social skills

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

Posted on 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!

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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!

Behavior Management, Education, guidance, guidance counseling, middle school, Positive Behavior Support, Uncategorized, urban education

Guidance Suite Day 1

Image | Posted on by nataliesweetpea

Guidance Suite

First off, I apologize for the lack of updates this year.  Some major life changes (did I mentioned I’m engaged?? he put a ring on it!) and also a career change (guidance counselor, woopwoop!) have taken a toll on my free time.  My goal is one post every two weeks, so please check back often for updates!

Today is day one of decorating my guidance suite for the 2013-2014 school year and I couldn’t be more trilled!  I work at a Charter School in Philadelphia  (same one that I worked as a special education teacher) with grades kindergarten, 1st, 5th, 6th, 7th & 8th grade.  There will be approximately 450 students across these six grades.  School starts September 9th and I’m working on decorating (obviously…its the best part!) and putting my schedule together (HELP!).  I will also be researching the topics for this coming school year.  Does your school have a monthly character trait? If so, tell me more!

Positive Behavior Intervention & Support (PBIS) is in FULL SWING this coming school year!  “School Culture” is very important to us, so we’ve changed the title of PBIS to The School Culture Team.  We are working on our “big 8” systems and modeling/role playing with the staff during orientation.  We spent a lot of time this summer with our School Culture Team and designed these school-wide and in-class systems such as arrival, dismissal, hallway transitions, getting supplies in the classroom, etc.  Our staff will hear all about of these proposed systems during the next few weeks and work within grade teams to choose what works well for them.  These systems are written as scripts and seem so silly to write but even sillier to act out (and super entertaining, I must say).  When you act out your plan (literally pretend your staff is your students) you realize what works and what is too wordy.  It can be as small as saying “collect materials” instead of “put your materials away”.  Practicing through role play has also been effective in showing teachers exactly what we mean – when we say repeat, we mean it.  When you do it the way it is written, it will be more effective (especially since we spent so much time tweaking it!).  Have you had any experience writing “scripts”? if so, how did it go over with your staff?

One more small change we are making this year is that students are allowed to be in zone 2 (quiet) in the hallways and during transitions instead of zone 1 (silent).  The reason for this is we are modeling REAL LIFE.  Have you ever had to be silent in a mall hallway? how about an office building?  We want to show our students how to act in the real world.  I’m hoping teachers find this as a blessing and that this maximizes learning time.  Do students have to be silent in your hallways during transitions? How does that work for you?

Best of luck with your school year!  I have a feeling this will be the BEST ONE YET!  enjoy!

Remember, your students & school are a reflection of YOU!  (quoted by my amazing Principal) 🙂