Get ready to market your school counseling program! Recently, I was amazed at the marketing efforts of my local library. They have snazzy graphics, videos, and professional quality marketing tools. I realized that libraries are fighting to stay open and the more people they get through their doors, the more likely they are to continue to receive funding. This is not unlike school counseling programs. If our stakeholders – administration, teachers, parents, and students don’t see the value in what we do, our positions will be cut or our time will be filled with non-counseling duties.

​ One fun and easy way to share your data is through a “counseling by the numbers” page. You can share this on your website, in your PTA newsletter, or through a video. Don’t think you can make a video? Sure you can! I am going to show you how I made this video and, trust me, it’s easy:

I used the Legend App on my iPhone (available on android). It also works on iPad as well. In the Legend App, you will add your text and choose a photo if you’d like. Click next and choose the little video of your text that you like best. Seriously, it’s that easy. To save the video, click the three dots in the bottom right hand corner and select “save video.” You can add colors to the text as well. Pro tip: if you add colors, choose the same colors for all the text videos you create.
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​Create as many or as few text videos as you’d like. In my example, I have the following:

• Name of school
• “by the numbers”
• Achievement Group data
• Attendance data
• Number of individual counseling students and sessions
• Number of counseling groups and topic-based lunch bunches
• ​“One Amazing Year”

You can see my entire “counseling by the numbers” page on my old school website. Once you have created all of your videos, open iMovie. Click the giant + sign to start a new movie. Choose movie (not trailer) from the pop up menu. Choose all of the videos that you made in the Legend app (see my list above) and iMovie will automatically put all of them together in a movie. Drag and drop the snippets to put them in the order you want. If you want music, click the gear icon and select “theme music.” The theme photos above change the music. Once you have the movie you want, select “done” in the upper left hand corner. To download, click on the square with the arrow to choose “save video.”

Need some photos?

So, give it a try! Share your video with the world and make sure to tag me so that I can see them :)

How do you keep all your amazing comprehensive counseling plans together. I've always used the ASCA national model  because that's what my district uses and it is a requirement for our counselors. However, some people aren't there yet with the national model but still want to stay organized and share with their stake holders a plan for the year. If this is you - I've got a solution. I've created a set of digital organizers that will allow you to plan for and share your year with your administration, teachers, and parents. 

We've talked about program goals before and your school probably has some type of school improvement plan with goals. If you're not ready to create SMART goals based on school wide data, you can create a goal around data that you choose. For instance, your SMART goal could measure reduced anxiety for students around end of grade testing. Think about what your big ideas are for the year, and make a plan to get there. In my state, we have to write a professional development plan yearly for ourselves which include SMART goals. In this organizer, you can share your goals for the year with your stakeholders. At the bottom of the page, you can share a short descriptor of your class schedule and topics. 

Why It Matters:

• Your stakeholders know that you work with students on purpose and not just whoever might show up in your office. 
• Your stakeholders can quickly see that your work aligns with the work of the school as a whole. You are a valuable asset to learning.
• Your stakeholders can see what types of topics you will cover in your lessons so that they can ask follow up questions if needed. 

A scope and sequence document plans what will be taught and in what sequence. Ideally, you will also outline what data you will collect to ensure that the lessons are effective. By laying our your classroom lessons and small groups before the year starts, you will know that you have a series of lessons that make sense, are effective, and serve a purpose. No more rummaging through books the night before (or morning of) a new lesson. Yes, this does take a lot of work at first but in the end, you will really and truly thank yourself later. 

Why It Matters

• Your stakeholders will know that you make a plan for what your students will learn each year.
• Parents can see the amazing proactive support the counselor provides so that time with the counselor is no longer stigmatized.
• You know what you're going to do - no more rushing around last minute. 

Does your school seem to think you have a lot of extra time in your day? Do you rush around and feel like you got nothing done. You've heard me harp on using your calendar for productivity before so if you're a regular reader, this is nothing new. In this template, you can create multiple copies of the calendar page and use to display your calendar on your door so people know where to find you. Or you can actually write in your calendar (either digitally or paper/pencil) with all the details you need to keep it together. Finally, it's OK to use the calendar as a glimpse of time when you are meeting with your principal or other stakeholders to show them a "typical" week in your counseling program. Just try not to laugh too hard when you say typical. 

Why It Matters:

• Repeat after me: You are not a pin ball to be bounced around the school at everyone's demand. You have a plan. You have a calendar. You will achieve what you set out to do this year. 

Now that you've created these gorgeous plans for your school counseling program - how will you share it? 

• Post as a PDF on your counseling website
• Print and place in a portfolio in your front office
• Share with your principal and staff
• Post on a bulletin board
• Include a link in the PTA newsletter

You can download a copy  of my example document. This has every single page so if you want to recreate the tables and pages, please do! To get your very own editable plan, head over to Teachers Pay Teachers. 

How do you stay organized for the year? I would *love* to hear your tips. Please comment or send me an email. 

I am so excited to be over on Confident Counselors talking about how I make groups work. I even included a list of all the groups I run and how I organize my time. 
To give you an idea, here are the groups that I typically ran:

• Fall Groups
  • Sept-Oct:
    • Resiliency 
    • K-1 Recess Club 
  • Oct. – Dec:
    • The Girls Book Club
    • 3-5 Social Skills
• Winter Groups
  • Jan-Mar:
    • Academic Achievement 
• Spring Groups:
  • Mar-May:
    • Small Fry Friendship Group 
    • Girls Rock & Superhero Kids 
    • Middle School Readiness- following middle school lessons

Find all the details on each of the groups and organizing tips to keep you sane over on Confident Counselors. What are your best group tips?

Best laid plans, right? Sometimes being a school counselor feels like 3 steps forward and 2 steps back. Your brain is full of ideas and ways that you can support your students but the many demands on your time, extra duties, and never ending fires to put out can leave you feeling like you're not even sure where you spent your energy. What if I told you that there exists something that can help with that? Something you've heard of before but may have dismissed as "too much?" I believe that the  ASCA National Model is the real problem solver for school counselors. That's why I'm so excited to speak at NCSCA's Summer Academy about taking a realistic approach to the National Model.

Here's some of the problems we will be solving: 

• No one gets what I do!
• So. Many. Extra. Duties. 
• I spend so much time planning.
• Things just sneak up on me.
• I plan to _______ but then...
• Too many fires!
• The school does not see the counselor as integral to the work of the school.
• I run around all day.
• I try to respond to all the deamands.
• Everyone thinks I have so much availability.
• I end the year wondering if I did anything well.
• I have a walkie talkie.

​Sound familiar?!?! Can I get a high five?

Guess what? Instead of these being these being the reasons your can't do the ASCA National Model - these are the problems that you can solve with the model. I know! This is some good stuff.  So here are the goods: My presentation AND the super,amazing, awesome handouts I created to support your work. And guess what? We never even say the word template. 

​So what's your plan for problem solving? I gotta say, I think this is gonna be your year :)

Picture me doing the happy dance over here. I am so excited to share my Counselor Planner with you! Make sure to read to the end of the post for a free download!

What's Included:

• This Planner belongs to... page
• Color coded calendar at a glance
• Program Goals Page
• 6 curriculum pages
• 2 Group Plan pages 
• Weekly Schedule and To Do list Pages July 2017-June 2018
• 6 Individual Counseling Log pages
• Lined Notes Pages
• Unlined Notes Pages
• Mandala Quote Pages for Coloring
• Printing Instructions 

Note: This product (and post) have been updated for the 2017-18 school year. The pages are the same but reflect the new dates!

Plan out your year long program goals on one page at the front of your planner to keep you accountable all year long! 

Include your curriculum plan in your planner so that you know which lessons are coming next. There are 6 pages for a total of 66 lessons. There is plenty of room to write notes if you write on the small side. I included a few reminders in my plan. Interested in any of these lessons? Check out my K-2 Curriculum Plan and 3-5 Curriculum Plan. 

I like to run a lot of groups. That's great but sometimes I get confused on who meets when and what class the kids are in. I used to make boxes like these using markers on white paper. For the planner, I've classed it up a bit and given you a spot to write who, what, where, when for all your groups!

Here comes the calendar! Each week includes a two page spread. The appointment page is on the left and the to-do list page on the right. All pages are dated by week and include a weekend box at the bottom. 

Depending on the meeting, I like notes pages with lines or blank so I can sketch it out. I've included both types of pages! 

The individual counseling log is super easy to keep up with. Just write the student's name, their teacher and grade, and the initial time you saw them. After that, simply place a tally next to their name so that you can track your total sessions. Saves paper and the time consuming counting. 

The entire planner has lots of doodling and art areas including mandala coloring pages with quotes. Helps when you're sitting in those super long staff meetings!

I've also included the color "codable" year at a glance calendar. Color the circles to correspond to workdays, vacations, early releases, etc. Click on the photo below to download the freebie!

Go ahead and purchase the planner today so that you can start off the year organized!