Growth Mindset is all the rage right now. While the original concept has sometimes been lost, the work of Carol Dweck is pretty incredible. You can see this previous post for a brief glimpse into the research behind growth mindset (and a PD you can present to your staff).

I've created a fun booklet for kids to make that explores the major concepts of growth mindset. It only takes 2 sheets of paper and makes an 8 page booklet and is appropriate for Grades 2-5. Let's take a look:​ 

Simple, easy and fun growth mindset for 2nd-5th graders! Copy and go- the kids can do the folding! You can add to the lesson by reading a book on growth mindset. Here are some of my favorite:

You finally finished grad school and find your first job. Everything is going great and then you get your first student loan payment. Womp Womp. Educators are certainly pretty low on the salary totem pole and yet we are required as school counselors to hold a masters degree. Luckily, there are a few programs that might help you out. 

Before we get started, you need to know what type of loans you have: private, federal, Perkins, Stafford, etc. It's also helpful to know how many payments you've made and whether you school is classified as a low-income school.

The Public Service Loan Forgiveness is probably the most well known loan forgiveness program. In this program, you make 120 payments on your loan and then the remaining balance is forgiven. It covers a broad range of loan types and is especially good for people who couldn't make their full loan payments and participated in something like anIncome-Based Plan (a plan where you make smaller payments capped at 10-15% of your income) so that they have a balance after 10 years. This program is available for public employees and 501(c)(3) non-profit employees.

The teacher cancellation program is for those who have Perkins Loans (for low income students). All kinds of school personnel, including school counselors, can have their loans cancelled through this program. The program cancels a portion of your loan for each year that you work in a low-income school or a non-profit private school, up to 100 percent.

• 15 percent canceled per year for the first and second years of service
• 20 percent canceled for the third and fourth years
• 30 percent canceled for the fifth year

Teacher Loan Forgiveness does not include school counselors in their definition of teacher (oh, politics), however, I am including in case you might have been a teacher before you became a school counselor. There are parameters on the type of loan you can have and the years that you received the loan but can add up to $17,500 in loans cancelled. You can check out the website here.

So there it is! Rules and availability of funds change quickly so make sure to check out studentaid.ed.gov for the latest. If it seems overwhelming, it can be helpful to contact the Student Aid number, email, or chat to talk about your situation. I have heard that they are very helpful!

Good luck in your pursuit of student loan peace and...

How do you keep track of your calendar? Do you feel like you're running around all day and by the time you make it to the finish line (or the couch), you don't even know what all you did that day? I can't stand that feeling! To help keep me on my toes, and super productive, I write down absolutely everything I do in a day. Sound overwhelming? It doesn't have to be!

I use google calendars to keep myself in order but for the purposes of sharing with you I have used a schedule page from my Office Bundle and have written out my calendar. This is a real schedule that I transcribed from my google calendar. Names have been changed to protect confidentiality. 

In this photo, you can see what I have planned for the week. This is everything I have on my calendar starting on Monday. You can see 7 classes, 7 groups, a few Professional Learning Community (PLC) meetings, and regular old staff meetings. It's a pretty busy week but there are a lot of blank spaces for those responsive services, individual planning sessions, and impromptu consultations with staff or parents. 

As the week goes on, I start filling in with what I'm doing. I even include things like checking email or planning for a group. I highlighted the beginning and end of the school day so that you can see it. My week quickly fills up! See that blank spot on Wednesday morning? Here's where I would check myself and wonder what I was doing. When I start to see too many of those, I know I need to tighten up my schedule. I want to make each and every moment of my day purposeful.

It really is a simple thing writing down your daily activities - remember doing the same when you were documenting your internship hours in Grad School? I promise you it will make a huge difference in your productivity immediately.  If you want to see my schedule in more detail, the PDF is below (may not be visible on mobile). How do you keep up with your schedule and daily to-do lists? I'll have to share my to-do list notebook sometime soon!