School Counselor Blog

Each week I will be selecting an item for Fabulous Find Friday. This Friday's Fabulous Find is Self Care. Summer break has been the perfect wake-up call for me that I am in need of more self care. At the end of the school year, I was feeling pretty burned out and overextended. There were a lot of things I was trying to accomplish before the end of the school year.  I have felt a huge wave of relief since I have finished the school year.  I miss school, especially the students, but the break has been a welcome one! I finally have time to think about things that are not related to work.  I really did not realized how caught up in my work I was until I have had a break from it. I feel so much more relaxed and able to focus.  For my own personal self care I have been spending time with friends and family, exercising more, reading, finding new recipes to cook, and just enjoying the freedom of not having a schedule (the joy of being in education). So, what is self ...

Each week I will be selecting an item for Fabulous Find Friday. This Friday's Fabulous Find is Vistaprint ! Vistaprint  is a company specializing in personalized products for professional and/or personal use.  Vistaprint personalizes items such as business cards, pens, t-shirts, notepads, car door magnets, tote bags and much more! Vistaprint hosts great sales and specials and always has FREE personalized items too! (you only have to pay the shipping!) I have ordered products from Vistaprint and I continue to be impressed by the quality and value of the products.  Business cards are one of my favorite products Vistaprint offers. The first time I ordered business cards I used the basic design business cards and received 250 business cards for FREE (I only paid shipping). Vistaprint also allows you to customize your business cards with your own design or logo.  I created a double sideded business card to match my website theme.  My website , em...

For the past couple of weeks I have been searching all over my office for a specific counseling activity worksheet. As I was packing up my office, I finally found the worksheet amid a myriad of career lesson plans (not where it was supposed to be!). The worksheet is titled, "Soundtrack of Your Life."   The worksheet was given to me in a graduate course by a fellow colleague. The purpose of "Soundtrack of Your Life" is for students to identify songs that describe or relate to aspects of their lives. I modified it from its original version to make it geared to middle school students. Some of the tracks on "Soundtrack of Your Life" are "Opening Scene," "School Experience," "Friends," and "When I Get Older." "Soundtrack of Your Life" could be utilized in many different ways.  I used "Soundtrack of Your Life" with a student this past week. The student had a lot of fun completing the works...

Each week I will be selecting an item for Fabulous Find Friday. This Friday's Fabulous Find is Grooveshark . Grooveshark is a free MP3 streaming and Internet Radio website. Members can search for MP3s and listen to them live.  Members can create playlists, get recommendations, and share their favorites with others. To learn more about the features of Grooveshark go to Grooveshark Help . (Membership is FREE!) Grooveshark is easy to use. After you search for songs, hit the plus sign near the song to add it to your collection. You can then create a playlist and drag songs into the playlist. This week's Fabulous Find was inspired by a counseling activity: "Soundtrack of Your Life. " I wanted to find a cost-effective way for students to make a playlist using their  "Soundtrack of Your Life. " Grooveshark was the answer! Using Grooveshark , members can create a playlist and play it online.  The playlist can then be shared with others through email or b...

This week is the last week of the school year. In preparation for the end of the school year, I have been ending groups and celebrating students' accomplishments. When I meet with students individually I remind them that the end of the school year is right around the corner.  Many students and teachers are excited that there are only a few short days until summer unofficially begins. The end of the school year is causing mixed feelings for me. I love my job as a school counselor! I love that I get to interact with students in so many different ways throughout the day. I love the unpredictability of the day and not knowing what challenges I will encounter.  On one hand I am excited for a break. I am getting married at the end of the month and it will be great to have some time to get everything done (20 days and counting! Eek!). I am also looking forward to professional development opportunities, reading, and blogging more. On the other hand, however, I am really going t...

Each week I will be selecting an item for Fabulous Find Friday. If you have a suggestion for a Fabulous Find,  email me  and I will tryit out! Your Fabulous Find may be Featured on a Future Friday! ;) This Friday's Fabulous Find is a collapsible cargo crate .  This collapsible cargo crate has definitely been a life-saver. As a school counselor, I am constantly lugging around all kinds of strange things. My collapsible cargo crate can fit books, materials, tote bags, toys, and much more. I have used my collapsible cargo crate to cart materials to classrooms for lessons and bring materials to and from school. I will be using my collapsible cargo crate to pack up my office for the end of the school year.   When I was still an intern, I saw teachers using collapsible carts with wheels but I had no idea where they got them. I ordered mine from Amazon almost two years ago and it is holding out great. The  collapsible cargo crate is space saving becau...