Groceries to get, emails to respond to, to-do lists, phone calls to make - does this sound like your brain? Me too. It's the same for kids too. They are thinking about mom snapping at them this morning, the assessment coming up, what they'd rather be doing (lunch), what they should be doing, friend drama, home drama - the list goes on. We are in such a go, go, go moment in the world, it's no wonder that we are all kinda crushing under the pressure. 

That's why I love the new book from Julia Cook, Be Where Your Feet Are. While mindfulness is the underlying concept for the book, it differs from other favorites because  it really focuses on mindful action. There is no sitting in a zen pose and deep breathing. I may be a yogi-wanna-be but I don't always want to zen out and, for some kids, I think this approach is much more relatable. 

So what exactly is mindful action? I thought I made it up but a quick google shows some other great minds out there ;) When we are in action, particularly actions that are more rote or when we have high levels of feelings related to the action, our minds are elsewhere. We're thinking about the future, the past, the where-we'd-rather-be, or we are ruminating with self-talk about our feelings. 

What if we didn't? What if we thought about what we're doing? Say you're washing the dishes. It doesn't take a lot of thought and you might even have some strong feelings about the dishes or the people that left them for you. Thoughts are all over the place. Focusing on the actions that we are taking both in the mundane and in the intense can give our brains time to rest and allows us to do better.

In the book, the boy has distracted thoughts all over the place that cause him to forget permission slips, mess up on a test, and play a different trombone song than the rest of the band. He can't focus long enough to do each thing well. His mom helps him to learn how to "be where his feet are." She suggests he breaks his time into chunks and give each thing all of his brain. 

It's a great perspective and I think kids will respond to the drawings and humor within the book. The text is slightly long for younger readers so you may have to support their attention with some "be where your feet are" practice. For example, on page 26 the book says "Give yourself a mindful moment and make your feet and brain a team," it might be helpful to take kids through a short mindful movement. I like to have students move slowly and feel the way that the air feels on their skin, the earth feels on their feet, and the words sound in their brain. Kids really like it too!

Be Where Your Feet Are also has a great solution focused counseling example when the main character's mom asked him about the one thing he had done well that day and helped him to find an exception to his area of concern. Overall, I think you'll really like it. In the next book, I would love to see Julia Cook add more racial diversity in her characters, especially the protagonists. You can see more about the book and hear from the author on the National Center for Youth Issues website and on her author page.

To celebrate the release of the book, NCYI has given me 3 copies to give away! Like all giveaways, members of the VIP list are automatically entered. If you'd like an additional entry, leave a comment below about Mindful Action. I'll choose a winner on Monday, August 6, 2018.

I'm always looking for ideas that I can create ahead of time and grab in the moment. I want it to be quick but meaningful and ready for use. Enter Feelings Go Fish - print on cardstock, laminate, and get ready to use over and over.  You can even make this yourself! Just cut up two copies of multiple feelings pictures from google searches and you're good to go. If you're not so into DIY, you can purchase the cards seen here on TpT.

This can be a great ice breaker for a kid that needs some practice talking about their feelings. Each time you ask each other for a card - "Do you have a shocked friend?" - you are identifying the feeling on the card. You can also practice sharing a time that you have experienced that feeling each time you take a turn or make a pair. To help, I've created a poster that shows all the feelings on one page. Keep it posted in your room to reference each time you discuss feelings.

I think it's fun to practice tone of voice of body language to "go fish." When I need an angry card, I can use an angry tone of voice or make an angry face. The other student has to guess which feeling I am showing and the let me know if they have that card. Playing games in groups is a great way to practice turn taking, managing frustration, and communication. 

Do you teach a lot of classes? Many of the counselors in my area teach on the specialist rotation (weekly) so they need a lot of lessons. That's a lot to plan! One idea is to create stations that kids can visit multiple times over the course of a few weeks. Most kids know how to play Go Fish so this station would need very little explanation. Just make sure to laminate those cards! Use the cards again to play a memory game, flipping over two cards at a time to find pairs. 

What fun game hacks do you have? Please share in the comments, I would love to hear! I always love to be creative with items I have so I don't have to store too much. Gotta be - Productive. Organized. Effective.

School counselors work with all students and provide a variety of services. As more schools are aligning their efforts to the MTSS (multi-tiered system of support) model, it's important for counselors to be able to share how their work aligns with the school's system of support. 

In Tier 1, or core instruction, counselors support social emotional learning and academic skills via the ASCA Mindsets and Behaviors. Tier 1 instructional practices include explicit instruction to 100% of student, across all settings. Instructional practices may be adjusted to reteach and differentiate based on student need. Of course, school counselors are not the only personnel to support core instruction. Discuss the ASCA Mindsets and Behaviors with school staff and determine the areas of need for all students. Once areas of need are determined, the counselor can consult with administration and grade level teams to develop a plan for implementation.

Providing direct instruction of social emotional and academic skills is crucial for students to be successful both in school and post-graduation. We can't expect behavior and academic skills that have not been taught. Likewise, it isn't feasible for the school counselor to teach all of the social emotional and academic skills needed. An effective school counseling curriculum supports classroom learning of skills that are included in the instruction provided by the classroom teacher. Schoolwide initiatives like PBIS also fall into this tier because they provide the structure and expectations for all students. An effective core  allows 80% of students to be on target. 

In Tier 2, a second layer of strategic intervention is added. Students still receive core instruction but need additional support to be successful. Just like a math teacher will implement strategies to support students struggling to understand math concepts, students who struggle with social emotional learning or academic skills benefit from extra support.

The key word here is strategic. As a school, how do you know a student needs more support with behavior? Do you wait until they come to the office with a discipline referral? How can you use data to intervene earlier? Discussion in Professional Learning Communities within your building may be a great place to start. These discussions may show patterns of student behavior. PLCs typically dig deeper into available data as well and can serve as a jumping off point for counselors. 

As counselors, you are already doing Tier 2 work but may find that increasing your strategic focus may help. In my last school, I worked with students who had a high number of absences, students who needed to improve their academic skills, and students who showed anxiety about middle school. I chose these strategic interventions because I looked at the data and knew what was needed.

For counselors, Tier 2 can encompass work for a group of students that takes place individually. For instance, a behavior contract or Check-in/Check-out is a tier 2 intervention chosen for a group of students. Sometimes individual counseling can be a Tier 2 intervention, depending on the duration and intensity of the counseling. Meeting with a student 1-2 times about a friendship problem doesn't rise to the level of intensity that would be needed in a Tier 3 intervention.

Tier 3 interventions are intended for 1-5% of your student population. These kids are your super high flyers. Without additional supports, they can derail an entire classroom or grade level. Kids with Tier 3 support for behavior need a lot of help and most likely should be referred to an outside therapist. That doesn't mean there aren't Tier 3 interventions that counselors can put in place at the school! Tier 3 interventions are intensive, evidence-based instruction maximizing intensity, frequency, and duration. Interventions are progress monitored daily. Examples of Tier 3 interventions for counselors include FBA/BIP, suicide prevention, threat assessment, or collaboration and consultation with wrap around services for a child. 

So what instructional practices and interventions do you provide? How do they fit into the tiered model? I'd love for you to share!

Goals are important. Without them where would we go? (Answer: There) We seem to think that kids know how to set goals because we do. In fact, it's a really hard skill. Here's a round up of everything goal related in the Counselor Up world to help you find your way. Happy New Year to you!

There are TONS of material on goal setting around the interwebs. I am a proud contributor of Confident Counselors and we have recently shared our top tips for setting goals with students.  My wonderful counselor friends sure do have some great ideas. What are your go to tips for setting goals with students?