cant wait to start..resources that are found

So 42 days till my program begins... and I cant wait for it to start. In the mean time I got my new desk set up and ordered some books that will help me get my head in the right mindset. I just looked at the textbooks I need for school and it turns out I already have one so I'm very excited about that. I am excited but nervous, I know it will be a different layout but I like to know what I am to expect in different situations. I know that there will prob be more discussions and presentations but thats about it.
These are the books I ordered..havent come in but I will write a review about them thanks for the recommendations from twitter #sccrowd #asca


There is awide variety of resources for students just starting the program. Like I mentioned twitter is not just for celbs( venting about how hard there life is..lol), there is actually alot of networking that is avaible. I think this networking is so important for this proffesion because you are most likely the only school counselor in that school. (unlike for teacherswho prob have 40 other teachers that are walking distance lol) I have asked a bunch of questions of tips and advice about starting up, and I was so shocked how much input I got back. Twitter also has chats that are avaible that you are able to write in as long as you put the hashtag of the group. I was part of the newbie chat and I found it very helpful. Its on thursdays at 7 #scNOTaluxury. Some other great groups @ASCAtweets, and @SCCrowd.

Another resource that has been so helpful is pinterest. I have so many boards for school counselling and because its all organized I will be able to find it later when I actually need it. www.pinterest.com/laurenski7

I have an ipad so I have also found some apps that have been very useful. I  am on bloglovin which I can preview a bunch of blogs at once. This makes it very useful when your time is short and you dont have time looking up each blog that you follow.I am following:Elementary counselling blog, school counseling by heart and Books that heal. There is also twitter and blogger as apps which makes it very convient.

I got in!!!!!!!!!!

I know its been awhile since I was on here and I really want to make this a weekly blog that I can write about things I have learned, tips that I found and just be able to express my feelings on the journey to become a school counselor. 

I can't believe I actually got in! Its been a roller coaster of emotion these past months waiting to see if I was accepted into University of Dayton's School counselling program. I actually didn't get in at first, I was devastated. I didn't understand, because I had dedicated this year into getting into the program and if that wasn't enough I didn't know what more I could do. With a lot of coaxing I called the next day to ask what I was lacking, and why I didn't get into the program. The academic coordinator remembered me and said I was the first person who didn't get through. But he said he will make a few calls and see what he can do because he believed in me. After a month later, I got a call saying I actually got in. I was so shocked and I am still waiting to wake up from a great dream. The lesson I learned from this whole experience is never give up on your dreams. If you don't get the job or program that you had your heart on don't let that discourage you/  Take the extra effort to find out what you could do better next time. Never give up on your dream, I didnt get in the first year and I didn't let it discourage me, I used it as a challenge. Who knows maybe you will be lucky like me and by showing that persistence you will get into the program. 

This Fall 2014 I will start my program in School Counselling @ University of Dayton!!!

 

Subsitute Teaching... things i have picked up so far

So I wanted to wait till I felt I had more experience with being a subsitute teacher before I wrote a blog about it. I have subbed 12 times now and only been to the same district twice. I have subbed in elementary as well as middle school..every time I try to sub a high school for some reason we have a snow day ( I am thinking that it might be a sign that I shouldn't sub for high school but we will see. I have subbed for many different types of rooms: Emotionally disturbed, Special ed, as well as a school with only kids who have psychological disorders. Of course with my background, I thrive in the more psychological special needs classes. But I have definitively learned alot in all my classes.

What I learned in my elementary class is if kids have questions about if they can do something, ALWAYS respond with "what would your teacher say".. now of course this is directed towards the younger kids because the middle school kids might try to make up a bunch of things that the teacher supposedly lets you do. I learned this lesson the hard way in an 1st grade class that asked if they had to stand in ABC order. I was curious of the answer and before thinking I said no, you can stand where you want. Seriously, you would have thought I told them there was no Santa. Kids were screaming, crying climbing on walls..it was chaos. I finally got them back in their classroom but by that time we were behind 10 min, so the whole day I had to rush through everything just to stay on track. Another thing about kids they thrive in schedules. If they are used to doing reading first and you start with math be ready for the kids to go nuts. So basically just do exactly what the teacher would do and you will be in good shape.

 So I have worked in a middle school three times so far..and I def see the pros and cons of working with middle school students. One nice thing about middle school is you get new kids every period, so if you have a class of disruptive kids wait 45 min and you will get a whole new batch.. hopefully alil more respectful. The not so great part is they can be a bit mouthy and if you make yourself seem like you know what you are doing they will walk all over you. I have had kids leaving the classroom, acting like they are mentally retarded, talking back... you have to show them you are in-control and there will be consequences if they cant abide by your rules.I also make sure that I reward good and discipline bad. I make sure the students know that I will write down kids that did exta good.  I think the best advice I got was have the kids in a contest to see who is the best behaved at the end they get candy. I also found a great idea while looking on pinterest.. I am not sure what website it was from. Basically you get this letters and every time they get too loud you take away a letter if they loose all the letters they go to silence.

 

I think my favorite job was working with the kids with psychological special needs. The whole reason for this school is to get them equipped enough to be able to go back to normal schooling. I also loved the community within the school. Everyone worked together especially when there was a "code red". Ive experienced kids jumping on desks, rolling around on the floor, yelling at me. Usually these kids are able to cool themselves down before they get this intense with the chill out room.The room had a huge bean bag chair and a medicine ball. It was nice because it helped to teach them when how to self-regulate which is very important with working with these kids.

I feel I have learned so much in these few months.. I cant wait to see what new adventures awaits me :-)

2nd day of shadowing

The drive (to the elementary school) was was seventy-five minutes away but I'm so happy I decided to make that trip again. I feel I gained so much experience and learned more about what it takes to be a school counselor.

The day wasn't as busy so it was last time, so I was able to ask a lot of questions. I was able to sit-in on classroom guidance for 3rd grade,1st and kindergarteners. I also viewed a small group for 2nd graders called hunter's amazing remote control (self control). 

The classroom guidance was very different from last time I sat-in(last time I shadowed I watched a classroom guidance for 5th graders). Even though this was the same lesson topic, (problem solving) she approached it in a different way. For the younger grades, (3rd, and 1st) she introduced the lesson by asking the kids if they wanted to become a problem solving star. Of course, they wanted to  and were very intrigued how they would become a star. Another thing that I noticed,is she gave a lot of examples with stories and asked a lot more questions. She also used pictures of an event like not sharing and had the kids think of ideas. She believes that even though they might not understand it completely, once they are older they will already have this as a foundation and can start to implement this in their daily life. It was interesting to watch how she modified the same lesson to successfully reach all the grade levels. For the kindergarteners this was above there understanding so she showed a video about the subject work first then play and printed out a coloring page that went along with the movie. 

I was very excited to see another small group. It was the last day of Hunter's remote, a self control small group that teach them tools for controlling one self. Each session they talk about one remote button and then at the end the kids can tape it to their desk and be able to apply that to the real world. 

This is what each button stood for:

• Channel Changer- filter out distractions
• Pause-stop, to think and relax to create a plan
• Fast Forward-look to at the repercussions of these actions will have in the future.
• Rewind- shifting focus from past failure to future gain
•  Slow motion- slow down when managing stress
• Coach- problem solving 
• Zapper- recognizing and rejecting negative thoughts/feelings
• Way to Go- using positive talk

 It was very interesting to see how the kids were understanding the concept and I was excited when I heard about the stories where the kids were apply it to their everyday lives.

 

 After the small group I had time to ask her questions about her job. She was very real with me, which I appreciated. Not getting into the program last year I was well aware of the challenging aspect of becoming a school counselor. She said that if I wanted to find a job, I would have to be ready to either move or work at a charter school. Another tip she gave me is always have candy and make it fun with the kids, making them look forward to your visits helps them wanting to come to you when they need help in the future. 

She also suggested maybe getting another masters in Clinical Mental health that way I will have more of a chance to get into the schools. 

I am thrilled I got this experience to shadow her and cant wait what amazing experiences are in my future.

1st day of shadowing

I finally was able to shadow a school counselor: Laura an elementary school counselor near Newark. Thank you so much Laura for allowing me the privileged to shadow you around for a few days.I now know that this is what I am supposed to do with the rest of my life.  I LOVED IT! I was able to sit in on 3 classroom guidance lessons for 5th graders and a friendship small group for 2nd graders.

The guidance lesson for the 5th graders was about Problem Solving: STAR method. S-stop, T-think (start thinking of solutions) A-act (pick a solution that will have the best outcome) R-review (decide if this was the right decision or if you need to go over the steps again and pick another solution.)They went over the steps and then played a interactive tic-tac-toe game where the teams had to go through the steps to deal with an everyday problem. I liked how she kept both groups focusing on the game by allowing steals (if the team who was answering didnt have the best answer). She also tried to end it where no one won so no one got upset. I really enjoyed this idea and hopefully will be able to use it in the future.

The friendship small group was really cool. I was so excited when I found out that the lesson she was teaching, I already had it on in one of my boards on Pinterest.

from: http://creativeelementaryschoolcounselor.blogspot.com/ )

She changed this activity a little by adding: what I do that bugs people, and a sheet for what to do when I do bother someone, or when someone bothers me. I really liked the addition and I the kids seemed to really enjoy it.

Here is some notes from my shadowing experience:

1. As a school counselor, you need to be flexible. Your plans will change and you have to be able to go with the flow. 
2. Work as a team: She had the kids contact their teachers or parents, if they had any issues. That way if she would of been busy.(like today) the teacher could try to talk to the student until Laura could get the chance to see her. 
3. A school counselors job needs to focus on these 3 components Academia, Career, emotional wellbeing. Trying to reach all those components for each small group or classroom guidance lesson that she does. For example: with the problem solving 5th grade classroom guidance lesson, she introduced me and asked the kids about shadowing and let them know its a great idea. 
4. School counselors DONT deal with the root cause. Instead of digging deep and figuring out why they are feeling this way, they give them ways to cope through it. Which I like a lot better, sounds like instead of diagnosing them and putting a stigma toward that label on the child, the school counselor is empowering the student. 
5. With small groups always have 1st session:be a get to know you and last session: wrap-up (finish everything that wasn't done yet.
6. I thought this was a really great way to figure out what skills you teach to classroom guidance versus small group

I didnt have much time to ask questions since it was pretty busy with all the guidance lessons but I'm coming back on Monday and we should have more time to answer my questions,and I will post the questions and answers on here

Books I found at Barnes and Noble

I ended up at Barnes and Noble yesterday and found some really great books on a guide to subsituting and also some books I would want for my future school counselor book collection.

These books are very helpful for me for substitute teaching (ended up buying both)

1. The organized Teacher's Guide to Subsitute Teaching: The book is split up by grade levels, so its really nice to take with you to any job that way no matter where your being assigned you will be ready. It also comes with a CD-rom that has all the worksheets and templates that the book referenced to. (I suggest putting it all on a zipdrive that way you dont need a computer if you need it in a rush)

2. Substituting Teaching from A-Z: This book is such a great reference. Topics include- Attendence, Behavior Management, Names, and developing relationships. The chapters are very short and include letters to the author as well as real life stories that give you a real feel for what its like to be a sub  

 Future School Counselor Bookcase Books:

1) Dont Laugh at me: Illustration book to go with the song (I still remember it from when I learned it at school). Great message that although we are all different that it doesnt mean people have the right to make fun of someone.

2.Alexander and the Terrible day- Love this story! Could use it for subbing as well as school counseling. It is just one of those books that is great to read on those bad days. It also shows the kids that it was alot of little things that went wrong that ruined his day. Its also great because although he was having a bad day he still followed the rules and follows directions

3.Happy Hippo, Angry Duck by: Sandra Boynton: A great book for the younger kids to talk about different kind of emotions and what they look like. The book ends with a great message for the reader: "Well, I hope you are happy./ But if you are not,/ you have friends who will help you./ We like you a lot,". Great to follow up with talk about characteristics of each emotion and laminated picture of a face without any features they can fill it in.

  

4. How do Dinosaurs say I'm mad?: Love this for two reasons 1) It shows alot of the characteristics of someone who is mad in funny illustrations. 2) It shows the what to do/not to do when someone is mad. Could follow up with discussions about what to do when your angry.

Dont push the button by: Bill Cotter: Starts off telling the reader dont press the button and then the main character gets curious on what will happen. A great funny read for kids to read to cool down.

 

No more Homework, No more Tests: Fav poem book good for all ages

 

            Scaredy Squirrel by: Melanie Watt- amazing book for kids who have anxiety to learn that just because they are scared it doesnt mean they cant experience things in their own way..very funny

Things I wish someone told me ahead of time on the application process for subs

So, I offically have sent everything in to start subbing, Now im just waiting to get the email and I will be able to start subbing. This should take around 4 weeks so since that would take me to Christmas break so, I'm expecting to start working next year in January. So for this post I wanted to list some helpful tips that I wish knew before I started would of saved me alot of hassle and money.

My tips on applying to become a subsitute teacher

1. Start early! As soon as you decide you want to become a subsitute start working on the application process. Before you can apply for any district you need to get your subsitute license and that takes around 2-3 weeks normally (I did it online which was so much faster 1 week!) Dont wait till your orientation to start everything because you wont have it all completed and it will take longer for you to start working 

2. Figure out ahead of time everywhere you will needing to be sending your transcript and BCI/FBI background check. This tip will save you a lot of money and frustration. I ended up doing everything twice because I needed to send it to both ODE to acquire my license as well as the service center I was being employed through. 

3. The online application process to get your sub license was very easy except for one part: the superintendents signature.You need to have the superintendent from the place that is employing you (they dont explain this part..which left me to be making lots of calls). If you are being employed by a district then you are good to just have your superintendent from that school sign it. But if you decide to go to another school district IT WILL NOT BE TRANSFERABLE and you will have to go through the whole sub application again to add a new district. If you are like me, who was employed by a organization that works with many district: you will need the superintendent from there to sign it. Online it was really fast and they just got an email and signed it so less work for me.

4. (This is for all jobs)- When you get a list of the requirements that you will need for that job put it with your resume items. That way when you have to update your resume you already have an overview to look at and use. 

5. During this down time, start researching and working on your bag o' tricks that you will need when you start, that way your not running around the week before getting everything together. 

Hopefully you can learn from my mistakes and make this application process stress free. :)