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!

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.
​
​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?