Well, it's August 1, 2020 and that means there's only one thing on every school counselor's mind. What in the world are we going to do to support our students as we reopen school? First, let me explain that when I say "reopen," I mean starting the school year - whether that's virtual, hybrid, or fully in person. No matter how students rejoin our school community, we will need to be ready as school counselors to support them and their families in navigating school during a pandemic.

We're all coming back different. Not everyone is traumatized - some kids have had a great time at home, some kids are excited to come back to school, some kids are dreading the restart of the school year. Some kids had loss, some did not. No matter what, everyone is different. As counselors, I think we need to be cautious about going in to the school year assuming that all are traumatized. Let's find out how our students are really doing first.

How are you as a school counselor or school counseling department a part of the school's back to school transition support. If you are not able to hold "meet the teacher" nights, 9th grade orientations, or Kindergarten parent nights - what can you do instead. I think this is an area where we will grow and develop as a school community. Our new ideas might allow for more participation than traditional evening events and we might decide to keep them moving forward. Plan some type of back to school transition support for all students, not just new students or the first grade level for your building (K,6,9 etc). 

If you are going back to school in person - consider how you are communicating safety measures with students and families. Psychological safety is just as important as physical safety in welcoming our students. If students feel unsafe at school, their ability to learn and grow is negatively impacted.

We can't know how students are doing until we make a connection with them. There are two types of relationships we will need to consider: teacher-student relationship and counselor-student relationship. For teachers, they are likely feeling completely overwhelmed by the logistics of teaching in a pandemic and are nervous about all the missed instruction that students experienced in the spring. Check on your teachers. They may not be OK. Work with your administrator to create a plan for supporting the social emotional well being of your staff. Once you've supported your staff then ask how you can support teachers in creating opportunities for relationship building in their classroom. For some teachers, they will begin the year in virtual environments. This is a new challenge for everyone! They may need some support. Here is a great article from Cult of Pedagogy that might help. 

After students have started their days with their teachers, we will need to make sure that we have opportunities to build counselor-student relationships. This is particularly tricky if you are in a virtual environment. Like all aspects of a comprehensive school counseling program, we have to think about core opportunities for connection with all students. Core counseling instruction might look different this year. I anticipate that it might be harder to get time during instruction to teach lessons. You might need to get creative to incorporate social emotional learning into academics. You might need to ask to be a guest reader or have a quick drop in during class meetings instead of a full lesson. Conversely, you might be asked to be on the specials rotation to provide coverage for teachers. Make a plan for how you will have (virtual or in person) face time with every class/student on your caseload.

Some kids are not OK. For a variety of reasons, their world has been turned upside down and they need more help. Questions to consider:

• Does your school have a referral process for staff and families to refer students for more support from the school counselor? How might this process need to change?
• Does your school have a referral process for students to self refer? How might this process need to change?
  
• Does your school do any data based problem solving to proactively identify students who might need additional support? 
  
• Have you sought the perspective and voice of your stakeholder groups? Have you ensured that marginalized voices have been heard?
• Has your school considered the impact of the Black Lives Matter social movement on your staff and students of color? Have you allowed for time to discuss, process, and consider how you will go about school differently as a result? 

If there was ever a year that you cannot wing it, this is it. Make a plan. Take the time to make a comprehensive counseling plan. I personally use the ASCA National Model but I know that's not everyone's jam. To get started, I suggest:

• Create SMART goals
• Make a Core Lesson Scope and Sequence for the Year
• Keep a detailed calendar

I double pinky promise that if you do these two things, you will see a positive impact on your ability to be proactive and productive with your comprehensive school counseling program. Here are some tips. 

Hey counselor - you got this. You can do it. 

 I don't know about you but with everything going on in the world (COVID, I'm talking to you!), I've really been drawn to paper and concrete support for organization and focus. I need all the focus I can get right about now. 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 2020-June 2021
• 6 Individual Counseling Log pages
• Lined Notes Pages
• Unlined Notes Pages
• Quote Pages for Coloring
• Printing Instructions 

Note: This product (and post) have been updated for the 2020-21 school year. This year, I've hole punched in a note book, I've also printed printed in a spiral notebook before as well. It's super easy to upload on a website like Staples or Office Depot and have it printed. It usually costs my about $15 depending on what options I use and coupons I find. I've included printing instructions in the materials as well. Best of all, you upload one document and it does it all for you!

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! If you'd like, I've also created monthly pages (free) and daily pages ($2). 

What do your teachers, administrators, students, and parents think you do all day? I was at a meeting today where a group of counselors were talking about the eye opening experience of Advisory Council in realizing that their stakeholders really weren't aware of the range of activities and support for students, staff, and school that were involved in the role of the school counselor. Sometimes counselors are their worst enemies in neglecting to market the work that they do. 

Guess what? It's not just about getting pats on the back. There is purpose in marketing what you do. If your stakeholders are more aware of the amazing work that you do, they can increase the buy in for teaching lessons or time with students. You can work to decrease extra duties so that you can spend your time being a counselor rather than a monitor. You can connect with parents and teachers so that when they are seeking extra support, they come to you as an expert in mental health and child development. Most of all, the more that our stakeholders are aware of what we do to support students, the more time we can spend in prevention rather than reaction. 

You can't convince anyone else that your work is important if you don't believe it yourself. Why did you go into school counseling?  If you're not sure, spend some time exploring central questions to ground yourself in the "why" of this vocation. Be passionate about your work and others will take notice when you share that work.

I sometimes hate the idea that we have to love our work. I mean, it's called a job for a reason. What, you don't love breakfast duty? The syrup all over your dry-clean-only pants not doing it for you? Working in a school comes with lots of extra, perhaps less glamorous part of the job. I truly believe that once we connect to our why, we are able to find the parts of the work that we do that we love. I love classroom lessons, I love working with all kids, even the kids who might get overlooked because they seem to have it together. I also love working with upper elementary boys. I really connect with the way that boys think about the world and girl drama isn't as much my thing. So I make time for the parts of my job that I love. I sandwich classroom lessons before and after parts that I might like less. I don't mind being organized and running team meetings but I am not going to put together a complicated craftivity. I choose what serves and fills me so that I am connected to the parts of the job I love and bring more positivity to the parts I don't.

You have your why. You know what you love. Now find a voice. Would you stand at a microphone in an empty auditorium and give a presentation on your school counseling program? Of course not. So don't spend your time on information that no one is going to look at. Sit down and make a list of all the ways that your school sends home information. I bet it includes newsletters, robocalls, website, emails, twitter, etc. Ask around and find out which ways are accessed the most. Ask parents that you work with how they like to receive information. 

Once you have an idea of how information is sent out and accessed, think about where you are comfortable. If your school has a news show but you dislike being on camera, that might not be a good fit. If you love to write, a blog might work well for you. Where you are most comfortable, you will shine the most!

Education revolves around data. Without data, your work does not hold up in School Improvement Plan team meetings or on your yearly evaluation. We can debate the validity of this approach but if we want to hold our jobs and our position to work with students, we have to show the data that it's working. I like to have a page to jot down talking points before I go into meetings about the work I do. 

I'm a big proponent of the ASCA National Model, but if you're not there yet, I have some tips on Comprehensive Counseling Like a Boss.  By quantifying our work, we can increase the understanding so that:

• 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.
  
  
• 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.
  
  

All good things right? We're not marketing our work or quantifying what we do so that we can prove ourselves, we're actually increasing our efficacy by engaging others in the work that we do. 

OK, you know what you love, you know how your people receive information, you quantified your work, now it's time to bring it together. I have 4 fun ways to share your work with others:

• Infographics
• Website
• Social Media
• Videos

I like to use Canva for infographics. It's easy to put together and they have a lot of templates that you can use for free. To create an infographic, decide on 4-5 items that you want to highlight and get started. Just type "infographic" into the search bar at the top and get started. 

Tip: Use the element "icons" to find the simple picture graphics I used here. To see the graphic more closely, check it out here. 

Website
If you don't have a school counseling website, create one now! Most people use the internet to find information they are looking for. Find more on creating a school counseling website including a tip sheet to help you out. 

Social Media
I love social media for sharing fun information with parents. Use the same tool that your school uses so that you can connect to their accounts and get a wider following. Here are a few tips:

• Share pictures of your work with students
  
• Use hashtags
  
• Connect to your school’s account & tag them
  
• Maintain confidentiality - cover faces with emoticons if you need to :)
  
  

Videos
While you're at it, make an awesome video to share on social media. I've got all the details including screenshots here. 
Here's a fun video that I created in about 20 minutes using the Legend app and iMovie. 

You got this! Think about one thing that you'd like to do to market your school counseling program. I am at the NC School Counselor's Conference tomorrow presenting on this topic, if you're here - please stop and say hi. You can find the presentation here. Leave a comment with what your plan is for marketing!