This whole set is available on my Teachers Pay Teachers store!
If I had to sum up my organization philosophy, it would be to think about it once and make it easy for yourself in the future. I've been using the Solution Focused counseling technique for most of my students for many years. It's helpful to write down what they say so that I can remember where we are each time quickly and without a lot of digging. To do this, I keep a clipboard with all of my current students on it. This clipboard stays in my office and is kept in a confidential spot so their information is not shared with everyone. The "path to solutions" guide includes questions to ask in each stage of the process and guides you right through the solution focused theory. This is also really helpful for new counselors or experienced counselors who are practicing a new theory. On the back, there is a spot to keep a log of the student's scaling and a few notes about their progress. If I need to go back through the process with the student to identify other solutions, I just use a different color pen so I can keep it all straight. I have some pages that have 3-4 colors of pen written all over them! When a student is seen for a completely separate concern, I use a new paper. To help elementary students scale, I created a mood meter that uses smiley stars to correspond with the scale numbers. This helps students to pinpoint where they are on the scale. I have a bunch of these printed out and laminated in a library pocket in my office. I have even had students reach over for one without being prompted! If they are laminated, students can write on them with vis a vis pens or dry erase markers each time they come in. When they are no longer receiving individual counseling, you can easily erase the marks.
This whole set is available on my Teachers Pay Teachers store!
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I am so excited to have a guest post from Laura at Discovering Hidden Potential. Laura has worked as a School Psychologist for the past 10 years and is currently a Special Education Coordinator in South Carolina. She is married with two sweet daughters and loves sailing, running, and spending time with her family. Check out her blog, www.discoveringhiddenpotential.com and her TPT store for more behavior resources and classroom management techniques, as well as early learning resources she has created for her own children. Many classrooms have reflection centers and they are primary used as a place that children can go and reflect on the behavior that has already happened. Reflection centers are very helpful and I have seen how they dramatically drop the number of office referrals in middle schools when used in the school’s behavioral continuum. However, how about having a place in the room that is preventative in nature? As teachers and counselors, it is important to teach students productive and healthy ways to deal with emotions such as anger, sadness or frustration. By teaching students different tools they can use to deal with these emotions in a healthy way, we are helping the individual student and eliminating a potential disruption to the learning environment. The first step in doing this is being proactive and ready for a child who needs some additional help calming down within the classroom. When doing this, you need to create an area within the classroom to “house” these tools and strategies and give it a name such as “Cool Down Spot”, “Cool Down Corner”, “Cool Down Cushion”. The purpose of this area is preventative, as a place where a student can voluntarily go when they identify signs of frustration before hitting the point of no return. Tools for your Cool Down Area 1. A cushion, rug, or pillow-This defines the space in the classroom and gives the student something comfortable to sit on. 2. Crayons and paper-Many children are calmed by being able to draw and reflect through art. If you have children who cannot write yet, you can have them draw how they feel. 3.Feelings cube-I actually came across this as I was cleaning out my office and thought it would be a great addition to a cool down area. Emotions are displayed on all sides and students can use it to identify how they are feeling. I wish I knew where I originally got it, but you could create one yourself. 4. Sand timer-This allows a time to be set for being on the cushion. Depending on the situation, time can be extended since some students may require a longer amount of time to calm down. 5. Stress ball or squishy ball-This allows students to “squeeze” out their anger. Playdough might be another option. 6. Cue cards-These cards would have different strategies to use in order to calm down. Some strategies could be count to ten or take a deep breath. It is important that we teach students different strategies to use in order to cool down. Check out these FREE self control cue cards as they would also be a good inclusion to your kit. 7. Small stuffed animal or plush toy-For younger grades, this gives students a sense of comfort and something to hold. 8. CD player-Allow students to listen to classical music or other soothing music. 9. Bubbles-This allows students to blow out anger or negative feelings. 10. Bottle of Water-Drinking water is a strategy that reduces tension and can calm a student down. 11. A basket, crate, or bucket to store all the items. Some of the above items might not work in every teachers classroom - bubbles might provide more of a distraction! Every teacher has their classroom set up differently, so pick and choose what works best in your classroom or office. In order for this strategy to work, students must be taught when and how to use the cool down cushion. It is also important for students to know it is not a punishment or discipline practice, rather a place to regain their emotions and calm down. As a counselor, you can teach mini-lessons in classrooms that are interested in implementing this strategy. You can get a free copy of a “Cool Down Cushion” sign here which can be placed on the wall where your Cool Down Spot will be kept. A free copy of Self Control Cue Cards to include in your kit is available here. You can get the complete set of cue cards with 12 cool down strategies, water bottle label, directions, and a mini-lesson here. Thanks so much Laura! This is an amazing idea and your printables are great. I might be adding these signs to my daughter's cool down basket at home!
As I shared last week, I am very familiar with struggles to combat anxiety and t's sometimes hard to help kids with issues that we also face. I've always had a good grasp on helping kids who have rational and irrational anxieties. By asking students to differentiate between rational and irrational worries, they get practice their critical thinking skills about worrying. I have seen some great "aha" moments during this discussion. But what about rational worries? This one has always been harder for me. When a student tells me that they are worried that their parents are going to get divorced and I know that is a real possibility- I feel stuck. That's why I love the book Wilma Jean: The Worry Machine by Julia Cook.
In this book, Wilma talks to her teacher about her worries and her teacher helps her to divide her worries between worries that she can control and worries she can't control. Here's where it goes to the next level - she adds a category of "Worries I Can Control With Help." So, yeah, that students parents might get divorced, but by helping her identify her support network, you can help her manage that worry. If the student is not going there, they can place their worries in the worry hat and the hat will keep the worry until they want it back. How great is that? Someone once told me they had spent a fortune on therapy and all they needed to do was read the children's books in my office! I have created printables for this activity that you can use along with the book. You can check that out over in my Teachers Pay Teachers store. Even if you don't have the book, you can use the activities as a stand alone. If you decide to purchase the book, you won't regret it! Ever feel overwhelmed by trying to keep track of all your data? You can definitely collect so much data that it ceases to have value because you can't possibly use it all to inform your program. I'm here to share how I've been managing my data for the last few years. Before we begin, I think it's important to stop and reflect on the types of "systems" that you actually keep up with. For me, I do best with a mix of electronic and paper/pencil systems that I keep up with along the way. If I have to hole-punch it or do anything that is going to require an extra step, I will put it off and then it becomes lost. We gotta be honest right? Make a PlanThe biggest mistake I see if people collecting data all along without making a plan. They end up with so much data, they don't know what to do with it so they give up. Imagine you are going on a long walk and you want to collect some items to share when you return. If you start randomly picking up items that catch your attention, you will get to the point where you can't carry all the stuff and you have so much that you don't even know what's best to share. I think about what I want to be able to share with stakeholders and start from there. For me, I like to keep track of the students I see, the groups I run, the classes I teach, and then create 3-4 closing the gap action plans that I plan to implement based on schoolwide data. That's it. I don't do pre/post tests for every group, class, or contact I make. That's not manageable for me. The purpose of collecting data for me is to see that what I do is effective and to share my successes (or not) with my stakeholders. Process Data: Who, What, When, WhereThe ASCA National Model calls the "who, what, when, where" process data. The purpose of this data is to share how I spent my time and the scope and sequence of topics I covered. For individual counsleing, I use a google form a la my friend Andrea Burston. She has a great description of what she does here. I will only add that the key to this is keeping up with it every day. As I've gotten (ahem) older, I can't keep things in my mind like I used to be able to so I like being able to put in some memory aids on the form. Before I used google forms, I used my outlook calendar and would label individual counseling a certain color and could easily just pull up a list of all individual counseling students. For group counseling, I have a very complex system (not really). I always start groups in waves. I will do a fall, winter, and spring groups. That way I can plan out what I am planning to do all at once. I make a chart with all the students listed by day. I keep it all on one page so I can grab and go quickly. I then file these lists yearly. That simple. The only data that I keep for groups is the data I use for closing the gap action plans which I discuss below. I can't be the only one who runs around like a chicken with my head cut off. Right? For my own sanity, I create a yearlong curriculum plan for every class and topic I am going to teach for the year. Most recently, I have taught 11 classes per year (per classroom) but I have done this for as many as 30 classes per year. It's more work at first, but once you do it once, you will love yourself forever. I also made a lesson plan notebook with all my lesson plans in one place. It's one of my goals to get this notebook on my TPT store one day! You can see an example of my yearlong plan here. You can also see how I manage my schedule here. And that's it for process data. See? It's not so hard. I think the biggest thing is that the way I keep the data is also the way that I use the data. I use the individual tracking form as a memory aid, I use the group list as a reminder of who to pick up for each group, and I use the year long plan to keep me on track with my lessons. Because the data captures are used as tools, they are easy to keep up. Closing the Gap PlansEach year I choose 2-3 Closing the Gap action plans based on schoolwide data. As you can see in my examples above, I usually pick areas that are a part of our school improvement plan and then share the data in user friendly language. For these topics only, I create spreadsheets to keep up with the data. I collect perception data (pre/post tests typically), and results data (test scores, attendance). I then share this data with my advisory council.
Ever have one of those kids who is a really nice kid that has really bad impulse control? They want to do the right thing but they have never learned the skill of self-monitoring. Many times these kids have really great, on-topic ideas to add to the discussion if they could just. raise. their. hand. To help these kiddos, I use a self-monitoring page where they can check off when they remember to raise their hand and when they forget. The goal is to fill up the hand-raising boxes before filling up the blurting out boxes. Sometimes I have the teacher start by checking and then start to let the student take over. After a while of success, I start to black out some of the blurting out boxes with a sharpie to make it more challenging. It's a great tool for those peanut gallery kids that need a little self-reflection. I've had great success using it. How do you help kids to self-monitor? |
Rebecca AtkinsWelcome to my blog where I talk about all things school counselor and encourage others to Counselor Up! This website uses marketing and tracking technologies. Opting out of this will opt you out of all cookies, except for those needed to run the website. Note that some products may not work as well without tracking cookies. Opt Out of CookiesInterrupting Racism: Equity and Social Justice in School CounselingLinks may be affiliate links. If you link and purchase, I may receive compensation at no additional cost to you. Thanks for your support of Counselor Up.
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