCA National Model.  In support of this goal, I will be presenting on the ABCs of the ASCA National Model and will give an overview of the next steps we plan to take as elementary school counselors. More details to come in a future post....

Finally, I was able to spruce up the main hallway and complete the FOUR (yes, FOUR!) bulletin boards I am responsible for during the year.  In keeping with the race theme, I updated my character board where character trait award nominees will be recognized each month. Check out the jumping gates! Each grade level's picture  will go above them. 

You may remember my map from the College Madness post.  This time, I am using it to post stars on the places our new students have moved from after I meet with them in new student groups. I may also list their names or take their picture, depending on how many new students we have. 
  
Next, I wanted to introduce my new co-counselor and continued my tradition of caricatures by turning us into "horse jockeys" as students are reminded of how school counselors can help them during the year! I don't think there's anything more entertaining than seeing your teachers, TAs, school counselors, administrators, etc. as bobbleheads! Kids love them!

Last, I am already preparing for my goal-setting lessons in September and my Career and College month in October and made a "Goals, Grades, Graduation...Go For It!" college pinwheel bulletin board. I'll give more details on how I did it later but wanted to share my pic for now.

As you can see, I have been B.U.S.Y. but having fun! I can't wait to see all my students at Meet the Teacher on Thursday.  I hope each of you has a fantastic start to the school year (if you haven't started already)!                
                     Happy Counseling! ~ Angela

Summer Lovin'

Summer is ending. I am not in denial about this fact and actually feel like I have been able to enjoy it and get rejuvenated while also working on projects that I don't always have time for during the school year.  So, here's what I have been doing:

 Working on RAMP.  Wow! I knew this project would be a bear, but I wasn't quite prepared for the brainpower it would require. Every time my co-counselor and I sit down for RAMP "work days" I feel like I have gone through a mental marathon by the time we are done, usually 8 hours later.  With that being said, it has been a great opportunity of growth for me. I have had so many "aha" moments that are going to help me be a better counselor next year.  The biggest one has to do with school counseling program goals, which I never really used before this year.  A wonderful friend I met at ASCA shared this Smart Goals worksheet with me, and it really helped me process the data I collect and apply it towards overarching program goals that could then be narrowed down into specific Closing the Gap action plans.  I also have appreciated the guiding examples of exemplary RAMP components found here on the ASCA website.

 Thinking about my office decor.  Last year, the NC legislature deemed that school counselors should not be responsible for  test coordination.  My phenomenal AP ended up with the task and took a huge testing cabinet out of my office towards the end of the year. There wasn't enough time to worry with filling the "hole" before school ended, but now I am captivated by the possibilities for my new corner. For some reason, I really want to put a tree there. Think "Giving Tree" or "Chicka Chicka Boom Boom" like these examples (from Pinterest):

I am planning on enlisting my husband to help me with the design and stability factors (he doesn't know this yet), and I have promised my principal that I will do a "scaled-down" version so as to not upset the fire marshall and get a write-up. HA! BUT, I do hope to have my own tree picture to share with you very soon. 

Thinking of new "Introduction" to the School Counselor lesson ideas. You may remember that I did a camp theme for several grade levels in my intro lessons last year. Check out my post here.  I am still going to use those lessons this year, but I wanted to add something new and exciting for some of the classes that had already experienced that lesson.  So, I am going to introduce #FlatGroovyPoovey to my Kindergarten, second, and third grade students this year.  I am still working out the lesson details, but after Internet searching and finding no Flat School Counselors or Teacher figures that would work for me, I made this worksheet. My plan is to teach my lesson and have students write in the lines the ways I can help them during the year (I will help K students).  Then, I will send it home with a letter to introduce myself to parents.  I am going to ask them to take me along on their family adventures this year, taking pictures of #FlatGroovyPoovey in different places.  Then, I will post them on my school website and they or I can post it to Twitter using that hashtag.  I also plan to include my teachers in the fun and will create a bulletin board entitled, "Where in the World is #FlatGroovyPoovey?"  The most exciting adventures will be incorporated into my theme for School Counseling Week later in February. Fun, right??!  The worksheet (with a line to fill in your own name) will be available on my Life on the Fly Store and is already up on TPT at my store here.

Finally, I have been reading...YAY!  I finished Drive by Daniel H. Pink, which I already mentioned I was reading, and Outliers by Malcolm Gladwell. They were both really interesting books, and it was nice to read something for myself in my downtime.  Now, I am reading more for kids and my book clubs and have finally started the book Crash by Jerry Spinelli.  I got this title last year with my book club grant but haven't used it yet, and I'm thinking it may come in handy with some students that will be rising fifth graders this year. Also, I added two new book club activity packs, Because of Mr. Terupt and Origami Yoda, to my Life on the Fly Store and TPT site if you are getting started with or continuing your own book clubs this year.  They are great for upper elementary or middle school book club groups and are 25+ pages each. Check them out and email me if you have any questions!

           

Can't wait to get started in another school year with you! What exciting projects are you working on???

Happy Counseling!   ~Angela

#ASCA14 Top 10

Wow. It is hard to sum up the wonderful experience that ASCA 2014 in Orlando was for me! It was my first annual conference experience, and I left with my wheels turning about how I could get to Phoenix next year.  So, I will do my best to give you my "ASCA Top 10" from my experiences on Sunday, Monday, and Tuesday (I had to hit the road on Wednesday and wasn't able to do the final half day).  I am going to attempt to include as many practical, hands-on ideas, websites, and resources that I intend to incorporate next year but will inevitably sprinkle them through my blog posts over the next several months as I use them at school.

#ASCA14 Top 10

10.  Being with 2,000+ educators who either work as school counselors, educate school counselors, advocate for school counselors, or want to be school counselors was an inspiring and powerful experience. I got to meet new friends and introduce myself to people like Dr. Wong, ASCA Executive Director (bottom photo).

                                                                *Image from Phil Echols

                                  (L to R) Lauren, Dr. Wong, me, and Mona 

9.  Participating in the state roll call.  North Carolina represents at the ASCA conference every year, and it was so fun to be a part of the hoopla this year. I even got to hold one of the @NCSCA letters!  It's a little blurry, but that's me with the "S."

8. Catching "Tweet" fever.  Twitter was abuzz during the conference with the #asca14 hashtag.  Even if you were #notatasca14, you could get the latest news, photos, and online resources by following #asca14. It is crazy to think that two or three years ago this was NOT HAPPENING at the same level! I LOVED sitting in breakout sessions and tweeting out cool facts from my speakers while also reading about others getting pumped up in their sessions.  The energy and excitement was amazing!  I used Tagboard to follow the entire hashtag in an easy to view way, which can be used for any hashtag (#WorldCup2014 anyone?).

7. Great exhibitors with counselor SWAG.  The number and variety of exhibitors at this conference was overwhelming. As an educator operating on an increasingly tighter budget each year, I absolutely loved meeting the different vendors and getting freebies. Everything from career posters to pens to stress balls to magnets were available. I'm especially excited about a couple of companies that offer professional development and can't wait to see what we might be able to plan for my Professional Learning Community.

6. Girls' Leadership Breakout Session.  I attended Julia Taylor's (@juliavtaylor) Help Girls Unlock Their Leadership Potential session and came away with a ton of great resources.  She has already posted her session Prezi on her website for all to view here so check it out! There were so many powerful videos shared, as well as book titles and activity ideas to use with girls.  In fact, I have already watched the documentary Girl Rising (right) based on her recommendation, which can be rented on Amazon.com.  However, my favorite video to use with my students is this one:

5. Stedman Graham Keynote Address. @OfficialStedman was an amazing speaker, and I especially loved what he had to say about perseverance, relationships, and making choices to be successful. My favorite point (paraphrased) is that we all have the same 24 hours in a day. What are you going to do differently to make things happen? How are you going to create magic? Also, his challenge to use 60 minutes each day reading and learning resonated strongly with me.

So, I am going to start sharing the books I am reading that are making me THINK and LEARN....Thanks Stedman! Currently, it is the book Drive by Daniel Pink, which can be found here or at your local library.  It talks about motivational theory and how the "carrot and stick" approach  may not be the best to use, for companies or our students.





4. Solution-Focused Breakout Session.  This session by Dr. Carol Buchholz Holland from North Dakota State University featured 43 strengths-based activities and techniques to  use with students in individual counseling. I use this counseling theory for the majority of my students due to its brevity and solution-oriented stance and found this session extremely helpful.  It's difficult to sum up 3 hours in a Top 10 post, but I loved Dr. Holland's incorporation of art into her stratgies:  Drawing a picture of something you would like to change when focusing in on the student's goal, "Color Your Life" activity to indicate different emotions the child has, cartooning with superheroes to identify possible solutions, Power Hands activity that identifies the strengths that will help the child reach his goal (one strength written in each finger of the hand outline). She also shared some fantastic videos that could be used with staff or students in a variety of applications. This one was my favorite.

3. My First "Tweet Up". Danielle Schultz, @sch_counselsor, organized this get together for school counselors new to the twittersphere as well as those who wrote their first tweets years ago. I loved meeting new friends and introducing myself to counselors I have admired and respected online for years.  Check out Jan (@humbleofferings) and Kelly (@KellyHanscom) below with a future Miss USA and Jasmine (SeeJascounsel) and Rebecca (@schcslgbyheart from School Counseling by Heart) to the right.  Also, Susan (@SSpellman) gets creativity points for capturing us all with inspiring messages for the world (far right).

2.  My Wifi to Sci-Fi: Motivating and Teaching Students Through Literature and

Technology Presentation.  I must say, I challenged myself to present at the ASCA conference and 45 minutes before I began, I was kind of wishing I hadn't sent in that proposal...Ha! Seriously though, it was one of the highlights of my career thus far to be able to get up in front of my peers at this national conference and share my ideas. Afterwards, I was so happy I had done it and ecstatic about the positive feedback I received (see bottom right picture).  The handout shared through the ASCA conference app can be accessed here. As always, email me if you have specific questions.

1. Michelle Obama's Keynote Address:  I tweeted this about @FLOTUS (First Lady of the United States) during her speech, and I feel even more strongly about it now. Her speech along with this letter to school officials released by Arne Duncan the day before her appearance showed the first lady "gets" how important school counselors are to the students and families we reach each day.

I hope these Top 10 Moments help give you a glimpse of  #ASCA14.  If you didn't make it this year, check out the future dates and locations for this unforgettable event below and put it on your BUCKET LIST.  

Enjoy and Happy Counseling! ~ Angela