school counseling | The Urban Educator

How to Help with Middle School STRESS

Posted on November 18, 2014 by nataliesweetpea

I recently had a crying student come in that was very frustrated and stressed out (and I only had 20 minutes until my lunch group was coming in – sound familiar?)

Together we identified the many things that were stressing her out (peers, a teacher, her mom, her step-mom, her brother, school work, her iPad) by placing each thing on a sticky note and then we started to try to “fix” some of those issues. I could easily remove the peer problem, school work, teacher & iPad issue to give temporary solutions – which allowed us to take away that sticky note.

Everything else she listed seemed like pretty normal teen stuff…but then everything together was becoming overwhelming. Does this sound like a student you know? This is when I start to wish I had a magic wand…how can I help this poor girl that is crying in my office?

My first line of defense was my favorite “RX for Stress” in a jar. I split up the cards and told her to find a few that she wanted to try. Together we chose 8 cards that could help her calm down when she is stressed such as “make sure you eat breakfast”, “get enough sleep”, “talk to your school counselor”, “do a tree pose (yoga)”…which then reminded me of another idea!

GoNoodle.com is a FANTASTIC website that “helps kids channel their physical and emotional energy with short desk-side physical activities – brain breaks – to help them with their specific issue” and it can be used individually, small group or even whole group. So I logged in to the website (I have my own classroom version – its free!) and I let the student choose the activity type – she chose the “calming” category and then she chose the activity called “Flow” (one of my favorites). It talks kids through deep breathing (rainbow breaths) and adds visuals to help entertain. This 7th grade student LOVED IT. She said it really helped her calm down. She wanted to see some more activities so I let her choose one more (they are 1-4 minutes in length). She left my office with a smile on her face.

I left feeling accomplished. I did NOT fix this student’s issue but I helped her add to her own bag of tricks – and that is my goal…having kids learn the skills to adapt to every day issues!

Here is information on how to use it in your classroom or school counseling office – GoNoodle Tutorial Walkthrough

My favorite activities are Stretching Brain Breaks with Maximo, Flow and some of the energizing activities such as learning how to dance to “Move your Body” by Beyonce – let me tell you, its a great workout and my girls loved it!

How do you help a stressed out kid in your office?

Google Form Example for School Counselors

Posted on November 5, 2014 by nataliesweetpea

I am blown away at the attention my last blog post has received about data received through google forms!!!! Thank you to everyone who has visited my blog and welcome to The Urban Educator!

Many of you have asked to see the google form that I use…so the easiest way for me to share it with you was to make one especially for you (instead of giving you the link to the one I use everyday). Check out my google form for student notes here – this is the version I use to document my student notes (the live form) *this is just an example – you need to create your own to input student information*

This is what it looks like when I am creating the google form:

Once you create your google form through your google drive, there will automatically be a (Responses) table created that will show your responses in your google drive. This table will show you all of your responses and you can sort by grade, type or student (it will automatically sort by date). Many of you also asked how to see the graph after you have documented your student notes. This is the EASIEST part of the data collection process. See photo below…all you have to do is click on FORM – SHOW SUMMARY OF RESPONSES and google creates that pretty little color coded graphs with all of your data 🙂

Any suggestions are always welcome! Collecting data is important to prove to everyone that your job is important and I personally find this way super easy. Best of luck and continue to check back often 🙂

-Natalie

Counseling Data

Posted on November 4, 2014 by nataliesweetpea

That scary 4 letter word, data. We are told we need it but sometimes have a hard time gathering it. Collecting it is time consuming…a burden for sure. But the end result can blow your mind.

The data doesn’t lie.

And it is certainly amazing to see – especially with pretty little color coded graphs outlining your month’s work! Welcome to my 2nd month counseling at my new school. September was slow because I was getting to know students and make daily schedules…I wasn’t quite impressed with what I had accomplished yet. This month, October, I got into a good groove, made a system for scheduling students and started lunch groups. Below you see my October Counseling Stats, made using Google Forms (my favorite data collection source – totally customizable for my needs and easily changed) which can take the table responses from my “Daily Notes Form” and transform it into the beautiful pictures below that explain what I do so much better than words!

Take the data and run.

After realizing that a lot of my students come in for peer related issues, I want to dig a little deeper. What are my most popular topics when students come to me to discuss peers? For November, I’m breaking it down into 3 additional sections:

Conflict resolution
“bullying”
Friend support

Hopefully I’ll gain additional insight into our peer issues to start new groups with those topics in mind.

Using iTunes U for School-Wide Counseling Support

Posted on October 31, 2014 by nataliesweetpea

Have you heard of iTunes U?

If you have an iPad or iPhone you can download iTunes U which is basically an online course that your students and teachers can subscribe to and have all of your documents/materials and lessons at your fingertips.

This year, I’ve created our Middle School online course, “Surviving Middle School” (click here with your iOS devise) that gives students information from “How to Make Friends”, “What is a Bully?”, “How to Prepare for BIG Tests” and many more topics under the umbrella of School Counseling. Updates happen often so keep checking back for new information and links to helpful websites and apps to use for your School Counseling Program. Hope you find my course helpful for you and your students!!

Using Video to get in to EVERY SINGLE CLASSROOM

Posted on October 28, 2014 by nataliesweetpea

I can get in to EVERY SINGLE CLASSROOM in one day without leaving my office.

Yes, that’s right, I was seen by every student on my caseload in one day. Now, some of you may not feel comfortable being video taped or even audio taped…well than this idea just isn’t for you, sorry!! I have done so many school-wide presentations that the thought of speaking in from of 400 students at the same time doesn’t phase me so speaking in to my computer is no big deal. I have had at least 20 students say, “Hi Mrs. Mecaughey! I saw your video, super cool!” so this has been totally worth it for me and I will continue to do at least 1 video a month for our school-wide character traits.

So, heres the deal.

First, I create a keynote presentation (I am slowly transitioning over from powerpoint) with the information I want to show.
Then, I click PLAY and RECORD SLIDESHOW
The slideshow will start and the red light will be on, during this time you talk…just as if you were presenting in front of a room of students (yes, I probably did 20 different takes until I got it right)
When you are ready to go to the next slide, click the arrow button and continue on with the presentation until you finish the slides
Once you are sure everything is ready and you are done, SAVE and then click EXPORT
You can share this as a quicktime video or .key document with teachers via email (compress the file if it is too large or send via googledrive or post to your online course in iTunes U)
Teachers can play this in the classroom on a smart board or TV…or even large screen computer
Students can watch this video anytime with your course on iTunes U on their iPad (if applicable)

It is important to note that the person watching the slideshow will NOT be able to pause it at anytime…so keep that in mind when creating the video.

Interested in seeing a video in action? Check out my iTunes U course Surviving Middle School and click on October Character Trait and watch my “Responsibility Video” (you must have iTunes U on your IOS devise to watch). Feel free to ask me any questions about this process and best of luck!

Using “Love Notes” in Friendship Groups

Posted on October 26, 2014 by nataliesweetpea

This week in my girls friendship lunch group, I gave each student an envelope printed with their name on the outside (and a little red heart for added love). Inside the envelope, I wrote each student a positive love note such as, “your smile fills any room you are in” or “thank you for your honesty and participation in our group, we are so thankful to have you!”.

The girls LOVED this activity. After they read their special note, I gave them 3 minutes to write their own notes to other group members or themselves. I played some inspirational songs during this time and the girls used markers and small index cards. This special note above was one of the first student notes I received this year and it made me smile 🙂 These positive words of encouragement also came in handy for our next activity which involved a “I’m Special and Unique” Board to help boost self-esteem.

SelfEsteemActivity

Bright and Cheery Chevron Digital Backgrounds by Melissa Dalton

http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Store/Melissa-Dalton-34

School Counseling Office Design

Posted on October 26, 2014 by nataliesweetpea

My office is small, I have to use an unoccupied classroom if I need more space for groups. Here are some pictures of my active workspace – viewer BEWARE! This picture is taken in the middle of the day and the middle of the week…so please no judgements 🙂

I will add more photos when I clean up because I’ve moved the bookcase recently which has added a lot more room – it has really transformed the space!!

Who runs the world? GIRLS! How to Run Girls Lunch Groups

Posted on October 23, 2014 by nataliesweetpea

This year I have a lot of new students (not to mention being new myself!) and some of the students have come from being homeschooled for many years. I have some students that have come to me because they are looking to make friends and have had some bad experiences. I currently have 3 girls groups running during lunch/advisory (we have an hour) which are focused on making and keeping friends. I try to find 5-8 girls that will work good together and learn from each other – it is not hard for me to find students that want to have lunch with me 🙂 My office is pretty small so I go in to an open classroom and bring all of my goodies!

I structure my girls group as follows:

Ice Breaker: a quick activity to get the students talking…sometimes we start while we are eating and it can be very informal. If the girls are talking, I will step back and watch for good moments to use later if needed.

Group Rules: always read and remind the students of our group rules and our group name (decided during our first session)

Group Goals: using a pre-assessment tool, group goals are designed to help students where they need it most. I review our goals before each session to keep our priorities in mind. Students are able to share their ideas at this time, too.

Activity: the lesson paired with a group activity or discussion that will focus on the goal above.

Recap: student directed activity to make the final connections to our goals and the activity.

Closure: we close out our time together by thanking each other for our time and attention and add any last inspiration for the day. Sometimes I will continue reading a book related to the topic until the bell rings.

Keeping the group structure the same helps me organize my ideas but also helps students know when they can share and when they need to listen. So far, I’m feeling good but just getting my feet wet – more information and example lessons & ideas coming soon!

School Counseling Student Information Sheet

Posted on September 28, 2014 by nataliesweetpea

With my new job came over 700 new students. With teacher, administration and student referrals…I had a lot of students to get to know. I created this document to use during a first time session to keep conversation focused on the main goals of school counselors (academic, social/emotional and career topics). You can have students fill out the sheet and then use the information to foster conversation or you can fill it out with them. This sheet gives you an overall look into their lives and will prompt good conversation back and forth. You will be surprised at the information they share based on the rating scale! This is on my teachers pay teachers account for FREE or download below, enjoy!

School Counseling Info Sheet

The Best School Counseling Apps

Posted on September 26, 2014 by nataliesweetpea

I am always searching for new apps to use at my school. All of our students have iPads and we are a paperless school – which is super exciting but different! Here is a list of my favorites:

1. Feel Electric – this app lets you create users/players for an interactive feeling game. In the “moodisphere” students have to identify their moods. The program saves your history and allows for students to also learn what the feeling words mean by clicking on the words. For example when you click on the word “panicked” you will see (and hear) the definition “when you’re suddenly really scared of what may happen”. This can be a great conversation starter for you and your students. There are other games students can play – I haven’t had time to experience those games just yet however, since my kids can download this app themselves, i’d love to see them use it in their free time!

I love how interactive this is – take a look!

2. Haiku Deck – such an innovative and fun idea for education and counseling! Students can choose from a variety of (really great) stock photos, designs and fonts to create a text photo. Here is an example, I made this to show students my happy place:

3. Pinterest – seriously, need I say more?

4. Google drive – I am IN LOVE with google forms. I use them for everything…student notes, referrals from teachers and parent contacts. All of the responses go straight in to a spreadsheet and keep my information so organized. So easy!

5. Flashcard – this is a great tool for students that want to study for tests. I constantly have students coming in my office with test anxiety – this is a great tool that is fun to use, students can share their cards and you can play games!

I’ll continue updating this often so check back again soon!

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