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13 Reasons Why School Counselors Should Be Talking About This Show

4/24/2017

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Unless you have been completely off social media (the modern day living under a rock), you have probably heard about the show “Thirteen Reasons Why.” The show depicts a boy (Clay) listening to a series of tapes made by his love interest (Hannah) before she dies by suicide. Because I spend more time in the car than on the couch (sadly), I listened to the audiobook and have watched a few of the episodes on Netflix. For the purposes of this post, I am not going to delve into if this show should have been made or the book written. It’s here, so what do we do about it?
Unless you have been completely off social media (the modern day living under a rock), you have probably heard about the show “Thirteen Reasons Why.” The show depicts a boy (Clay) listening to a series of tapes made by his love interest (Hannah) before she dies by suicide. Because I spend more time in the car than on the couch (sadly), I listened to the audiobook and have watched a few of the episodes on Netflix. For the purposes of this post, I am not going to delve into if this show should have been made or the book written. It’s here, so what do we do about it?

  1. Book review for adults: This is one of those YA books that could have been written for adults. There is a nuance to the story that I think adults will appreciate. It was interesting to see the story told from Hannah and Clay’s perspectives. As an adult, you can see the many errors in thinking that are so much a part of adolescence.
  2. Book review for teenagers: Typically, I gear most of my work towards the elementary school age. I don’t think this show or book would ever be appropriate for any young child. In addition to suicide, there are drugs, drinking, sexual acts, and rape depicted. I’m on the fence about whether this book and show is appropriate for teens. If a teen you know is watching or reading, I recommend that you watch or read along with them so that you can help them to process what they are watching.
  3. Cyberbullying: One of the main reasons that Hannah is struggling at her new school is cyberbullying. Innocuous interactions turn into rumors and scandal without any substance behind them. In one of the opening scenes of the show, you see Hannah’s love interest show his friends a slightly compromising picture of her (though taken in an innocent way). They immediately grab his phone and text the photo and a lie about it to the whole school despite his protests. This would be a cool clip to show in a lesson about cyberbullying and appropriate internet use.
  4. Peer Pressure: In this story, you can see both active peer pressure and peer pressure that takes place because of a lack of action. In one scene, a boy is inappropriately touching a girl despite her protests and the other student in the hot tub gets out and leaves the girl alone.
  5. Rape Culture: As an adult reading this book, I noticed the pervasiveness of rape culture. Hannah is often the recipient of touches, glances, and words that are unwanted. While she protests those actions, no one else does and I worry that the message gets lost in the messenger.

  6. Suicide: Guess what? Suicide is not the greatest revenge to take against people who have wronged you. Even if you make 13 tapes about how awful they were. All the people who wronged Hannah listened to the tapes and they seem to take them to heart. This aspect of the book and show got it wrong.

  7. Doing the Right Thing: Supportive adults watching with their teen have many opportunities to point out the right thing that could have been done. There are many points where a character makes a choice that leads the story down a negative path.
  8. Empathy: I had a lot of empathy for Clay while reading and watching. As an adult, I had a lot of empathy for many of the other (outwardly meaner) characters. I remember making similar dumb mistakes when I was a teenager. Teens will likely see the characters in a more good guy/bad guy perspective.
  9. Hannah: While reading the book, I was kind of annoyed by Hannah. This is probably not how she’s “supposed” to come off but it’s the truth. She seemed, well, needy. In the show, she comes off as much cooler before her downward spiral. I’m torn on whether this is a good thing. Teenage me would have wanted to be Hannah and you see how that turns out.
  10. Clay: It’s hard for me to talk about Clay without giving the plot away. Let me just say that he is not a nuanced character. He’s a one-sided coin for sure. As an adult reading, I worry about the psychological pressure these tapes have on him.
  11. The Counselor: Hannah tells you early on that if the previous “guidance” (blech) counselor had still been there that the story might have turned out differently. I think the counselor plays a larger role in the show that I haven’t finished yet but in the book, I feel for the guy. Hannah comes into his office (by the way, he also teaches English so he’s a part time school counselor) when he’s having a bad day. He doesn’t handle it well. But, I ask you, does your blood run cold knowing that you’ve had off days too? Mine sure did.
  12. The Ending: No spoilers! But it’s redeeming. But not for Hannah.
  13. Author’s Notes: If you read the book, read the author’s interview at the end about what he is going for here. If you watch the show, watch this clip on the role of suicide and mental health in the creation of the show.
Bottom Line:  Read/watch-worthy for adults and mature teens. Not appropriate for younger kids (middle schoolers I’m talking to you). If you are an adult in a child’s life, make sure to talk openly about the topics that are brought up in the show. Let teens ask questions and talk with them in an open discussion. These are hard topics and it’s better to talk about them than to hide from them. For more information see Considerations for Educators, Talking Points, and 10 Things Parents Should Know.
Unless you have been completely off social media (the modern day living under a rock), you have probably heard about the show “Thirteen Reasons Why.” The show depicts a boy (Clay) listening to a series of tapes made by his love interest (Hannah) before she dies by suicide. Because I spend more time in the car than on the couch (sadly), I listened to the audiobook and have watched a few of the episodes on Netflix. For the purposes of this post, I am not going to delve into if this show should have been made or the book written. It’s here, so what do we do about it?
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7 Steps to ASCA National Model Action Plans

4/12/2017

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To achieve a goal, you must start with an end in mind. Imagine taking a hike without a map. As you are walking through the woods, you start picking up interesting things that you see. Finally, you get tired and stop. You’re not where you wanted to be and you have all this stuff you don’t know what to do with and is too much to carry. That’s how counseling without a plan can end up! You don’t achieve the goals that you wanted to and you have picked up random data points all along the way with no real plan. What a frustrating feeling!
This is the year when you are going to create ASCA National Model Plans. It may be nearing the end of the current year but start thinking now about how you want to implement action plans for the upcoming school year. 

Video Transcript

As we all know, to achieve a goal, you must start with an end in mind. Imagine taking a hike without a map. As you are walking through the woods, you start picking up interesting things that you see. Finally, you get tired and stop. You’re not where you wanted to be and you have all this stuff you don’t know what to do with and is too much to carry. That’s how counseling without a plan can end up! You don’t achieve the goals that you wanted to and you have picked up random data points all along the way with no real plan. What a frustrating feeling!

When creating action plans, we are writing our map for the major work that we plan to do each year. To see more about setting program goals, check out the Program Goal video. The action plans are designed to include details about how you will reach your program goals through core curriculum, group, and targeted closing the gap plans. Lastly, we are making a plan for the data that you will collect so that you end the year with the data you really want to see and haven’t wasted a lot of effort on collecting data that doesn’t inform your work.
To achieve a goal, you must start with an end in mind. Imagine taking a hike without a map. As you are walking through the woods, you start picking up interesting things that you see. Finally, you get tired and stop. You’re not where you wanted to be and you have all this stuff you don’t know what to do with and is too much to carry. That’s how counseling without a plan can end up! You don’t achieve the goals that you wanted to and you have picked up random data points all along the way with no real plan. What a frustrating feeling!

Curriculum Action Plan

The core curriculum plan details the planned instruction for all students, typically by grade level. It is used to teach the mindsets and behaviors within the three domains of academic, career, and social emotional development. You probably already teach lessons as part of your counseling program. Begin by documenting these lessons within the template found on ASCA’s website. I like to create a different tab for each grade level so that it is easy to see the scope and sequence for each grade level independently.
After you’ve documented what you’re already doing, take a look at your plan and ask the following questions:
  • Will these lessons and activities support my program goals?
  • Do these lessons and activities support students as they transition into and out of the school?
  • Have you conducted a needs assessment to indicate the needs of each grade level?
  • Are there unique needs occurring in a specific grade level that you want to address with your core?

When you have created a plan that will lay the groundwork for the knowledge, skills, and attitudes that students need to succeed, you are ready to begin! A few helpful tips: it’s fine to include lessons related the school counseling program that are delivered by others in the building. For instance, a lesson about Mix It Up day that your classroom or homeroom teachers deliver could be included. Don’t include lessons for adults like parent nights or professional development. This plan is for student learning only. Continually analyze and evaluate the effectiveness of your core instruction. This is a working document that is revised and improved.
Let’s take a look at the core curriculum action plan template. In the template, you include:
  1. Grade level and lesson topic
  2. ASCA Mindsets and Behaviors: you will select 2-3 mindset and behavior standards for each lesson. To learn more about mindsets and behaviors, check out the tutorial video
  3. A brief description of curriculum and materials that you plan to use. You want the reader to be able to understand what you will be doing without going into too much detail
  4. The start and end date
  5. Process data: the projected number of students affected.
  6. Perception data: how you will determine the attitudes, knowledge and skills obtained in the lesson. This might be a pre/post test, an exit ticket, or a role play. Be creative about how you will collect this data. In core lessons, you might try to make the data collection component a natural part of the lesson like an assignment or an exit ticket so that you can manage the collection of data all your lessons.
  7. Outcome data: how does this lesson relate to the achievement, attendance, and or behavior data for this grade level? Remember that you can collect outcome data for a series of lessons or lessons individually. There should be a connection between the objectives of the lesson and the type of data being collected. An example might be to compare the number of office referrals for peer conflict between first half of the year and second half.

Reality Check – you may not be able to collect perception and outcome data for every single lesson. Start with just a few lessons and work your way up. Include all the lessons that you teach in your plan but concentrate on a manageable amount of data to collect so that you can build a plan that is sustainable. Eventually, you want to collect process data for every lesson, perception data for most lessons, and link outcome data as much as possible when there is a natural connection.

Small Group Action Plan

The Small Group Action Plan is similar to the curriculum plan in that it includes all the groups planned for the year. However, instead of a curriculum that is for all students, small groups target selected students based on need. The Small Group Action Plan is a working document and may updated or revised as needs arise during the school year.
To begin, determine how many groups are manageable for each counselor to conduct. Once you have a total number of groups, look at your schools’ data to determine the greatest needs that can be supported through small group counseling. Consider students who have attendance, achievement, or behavior concerns. You can also use a group needs assessment for teachers, administrators, or parents to determine which groups to offer. Once you have a plan for the groups that you will offer, identify students who would be the best fit for each group. There may be students who show a need but for whom small group counseling is not a good fit. If that is the case, make an alternate plan for the student to ensure that their needs are met.
Once you have your list of planned groups, you can complete the Small Group Plan template:
  1. Grade level and group topic
  2. ASCA Mindsets and Behaviors: you will select about 2-3 mindset and behavior standards for each lesson, with some overlap. To learn more about mindsets and behaviors, check out the tutorial video
  3. A brief description of curriculum and materials that you plan to use. You want the reader to be able to understand what you will be doing without going into too much detail.
  4. The start and end date
  5. Process data: the projected number of students who will be in the small group. If you run multiple sections of the same group, it’s fine to include all students in one line. For instance, if you have 4 academic achievement groups running simultaneously, write the total number of students in this group here.
  6. Perception data: how you will determine the attitudes, knowledge and skills obtained in the lesson. In Small groups, you will typically use a pre/post test.
  7. Outcome data: How will you determine the effectiveness of the group? Compare achievement, attendance, or behavior data before the group to the same data after the group. Keep it simple!

Closing the Gap Action Plans

The closing the gap action plan looks at a targeted group of students who show a gap in their academic, attendance, or behavior data. These gaps are identified by disaggregating data for specific categories. You may use a larger program goal like increasing graduation rates and drill down to a discrepancy between subgroups or you may write your program goal with a targeted group in mind. Data can be disaggregated several ways: by subgroup (race, ethnicity, gender, grade) or by category (specified number of absences, early check out, office referrals for a specific offense).
Once you have identified the program goal and targeted group of students, it is time to design your implementation plan. Interventions should be evidence based, grounded in research, driven by the mindsets and behaviors, and fall within the work of school counselors. Interventions may include a variety of activities like parent contacts, individual student planning, small group counseling, and data monitoring. They also may include systemic changes like changing the way honors courses are recommended or increasing teacher’s professional development in trauma informed schools.
Once you have an idea of your plan, you can create a Closing the Gap Action Plan. Begin by writing the target group and the data to identify students at the top of the plan.
  1. Activities: write a list of activities that you plan to implement
  2. ASCA Mindsets and Behaviors: you will select about 1-2 mindset and behavior standards that most directly link to your goal.
  3. A brief description of curriculum and materials that you plan to use. You want the reader to be able to understand what you will be doing without going into too much detail.
  4. The start and end date
  5. Process data: the projected number of targeted students
  6. Perception data: how you will determine the attitudes, knowledge and skills obtained by the targeted students? You will most likely use a pre/post test tool for students but could also use teacher and parent surveys.
  7. Outcome data: The outcome data should be spelled out in your program goal or how you targeted students. For instance, if you targeted students for attendance, you would be looking at attendance as the outcome goal. ​​
To achieve a goal, you must start with an end in mind. Imagine taking a hike without a map. As you are walking through the woods, you start picking up interesting things that you see. Finally, you get tired and stop. You’re not where you wanted to be and you have all this stuff you don’t know what to do with and is too much to carry. That’s how counseling without a plan can end up! You don’t achieve the goals that you wanted to and you have picked up random data points all along the way with no real plan. What a frustrating feeling!
Now that you have your action plans for the year, you are ready to get going. Remember that action plans are not designed to capture all of your work but help you to maintain focus on your goals. Other needs will arise throughout the year but having a plan keeps the program from straying off course or if a change is needed, to make that change in a way that is purposeful and best for kids.
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To achieve a goal, you must start with an end in mind. Imagine taking a hike without a map. As you are walking through the woods, you start picking up interesting things that you see. Finally, you get tired and stop. You’re not where you wanted to be and you have all this stuff you don’t know what to do with and is too much to carry. That’s how counseling without a plan can end up! You don’t achieve the goals that you wanted to and you have picked up random data points all along the way with no real plan. What a frustrating feeling!
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5 Steps to a Year Long School Counseling Program

4/6/2017

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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!
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!
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    Rebecca Atkins

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