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Productivity Tools for School Counselors

8/20/2019

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When racing from one thing to the next, how do you keep it together? I don’t mean mentally, though, maybe that too. I mean, literally, how do you know where you’re supposed to be, keep track of what you need to do, and organize or find notes from important meetings. Here are three tools you need: calendar, to-do list, and notes.
When racing from one thing to the next, how do you keep it together? I don’t mean mentally, though, maybe that too. I mean, literally, how do you know where you’re supposed to be, keep track of what you need to do, and organize or find notes from important meetings. You might laugh and say, “I don’t!” But you do, or you wouldn't be gainfully employed and adulting on a regular basis. Before I share some tips and strategies, I want you to think carefully about how you’re managing now and keep that in mind when you choose what to try next. What’s working for you now? Because no matter how shiny or beautiful my system is, it won’t work if you don’t use it.

Where to Be

I strongly believe in calendars as a productivity tool. When we use calendars for productivity, we maximize our time and make sure we are spending our energy in the best possible way. People tend to fall into a paper calendar or digital calendar camp. I love the beauty of a paper planner but I need to be able to see my schedule wherever I am so I am firmly in the google calendar camp now. Whatever you do, don’t keep two calendars! This is a good way to make mistakes and it’s a lot of extra work for nothing. 

What to Do

When I was in a school, I walked around with a small notebook. Each two page spread was one week. The right side was my to do list that I added to and crossed out along the way. The left side was where I jotted little notes to myself, phone numbers, or any other random piece of information. This system worked for me for years! My favorite principal ever walked around with a sticky note pad and turned the pages over as she went through her list. It worked for her. It doesn’t have to be pretty to work. 
When racing from one thing to the next, how do you keep it together? I don’t mean mentally, though, maybe that too. I mean, literally, how do you know where you’re supposed to be, keep track of what you need to do, and organize or find notes from important meetings. Here are three tools you need: calendar, to-do list, and notes.
Now that I am in central office, I tend to spend more time near a computer either in meetings, between visiting schools, and at my desk. Now I’ve found the beauty of Trello. It works like post it notes on your computer. You can create boards of information, I even made itineraries for an upcoming trip! But for work, I have one to-do list board with a list for each day of the week and one overall running list. I then add cards to the list for my to-do items. When an item is done, I archive it and it’s no longer there. It helps me prioritize what must be done today and what can be done later in the week or even into next week. The picture above shows a week on Monday. I will sit down and drag the items from the to-do list on the far right over to the days of the week where I will actually complete the tasks. I can even set up future events with dates and reminders so I don't forget. 

For my big plans for the year, I rely on the ASCA National Model. I created a digital organizer that helps you to create year-long planning documents that you can share with your stakeholders.

How to Remember

For note-taking, I use Evernote. It allows me to create digital notebooks that I add to with new information. For instance, when I attended #ASCA19, I had one notebook for the conference and then added the PDF versions of the presentation and my notes within that notebook. I also used evernote to keep notes and clip articles when writing our book. You can add a google chrome extension so that you can clip any article or website into your evernote notebooks. It’s very easy to type into the program at meetings and professional development. I can even search to find information I am looking for. 

I’m also a paper/pencil person for note-taking. I find it much easier to remember something if I write it rather than type it (and research backs that up). In that case, I use a typical notebook. If it’s important enough, I can then take a photo with the evernote scanning app and add it into my evernote. Most of the time, I don’t find that I extensively look back at notes though so I’m not too careful about scanning and uploading.

I’ve recently scanned and stored most of my files and now only have a small desk-sized file drawer that’s not even full. When I was looking for something, I was much more likely to google it or look in my files than to pull out an old file folder that had who knows what in it. I haven’t missed a single thing but scanning can give you a sense of comfort knowing that you can always find it if you need it. You can see some of my filing strategies in this post about the end-of-the-year list.

And that’s it! You can make a system for where to be, what to do, and how to remember. You have to pick what works best for you! What are your productivity tips? Are you a paper or digital person?? I’d love to hear, let me know in the comments below!
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When racing from one thing to the next, how do you keep it together? I don’t mean mentally, though, maybe that too. I mean, literally, how do you know where you’re supposed to be, keep track of what you need to do, and organize or find notes from important meetings. Here are three tools you need: calendar, to-do list, and notes.
2 Comments

Access to Rigor in Elementary School

8/13/2019

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This type of gatekeeping happens all the time in schools. As school counselors, we have an ethical mandate to be keenly aware of the needs of our students and to be their advocate. What types of gatekeeping happen at your school? Are you and other leaders in the building looking out for under-representation of students of color in higher level learning opportunities?
In my work in central office, we spend a lot of time determining processes and procedures. One area of intense focus right now is access to rigor for students of color. This conversation typically happens in middle and high school as we determine how students access Advanced Placement, International Baccalaureate, and honors courses. In my district, we’ve determined data criteria for honors and advanced courses to reduce the impact of teacher bias. We’ve increased our efforts in AP Credentialing to seek out students of color who have shown in their previous work that they can be successful in AP courses. Most importantly, we’re now working to ensure that students who are recommended or register for AP/Honors courses actually have them on their schedule and have any support they need to be successful. This is all great work. What do we do as school counselors at the elementary level?

Prepare: Rigor and Success in Elementary 

To be recommended for AP/honors courses, students have to be successful in their previous coursework. In elementary, this usually means a high level III or level IV in standards based grading. Sometimes we spend so much time looking at students who are below grade level, we miss an opportunity to help students grow into challenging work and prepare for advanced courses. What does your school do to expand and support students who are high achievers? Do you disaggregate your data and identify students of color who are (or can be) high achievers? How do you ensure that these students are not overlooked for Academically Gifted programming or above grade level work?

Advocate: Respond to Gatekeeping

When my district first began using data criteria for 6th grade honors math enrollment, I had a teacher who was not happy to use the criteria set for us. She said to me “aren’t we just setting them up for failure?” Here’s the thing, the students who met the data criteria were already performing above grade level and had scored very highly on our end of grade test for math. They were students who weren’t necessarily being “pushed” by taking an honors course. They were students who soundly "qualified" to be in an honors course. (PS - apologies if you read our book, this story is a repeat!) This type of gatekeeping happens all the time in schools. As school counselors, we have an ethical mandate to be keenly aware of the needs of our students and to be their advocate. What types of gatekeeping happen at your school? Are you and other leaders in the building looking out for under-representation of students of color in higher level learning opportunities?

Teach: Social Emotional Learning

Advanced coursework typically has one common denominator - students are expected to have a high level of independence, organization, and problem solving skills. Take a look at the SEL competencies, how many of these are necessary for doing well in rigorous classes? Almost all of them. By preparing our students with the social emotional learning skills they need in elementary school, we are helping them to be more successful in middle and high school. 

Transition: Moving to the Secondary Level

Does your secondary level (middle/junior high) have honors classes? How do you recommend students for advanced coursework? Whatever system or process that you use, take a moment to dive into the data. Look at the percentage of white students and students of color are recommended for honors. Do they differ? Now look and see if the data behind those decisions aligns equitably. If student A has x data points and student B has x data points, do they get the same recommendation? How do you communicate student achievement to the next level? How can you ensure that the transition goes smoothly?

I’m definitely still in the problem solving, thinking stage of this issue. What are your thoughts regarding access to rigor in elementary? I would love to hear!
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This type of gatekeeping happens all the time in schools. As school counselors, we have an ethical mandate to be keenly aware of the needs of our students and to be their advocate. What types of gatekeeping happen at your school? Are you and other leaders in the building looking out for under-representation of students of color in higher level learning opportunities?
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    Rebecca Atkins

    Welcome to my blog where I talk about all things school counselor and encourage others to Counselor Up!

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