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Opening a New School as a School Counselor

10/13/2018

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I’ve always dreamed of opening a new school. Maybe it’s the fresh paint but I also think it’s excitement of planning and setting up everything from scratch. You know I love to organize…

Today I am super excited to welcome Sara from
the Responsive Counselor to share her experience opening a new school this year.


​What led you to decide to open a new school? Did you go with an admin or seek it out?

After 6 years at my previous school, I was starting to feel a little antsy. I was worried about become complacent and I started wondering if a change would help challenge and push me. My goal professionally is to always be growing and improving. When my district announced a new elementary was opening and named the executive principal, I reached out to the counselors currently working with him. They knew me personally and professionally and I thought they would know whether or not it would be a good "fit" for me. They said "Yes, run!" and then put in a good word for me.

What has been the most surprising challenge?
Starting from scratch with relationships...with adults. I knew how important this was and I guess I'm not surprised that it's a challenge but I didn't realize how much of a challenge it would be. So much of our success in our jobs is related to our connections with faculty and with the mutual trust that comes with that. My teachers don't know what to expect from me yet. They don't know what to ask me for help with. They don't know that I only ever email if I really need to. Since they're also all coming from different places, they're coming in with different ideas and expectations of what a school counseling program is. It's a big responsibility to shape that for a new faculty!

What has been the most surprising fun thing/ good thing?
A brand new building means brand new technology! We aren't one to one or anything but each room (including my office) has a Promethean board. I'm still figuring out all the ways I can use it but I'm already loving it. Writing directly on PowerPoints, being one click away from GoNoodle, etc. - it's a great perk. Also, little things like...no spiders! Well placed faculty bathrooms! No peeling paint! Stuff that counselors in old buildings (like me before this year) really appreciate. As counselors it sometimes feels shallow to appreciate cosmetic things or fancy things - but the truth is that the physical environment of a school has a real impact on all of the people inside - students and faculty!

Did you decide to do many of the same things as your previous school or did you change it up?
For now, I'm doing most of the same things. My co-counselor and I are just finishing up our program management agreement to present to admin and even that I'm keeping mostly the same for now. As I learn more about the student needs (and once all my needs assessments are back in!), I'll find changes I need to make but for now, I'm going to plug in what I know and do best. The only piece significantly different right from the get go is the intentionality that I'm coordinating Tier 2 and Tier 3 behavior services. We are trying to follow a true RTI/MTSS model for behavior, including using a universal screener and doing check in/check out with fidelity.

What advice do you have for getting started in a new school?
Be patient. There are lots of things that won't be established or ready right away. You might not get into your building until a couple days before the kids arrive. You might not have a school mission or vision statement. You might not have any baseline data to work with. It might take longer than you'd hoped to establish a relationship and rapport with teachers. You will feel a little comfortable. Be patient. It just takes a little longer for all the pieces to fall into place.

Is there something you've learned that would apply to any counselor starting at a *new to them* school?
Prioritize relationships. That might mean spending time in the cafeteria (even though it's loud and chaotic and awful). It might mean using your only "sit down" time in the day to pop into teachers during their lunch. Maybe it's calling parents instead of sending a note home. There are small sacrifices that can come with doing this but it's crucial, especially at the start when norms and expectations and attitudes and beliefs are being established.

Thanks Sara! What questions do y’all have? Leave in the comments and Sara and I will check back in to answer. While you’re at it, check out Sara’s post on 5 Tips for Setting Up Your First Office.
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I’ve always dreamed of opening a new school. Maybe it’s the fresh paint but I also think it’s excitement of planning and setting up everything from scratch. You know I love to organize…
1 Comment

Social Emotional Learning for the Whole Staff

10/9/2018

4 Comments

 
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Social emotional learning is making a big move right now in education. For counselors, we're nodding our heads and (perhaps) whisper-shouting "I told you so." Hey, let's just appreciate that we were ahead of the game. Where I work, schools are being required to include social emotional learning components in their school improvement plans and several districts in my area are hiring social emotional learning central services staff. I'm thrilled that this whole child approach is getting the spotlight.

At the same time, there's a lot of pressure for counselors to do this right. We may be one of the only people in the building with deep knowledge of social emotional learning best practices. I use the analogy of technology in the classrooms. When we started getting more computers, smart boards, and then iPads (I'm old, don't remind me), the entire staff turned and looked at the technology teacher. Great, they thought, our students can learn technology from that person and I can keep on with my usual. Now, we wouldn't dream of only one person in the building teaching technology as a separate entity from core instruction. I think the same will happen with SEL. It's a heavy lift for counselors right now but eventually we can build the capacity of our whole staff to not just teach SEL but to incorporate social emotional learning into the curriculum as a whole. 

Social Emotional Learning as a Practice

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CASEL, the collaborative for academic, social, and emotional learning, are the gurus on SEL right now. I look to them first when I am working on SEL. They look at SEL implementation in four parts:
  • SEL lessons with explicit instruction: counselors teach these in their curriculum but teachers do too! When a teacher introduces a project based learning activity to students, they often go over expected behaviors and organizational strategies. That's explicit step-by-step instruction.
  • Teaching practices that create positive conditions that support social and emotional development in students: students have to feel emotional and socially safe at school in order to learn social and emotional skills. Culturally responsive instruction is going to be a huge part of this. Schoolwide expectations and tier one practices like PBIS are in this tier as well.
  • Integration of instruction and practice of SEL in the academic curriculum: This is more than teaching expected behaviors. This involves actually incorporating SEL competencies into instruction in a meaningful way.
  • Policies and organizational structures: When we have policies and structures in place that support SEL as a clear priority for the school they are much more likely to happen.

SEL Competencies

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CASEL has identified 5 core competencies for social emotional learning. They have a great handout that breaks down all of the competencies into skills. What I love about the skills highlighted by CASEL is their broad application. Students must actually have these skills in order to be successful in academics. This isn't fluff. It isn't something nice to "add on." 
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I recently led a professional development for a full staff on social emotional learning. Social Emotional Learning is something that all educators can quickly understand and apply if they are given the opportunity to personally reflect and reflect on their classroom practices. After completing a culturally responsive classroom checklist and discussing the components of SEL, the teachers worked in cross grade level teams to complete a "cheat sheet" for each of the competencies. In this activity, the staff answered:
  • What competencies/skills are listed under the core competency?
  • Why it matters - why do students need to have this skills to be successful?
  • Students will - a list of observable behaviors for students at each grade level.
  • Teachers will - a list of observable strategies that teachers can implement. This is a great resource for ideas.

Overall it went really well and I think the staff walked away with new learning and reflection. If you'd like to snag the entire presentation and materials, you can find it here. 
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Three Tier School Counseling

10/6/2018

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On a recent post on my Facebook page, I mentioned MTSS and School Counseling and the internet blew up a little bit. I promised to come back and share more details with you. I'm over at Confident Counselors sharing a bit more about MTSS, Core Counseling, and tiered counseling interventions. If you haven't checked it out yet, please do! 
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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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