School Counselor Blog

I enjoy integrating drama and art into my counseling lessons as much as possible. In the following post I detail some lessons I facilitated and where to get more ideas! When I was working at the charter school, I ran an after school club about tolerance and respect. We did many activities, but my favorite was reader's theater, a dramatic reading of a story in script form. The story we used was Crocodile and Ghost Bat Have a Hullabaloo: An Australian Tale of Name Calling from Teaching Tolerance . The students created their own characters for the story out of construction paper, crayons, and googly eyes. I also had them create mosaic style scenes to using cut up construction paper. The students loved this activity! After the students felt confident reading their lines, we took our show on tour to kindergarten, first, second, and third grade.  The students were excited to share their work and the story with others; the younger students enjoyed hearing and seeing it! I included pi...

Our district has a large transient population. We have new families coming into our school district daily. As a school counselor at my school, I have the opportunity to greet new students and welcome them to our school and district. Sometimes students come to our school from another school within the district, but other times the family is relocating and they are unfamiliar with our district. Taking the time to meet with new students and families helps them to feel connected and lets them know that the school counselor is someone they can talk to about questions and concerns. This year I want to be more proactive about making new students feel welcome. I am planning to provide new students with a “welcome packet” including basic materials such as a pencil, notebook, and a school planner.  Some students come to their first day of school without any school supplies and some students do not even have a backpack. (I get family members to collect backpacks, tote bags, and drawstring b...

School Counselors (and other education professionals!) spend a lot of our own money to buy materials for groups, projects, programs, and even basic supplies we need to do our job. The majority of the materials I buy are out of my own pocket. There are organizations, however, that assist educators in getting projects and programs funded. Local Businesses and Organizations I have written letters to various organizations in my community for donations. I have not gotten every donation request funded, but I have received donations for the majority of my requests.  Local grocery stores, Target, JC Penny's, Men's Warehouse, Staples, and Walmart have all given me donations after sending a request.  Most businesses give a gift card donation and allow the requester to pick out the items. Target, JC Penny's, and Men's Warehouse were instrumental in our districts "Work the Runway" career fashion show . Target allowed us to use over $700 worth of Mossimo and Merona ...

A reader asked me to share the pros and cons of my job as a school counselor. Instead of giving pros and cons I would rather share things I love about my job and some challenges. Things I love about being a School Counselor Working with Students.  I love that I am able to offer students a place where they feel safe and will be heard. I have a variety of toys, games, and art supplies so students can express their concerns and feelings non-verbally as well as verbally. Facilitating Groups. I love facilitating groups. It is very powerful to watch the group change over time and to see students helping other students.  I facilitate groups on a myriad of topics, including anger management , grief/loss , children of incarcerated parents , attendance, character education, and more. Facilitating Classroom Lessons. I love going into the classroom to facilitate lessons.  Facilitating classroom lessons allows me to connect with all students. Some students with whom I nev...

I received a question from a reader about my journey to becoming a school counselor. Q. I came across your blog and would like to ask you a few questions.  I am currently a Junior, working towards my bachelors in psychology and my masters in mental health counseling.  I would just like to know what your schooling was like, how fast you got a job, and just pros and cons of the job itself. A. I started my college career at The Pennsylvania State University, where I double majored in psychology and women's studies. I was passionate about creating social awareness and helping people, but I was unsure what career I was interested in after graduation.  I thought about attending graduate school for Counseling Psychology, but I just was not sure about it. I spoke to a professor in the Counselor Education program at Penn State and discussed my interests with her.  She suggested I look for a program accredited by Council for Accreditation of Counseling and Related Educati...

As a school counselor, my office space had some pretty humble beginnings. My career as a school counselor started with my final field internship.  I was hired by the school district where I was planning to do my second field internship. I was emergency certified as a school counselor and served as a long term substitute. I was using someone else's space so I didn't feel like I could really make it my own, especially because he was coming back before the end of the school year. The picture to the left shows the little area I used for my resources to work with students. After graduating, I held two different long term substitute positions. During one of my long term substitute positions I did not have a consistent space to meet with kids! I had a desk in between two special education teachers. I enjoyed working with the special education teachers, but I had no space to meet with students that was confidential or consistent. I had to utilize other teachers classrooms, book noo...

I received a question from a reader about what to focus on in the first year as a school counselor. Q: I see that you're a relatively new school counselor.  I graduated in May and I just landed my 1st job in a 6-8 building!  I am so, so excited but also very overwhelmed.  There are so many things I am planning and trying to organize right now.  Do you have any suggestions on what to focus on in the first year?  I have a ton of ideas but I feel like it's unrealistic to believe I will be able to implement all of them!  A: Trying to figure out what to focus on your first year at a school can be a daunting task. I started my current job in the middle of the school year and it was hard to determine focus then also. When I first started at my current school, I asked the principal what he believed to be the areas that needed the most focus. Based on where he saw the need, I started working with 6th grade on conflict resolution and 8th grade on scheduling a...