Technology in Counseling

As a faculty member in the Master of Education in School Counseling program at American Public University (APUS), I have the opportunity to work and collaborate with amazing individuals that are advocates in school counseling and the counseling profession in general. Below is a link to a blog post on technology usage in school counseling, headed by my program director that I was able to contribute to. While reading it, think about how technology enhances the (school) counseling work that you do in recordkeeping, counseling, and connecting with parents, the community and other professionals. Counseling students, please reflect on how you can be more efficient in your practice with the use of various technology resources. Also, how does technology negatively impact students and school age clients you work with?

http://edutrendsonline.com/influence-of-technology-in-school-counseling/

NEW ASCA National Model Webinar!

The new ASCA National Model is officially available for purchase! What better way for novice, seasoned, and inquiring counselors to prepare for the upcoming academic year then to attend a webinar to learn about the changes in terminology and updates to the National Model. To learn more and register for the webiner click here and be sure to get your copy to access the newest tools in the school counseling profession!

K-2 Friendship

K-2 students have just completed a guidance rotation on friendship. First they discussed what it means to be a friend and how they are friendly to others. They then read a story about friendship (below are the books read to each grade level) and as a reflection discussed and participated in the activity, Words that Help or Hurt Friendships from the Creative Small Groups for Grades K-5 activity book.

Books on Friendship:

K- How to be a Friend

1st grade- The Worst Best Friend

2nd grade- Enemy Pie

Enemy Pie is also available online with graphics at http://www.storylineonline.net/!



5th grade Internet Safety

A special thank you to Ms. Fowler, Internet Safety Education Coordinator from the State Office of the Attorney General for taking the time to come to our school to facilitate a parent night and speak to our 5th graders about Internet Safety. It is very apparent that your heart is with education, everyone really found the information you shared to be so valuable! Thank you for the pencils, brochures, and parent/child internet safety contracts- they will be of great value when parents talk with their children about appropriate use of the internet.

Now available on Kindle....

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Character Counts Week!

October 17-21st is Character Counts Week, to celebrate my co-counselor and I collaborated with students, administrators, the school librarian/media specialist, custodian's, teacher's, bus driver's and others to host the morning show each day emphasizing a different character trait. This year we became a PBIS school where we look for students demonstrating positive behavior (that goes with our school motto) and reward them with dolphin dollars that they can turn into 'Rocky's Cove' for a variety of prizes/incentives. Our school's motto is that it R.O.C.K.S. : Respectful, Organized, Cooperative, Knowledgeable, and Safe. Each day during Character Counts Week we will be focusing on one of these traits. Monday- Respectful, Tuesday- Organized, Wednesday- Cooperative, etc.

For the morning show we recorded the individuals mentioned above on a Flip and converted the mp4 videos to be compatible in a DVD player using a program called DVD Burning Xpress. The converting took a while but once complete, we had a DVD of five morning shows one to play each day. The program is great, it allows you to fade in and out of different clips, add music, background pictures on the main window, titles, etc. The main screen when put into the DVD player is like a chapter menu for a movie which allows you to select which video clip you want to watch.

Monday- Responsibility- Dolphin Council members giving an overview of the week and talking about how to show each character trait in different locations of the building followed by my co-counselor reading "Mind your Manners in School"

Tuesday- Organized- Several teachers, a custodian, and administrator share what being organized means to them.

Wednesday- Cooperative- Members of the Dolphin Council share what it means to be cooperative in the cafeteria and I read "The Gigantic Turnip"

Thursday- Knowledgeable- Members of the Dolphin Council share what it means to be knowledgeable on the bus then several 5th graders did the rap, 'Get on the bus' from the book "Skits, Raps, & Poems for the School Counselor"

Friday- Safe- Members of the Dolphin Council share what it means to be safe on the playground followed by the librarian reading "The Recess Queen"

It is our hope that Character Counts Week educates students on different character traits and encourages all to promote positive character this week and always!