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Interrupting Racism: Book Discussion Guide

9/17/2019

We are thrilled with the amazing response we've had to our book Interrupting Racism: Equity and Social Justice in School Counseling. One of the things that I find the most exciting and humbling (yes, all at once), is the number of school counseling teams and district-wide professional learning communities (PLCs) that are using the book this year. We've created a discussion guide for you to lead your team meetings and be ready for equity in action.

When you set out to write a book, you're hopeful someone other than your mom will read it. In our case, we wanted to make an impact in school counseling and for students. We are thrilled with the amazing response we've had to our book Interrupting Racism: Equity and Social Justice in School Counseling. One of the things that I find the most exciting and humbling (yes, all at once), is the number of school counseling teams and district-wide professional learning communities (PLCs) that are using the book this year.

To support that work, we are hosting an ASCA Webinar called Ignite Change for Equity and Inclusion tomorrow, September 18, 2019. If that moment has passed, you can check out the archive on ASCA On Air. To see our presentation from ASCA19 (the impetus for our webinar), you can read this post on White Silence.

We are also excited to announce that we have a book discussion guide for you! This two page document will give you some discussion points and ideas to guide your PLT or team's work around equity and social justice from the book. Please comment and let me know if you've been using the book in your counseling teams and professional learning communities!

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Social Emotional Learning in Academics

9/10/2019

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SEL is not separate from academic core instruction. It is a part of the skills needed to access and succeed in college and career ready curriculum. I’m over on Confident Counselors today sharing an activity that I have done with teachers to explore integrating social emotional skills in academic instruction. It’s not something separate. It is a part of the whole.

You’ve presented to your staff on social emotional learning. You might have even adopted social emotional curriculum schoolwide or set aside a certain number of minutes per day/week that will incorporate SEL explicit instruction. Check, you’re done right? Nope.

Remember when we first started to have technology in schools (no, ok - I’m showing my age)? We felt certain that students would master the use of technology with 30-45 minute technology classes once per week. Over the years, it became apparent that 45 minutes per week was an insufficient amount of time to master any skill. Now everyone in the school incorporates technology as a part of their work with students.

This is where we need to get with social emotional learning. SEL is not separate from academic core instruction. It is a part of the skills needed to access and succeed in college and career ready curriculum. I’m over on Confident Counselors today sharing an activity that I have done with teachers to explore integrating social emotional skills in academic instruction. It’s not something separate. It is a part of the whole.

Need more? I have a post on the pedagogy of social emotional learning and a 3 hour professional development that I have done for whole staff meetings. Drop a note in the comments and tell me what you're up to for social emotional learning, I'd love to hear.

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Progress Monitoring Goals with Students

9/3/2019

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Progress monitoring is important for students because it keeps them motivated and helps them to see if they are getting closer to their goal. It’s important for counselors because it helps us to see if the work we are doing is helpful for students. If we can see that the student is not, in fact, closer to meeting their goal, then we know we need to change what we are doing to help them.

Think about a personal goal you have made. What did you do to keep your motivation up? Did you use an app... color in squares on a journal... graph data points? I imagine that any goal that you are successful in meeting, you found a way to chart your progress along the way. This is doubly important when working with students in individual or group counseling.

Progress monitoring is important for students because it keeps them motivated and helps them to see if they are getting closer to their goal. It’s important for counselors because it helps us to see if the work we are doing is helpful for students. If we can see that the student is not, in fact, closer to meeting their goal, then we know we need to change what we are doing to help them.

Progress monitoring can also be important information to share with parents and teachers. If the student is working on a non-confidential goal, like a behavior contract or homework completion. I can share that data with parents and teachers so that they can also work with the kiddo on meeting their goal.

Bar Chart Graph

Bar charts are an easy way to chart progress. In this goal sheet, I write the date under the column and then ask the student to color in where they are in meeting their goal. For some kids, they can do this intuitively. For others, they may need some help identifying what each of the self-rating numbers mean. We graph the goal until they can maintain an 8-10 over several check-ins. Sometimes I use this in individual counseling, using the Solution Focused Brief Counseling mood meter. Other times, I use this in group, particularly my academic achievement group, to graph progress toward their observable goal. I love the group conversation because it allows students to process and reflect with their peers. It’s so powerful.

Build It Up

Some students are dedicated to meeting their goal but struggle with getting there consistently. They might go up and down a lot and that can be discouraging. For these kiddos, I think it’s helpful to keep the mindset that every step is a step forward. For this, I use a bowl with beans/rocks/marbles. When we rate their goal on a scale of 1-10, they add that number of rocks to the bowl. Even on days where you’re a 1 or a 2, you haven’t given up and you’re still working toward your goal. I’m not big on rewards in counseling sessions so when they feel up the goal, we process how GREAT it feels and decide what to do next.

In the Moment

Some students get overwhelmed by processing their goals over time. For these students, I use a one-time visual to mark their goal progress. With the mood meter, I laminate the pages and we write on them with dry erase marker (tip: use magic eraser to remove). For the mood clip chart, it’s not as precise as the numerical mood meter, but has a good visual with feelings faces. Sometimes, I even have the student show me with play-doh or a quick doodle how they are doing on their goal. Then I ask them to describe in words what their doodle is expressing. If I need to chart progress over time, I can jot down what they write for my own use.

Whatever tool you use, progress monitoring goals with students is crucial for helping them to move toward their goals. If you’d like a free copy of my progress monitoring bar graph, you can grab that here. What are your tips?

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Interrupting Racism: Book Discussion Guide

Social Emotional Learning in Academics

Progress Monitoring Goals with Students

Bar Chart Graph

Build It Up

In the Moment

Rebecca Atkins

Interrupting Racism: Equity and Social Justice in School Counseling

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