5th Grade and Careers!

Well, I've gotten back in the groove since my last post--thank goodness!  I've been doing a really cool collaborative lesson w/ my 5th grade team that I thought I'd share today.  South Carolina uses a career website called SCOIS which has an elementary career site called CLIMB.  So, I've been administering a 3 part career lesson with the input of the 5th grade teachers to help the kids learn about career clusters, identify their interests and which clusters they may be interested in as well as put their research skills to work and write a paragraph explaining if a certain career that they research is or is not a good match for them.  They've LOVED it!

The first lesson was during my normal classroom lesson time.  We met in the computer lab and I had the students take the interest inventory.  Their results came back with three career clusters that they may be interested in pursuing.  They used the rest of the allotted time to explore different jobs within each cluster on the SCOIS CLIMB website.  The next lesson took place the following day during their class' writing time.  We again met in the computer lab for them to research one job that they were interested in learning more about (again we stuck to the same website).  I had them use a graphic organizer (created by a 5th grade teacher to crosswalk w/ her standards) to list characteristics of the job they were researching.  Beside each characteristic, they had to answer the following question: Does this sound like me? Is this something that fits what I want to do or be? and write either a "Yes" or a "No" with an explanation.  This was their pre-writing.  The final part of the lesson took place again during their next writing period and they used their research to formulate a paragraph on whether or not the job that they researched would be a good match for them.  (Some of the teachers preferred to lead the writing activity and others handed over the reins to me.  I'd never taught writing specifically, but with the help of a sandwich model: Intro-bread, details-meat, conclusion-bread- I was able to handle it!)

The students did a great job!  We talked about how it can still be helpful for them even if they decided that the job wasn't perfect for them and how even jobs that are a great fit can still have things about it that you don't love (Case in point-->see my previous post :)  I also talked with them about how this research can be helpful in a couple of months when we talk about registering for classes in middle school.  They had a blast doing the research and learning about careers and gained a huge insight into themselves and more self-awareness as they decided whether or not each characteristic fit them.  Also, it was great for me to collaborate and co-teach with our 5th grade team!

Thanks for checking in-- good luck to you as you wrap up this crazy time of year and move into 2013!

I Am Only One

It's true, I've been MIA on the blogosphere world lately... I haven't updated my blog or checked into others to see what is going on in the world of school counseling.  I haven't even gotten on Pinterest in weeks!  I've  been in my own little corner struggling, feeling overwhelmed and under-prepared for the work that I'm doing-- or lack there of, because I feel as if I am constantly playing catch up and only able to half-do everything on my to do list.  The worst part of it all is that I feel like I have so much to give and that I'm responsible for and yet, I am constantly responding to situations that arise, that I can't give my all to my students.  There is a new need every single day.  Today I continued to add to an endless list of students that I am behind on seeing, that are struggling with issues and feeling pain that I can only imagine, that are having problems in class or at home and as much as I want to help them-- as much as I feel called to be there for them-- there is only me.  Just me.  The only counselor at a title one elementary school of 550 students.  The character ed coordinator, the testing coordinator, the HUG coordinator, the records custodian, a Girls on the Run coach, an educator, a consultant... the list truly goes on and on.

But, I know there are times when everyone feel like this.  Like no matter how hard I try and feel so passionately about what I do, I just can't do enough.  I came across this quote last week and didn't even realize then how much I needed to read it:  "I am only one, but I am still one. I cannot do everything, but I can do something. And I will not let what I cannot do interfere with what I can do." -Edward Everette Hale 

So, tomorrow is a new day.  Even though it is a day off from school, I won't be taking the day off, but using it to play catch up.  To get everything ready for the testing beginning next week.  To send and receive records that are weeks behind.  To hopefully find a better system to organize the students that I need to meet with and then follow up with.  To screw my head back on straight and find ways to do what I can do rather than allow that helpless, overwhelming feeling to sneak back in and take over.  After all, I am only one and I can't do everything, but I certainly can do something and I need to step back, take a deep breath and take that something one day at a time.

:)  Hopefully next time, I'll have something awesome to share that I did with students or a wonderful success story.  But today, you get the true confession of an overwhelmed, first year school counselor.

Red Ribbon and Character Counts Week

Whew, time flies when you are the only school counselor at a Title 1 elementary school with nearly 600 students!  In fact, time is flying so much that I am just now sitting down to plan for Red Ribbon and Character Counts week and it is just over 1 week away.  Yikes!  Luckily, I follow some pretty great blogs that have wonderful ideas and resources (perfect for us first year and totally overwhelmed school counselors like me!)

Thank you School Counselor Blog for being awesome and sharing such wonderful ideas!!  I love the idea of using Character is our Super Power as a theme for the week.  Now it's time to get planning.  Check out these great ideas for combining Red Ribbon Week and Character Counts Week-- and check back in a few weeks for some pictures and thoughts about how it all came together :)

7 Habits Poster

Over the summer, I made this poster for my office to refer to the habits with my students!  I am so excited to be teaching these important skills to my students.

Be Proactive!

It's official, I am PUMPED about teaching the 7 Habits at my school.  I think in the past 3 weeks I have used the word "proactive" at least a thousand times.  To me, if our students can learn, practice and do this first habit, then they are limitless in what they are able to accomplish!  I've taught it to all grade levels differently, but everyone has heard my definition of Be Proactive: Being proactive means that you take control of things in your life rather than letting things in your life take control of you.

I used the example of someone hating the rain and deciding to just stay home and not do anything they had planned because of the rain.  What is in control in that example?  THE RAIN!  Instead, what could that person bring or do so that they are in control?  An umbrella! :)  We also talked about the difference in being proactive (like a water bottle) and reactive (like a soda bottle). The kids really got it, and I continued to provide them examples in each lesson.

My favorite lessons were with the upper grades.  I used the circle of control to talk about how we should spend our time and energy focused on things that we actually can control and make better rather than spending time complaining, feeling bad about ourselves, or giving other people the power to ruin our days.  Then, in 5th grade, I got a wonderful idea from another counselor in my district.  Each student created a Personal Proactive Plan for ways that they were going to be proactive at home, at school and outside of home and school.  They folded a piece of paper into thirds and came up with ideas that they could do to be proactive in those three areas.  I shared my own PPP to help get them started thinking of ideas.  We talked about how it was like a contract with themselves to practice being proactive all year.

I've caught so many students being proactive since our lesson, and I love complimenting them on it!  How have you been proactive this school year?

The 7 Habits of Happy Kids

This summer, I got together with my fabulous former internship supervisor and another counselor friend of hers in our district and we planned lessons for the 7 Habits of Happy Kids.  I am so excited that the lessons have started!  Below is the bulletin board that is across of the cafeteria.  I like the idea of a tree, but we used that last year at our school for something different and I wanted something that I could use and add to as the year goes on.  There are 7 habits and 7 colors of the rainbow so, viola!  Each month, I will teach a habit to all grade levels.  After the lesson, I will have kids write down on the "gold" an idea they have for practicing that habit and display it so that others can have ideas for how to practice the habits.  Stay tuned for more to come about the individual lessons and some freebies of things I've created for the program :)

Individual, Individual, Individual!

True Life: It is Hard to Blog During the Week!  But finally, I can steal a couple of minutes to sit down at my computer and write about the week.  I have been busy seeing individual students because of my new mailbox.  I brought it with me during the first counselor introduction lesson and kids have been filling it up!  I've found that it's pretty easy to weed through the notes to find the "emergencies" versus the "small stuff" but I know that even the small stuff is a big deal to those students.

Most of the student referrals have been about getting along with people in their class.  When I meet with them, I try to give them some tools that they can use to solve their problem themselves.  We discuss Heart Talk and The Feedback Game [When someone gives you feedback about yourself- good or bad- ask yourself these questions: 1) Does this match what I know about myself? 2) Did the person who gave me this feedback have my best interest at heart? 3) Will this help me become a better person?  If NO is the answer, you reject the feedback with positive self talk!]

Some of my friends have needed to talk about things going on in their family, and I have been keeping a little list for students to add to a group when they get started.  Also, I've gotten to help some friends learn to self-monitor their behavior in class!  It's been lots of fun to get letters from students who want to talk with me about things going on in their life.  One sweet little 2nd grade filled my bucket by leaving me this note: "Dear Mrs. Kendrick I love you and you are a good guidance counselor."  :)  Do you have a system for letting kids self-refer themselves to you?  I'd love to hear about it!