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5 Steps to a Year Long School Counseling Program

4/6/2017

 
Ready to make a plan and {actually} stick to it this year?  Be in charge of your schedule instead of the other way around. This video describes how to take control of your day and make a plan you can stick with. Ever wonder how to design your lessons and groups at the beginning of the year? Here are my 5 easy steps!
Ready to make a plan and {actually} stick to it this year? Be in charge of your schedule instead of the other way around. I've created a video describing how to take control of your day and make a plan you can stick with. Ever wonder how to design your lessons and groups at the beginning of the year? Here are my 5 easy steps! I've included the transcript here but if you'd like to see the video and download the supplemental materials for FREE, check them out.
 
We will learn how to
  1. Take control of your schedule by planning.
  2. Set big priorities using tiered instruction and intervention
  3. Determine what’s manageable in a week to think about the year
  4. Create a group plan
  5. Make a calendar to share with your staff
 
Sometimes it can be overwhelming to start a new program. Where do you begin? How do you determine what your weekly schedule will look like much less the whole year! If you find you are spending most of your time running from one thing to another without a plan set for the day, it’s time to take control of your schedule.
 
Think about your big priorities first. As with all productivity tips, you gotta think about what’s most important to you. Once you decide your big ideas, you’ll know what has to make it on your schedule. For me, I like to use the 3 tier intervention model as my framework. My big focus is on core, classroom lessons with all students.

Classroom lessons can be the trickiest to schedule anyway, so it’s a great place to start. To begin, think about how many lessons that you could teach per week and still manage the other responsibilities of your job. Let’s say that ten 30-minute lessons is reasonable for you. If you have 20 classrooms in your building, you could teach each class every other week. If you have 40 classrooms in your building, you could teach about once per month. Share this schedule with teachers and let them know the plan. Will you be on a set rotation, will they be signing up, or will you push-in during part of their day? I liked to create a color-coded calendar letting teachers know when I would be teaching their grade level.
 
The second tier in my 3 tier intervention model includes small group counseling. I need to know how many groups I can feasibly run in a year so I can prioritize the needs of my students. Just like we did with classroom lessons, think about how many groups you could run in a week. Once you really get groups going and have lesson plans you can rely on, it’s easy to run a lot of groups. To get started, one group per day is typically pretty manageable. Think about what your data say, what are the needs of your students, and how often will you meet. What kind of time commitment can you make to groups.

I like to start my group in waves: fall groups, winter groups, and spring groups. Having three sections of groups helps me to wrap my head around how many groups I will be able to run this year and keeps me focused on getting them started. All the groups start at the same time and then end when the group material is done. This allows me to be really systematic about starting. When I am scheduling my groups, the first thing I have to figure out is the when. That’s the hardest part of a group!
 
Unfortunately, for me, in the last few years, I have had to run my groups during lunch because I could not take students out of academic time. While engaging lessons can be challenging when the students are eating, it does make the scheduling easier! If I know I am going to pull third grade groups from 11:30-12:00 on Mondays, then I know I should not schedule any classroom lessons at that time.
 
Let’s recap:
First – Decide how many classes you’re going to teach
Second – make a plan for how many groups you’re going to run and when you would like them to start.
 
Now it’s time to really start working on that calendar. Check out the supplemental documents included with this video to see how I use a combination of a set schedule (for groups, classes, and meetings) and a flexible schedule (for consultations, individual sessions, and responsive services). Just because a counselor’s job naturally entails unexpected occurrences, doesn’t mean we can’t make a plan for productivity.

And that's it! How do you plan for your year?
 

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Ready to make a plan and {actually} stick to it this year?  Be in charge of your schedule instead of the other way around. This video describes how to take control of your day and make a plan you can stick with. Ever wonder how to design your lessons and groups at the beginning of the year? Here are my 5 easy steps!
Cynthia
4/29/2017 09:05:02 pm

Thank you, fantastic points for new and veteran counselors. Awesome, I'm getting started thus week.
Thank you

Rebecca
4/30/2017 12:02:30 pm

Thanks so much! Glad it was helpful :)

Hannah - the swedish counselor
5/10/2017 06:15:17 am

Hi!
Love your blog-post and I follow you on instagram as well. You give so much inspiration!

But I have a question for you; how do you find/take time for a class or two? Do they have break-time in their schedule from the beginning or so and then you can fill it up with counseling classes?

I'm having hard time getting those moments in the classroom... Here in Sweden we no curriculum to follow as a career counselor, but would both need and love one! The politics have talked about it but it will take time before where are there.

I've now worked for two years and have always had to take another teachers lesson when I'm going to inform my 9th and 8th graders about vocational training and high school choice, and even if I manage and it's often appreciated, it's not how I dream it would be.

But I guess I have to start with something small and work my way up there. For example; Next year I'm going to see if there is any class of the elder students with a big hole in their schedule and try and fill it with classes with me :D If I'm just at the right school at the right time ^^

Rebecca Atkins
5/10/2017 06:37:28 am

Hi Hannah,
I typically discuss class schedule with the principal or leadership team before the start of the year. We decide on the schedule that is reasonable for me and the classroom teachers (for instance 3 lessons per quarter). Once the frequency has been set, I share with our teachers and discuss how we will go about scheduling the specific dates and times.

If you haven't yet been able to spend much time in the classrooms, I think your idea to start small and work your way up. Once you build the buy-in for the wonderful lessons you teach, you may find it easier to access that time.

There are many great websites about careers available but I'm not sure how they align with the expectations in Sweden.

Best of luck!

Keyana Williams
6/23/2017 04:29:06 pm

In my new position I will be over several campuses coordinating PBIS and Social Emotional Learning Curriculum. I will visit 3 campuses a day. Do you have any tips/ advice for organization and scheduling for people who travel school to school?

Rebecca Atkins
6/23/2017 04:31:09 pm

That sounds like a challenge! Will you be teaching lessons at 3 schools per day or will you be consulting and collaborating with the staff?

Adriana Wingard link
2/22/2018 06:56:56 pm

Hi Rebecca!
Congratulations for your wonderful website!. I would like to ask you what company provides a free website for school counselors? I have an old blog set up when I worked as a teacher and school psychologist.
http://adrianawingard.edublogs.org/, but I want to open a new website as a school counselor.
Do you know any names?
Thank you!
Adriana Wingard

Rebecca Atkins
2/23/2018 08:03:55 am

I use weebly :)

Jamie
4/22/2018 08:11:45 am

Do you have anymore information on how to figure out your flexible schedule? How do you determine you individual sessions that need to happen?

Rebecca Atkins
4/25/2018 10:18:23 am

Hi Jamie! Do you mean how do I know which students to see for individual counseling? I use a combination of self-referral and teacher/parent referral. I use a very complicated system of a sticky note where I write down the kids I need to see each week so I make sure I don't miss anyone! Let me know if that wasn't quite what you were asking and feel free to reach out at [email protected].

Michelle L
5/3/2018 02:31:24 pm

Hello !
I am a recent graduate and was just offered a position with a district as the School Counselor at their 5, yes 5, elementary schools. Now as a first job that may seem really intimidating, but on top of the number of schools, they really don't have a program established. So I would basically be building a program and maintaining it at 5 schools ( totaling over 1500 students). Any advice???

Rebecca Atkins
5/4/2018 10:14:05 am

I think the first thing is to realize that you will never have a comprehensive program one day a week. It's just not possible and accepting that will help you to cut yourself from slack.

That said, you can absolutely have an intentional, proactive school counseling responsive services program. I would begin by meeting with the leadership team (with reps from each grade level) and asking them their top priorities and concerns for the school. Think about ways that you could support them in social emotional skill instruction because you really won't have time to teach classes.

Consider how you will introduce yourself to students at each school. I would consider popping into every class for 10 minutes to introduce yourself with some type of memorable activity or prop.

Make a plan for how many groups you will run each day. Groups help more students in less time so they give you a better bang for your buck than individual.

I would also consider really limiting your individual counseling to super short term and then referring out quickly. You have to maximize the 6 hours a day you have with students at each school.

Walk into each school knowing how you will spend your time. Referrals should come to you ahead of time and have very limited walk-ins. You will need to think of yourself as triaging need and you can't do that if you have a ton of walk-ins. How would they handle the situation if you weren't there?

Finally, recognize your resources at each school. There will be other staff members who are great at some of the things school counselors do. A classroom teacher or specialist who understands SEL, a staff member who has a listening ear for students who need a relationship but perhaps not counseling. I used to have a school secretary who had lived in the community so long, she was great at helping families to access resources they need.

OK one more! Be vigilant about your calendar and make sure that every moment of your day has a purpose. It will be all about working smarter.

Kayla Oglesby
7/17/2018 02:38:51 pm

Thank you so much for this blog and all of the helpful tools you have posted!! This will be my first year as an elementary school counselor and I was so lost on where to begin! I am in love with the planner, and the curriculum guide you posted is so helpful to me for planning for next year! Thank you so much!

Rebecca Atkins
7/17/2018 05:25:04 pm

Thank you!! I am so glad this has been helpful to you ?


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    Rebecca Atkins

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