Check Your Listening Skills!

My classroom guidance lesson this month focused on being a GREAT listener. To do this I tailored Naomi Drew's fabulous lesson called "Reflective Listening" from her amazing book "No Kidding About Bullying".

Here is the letter I wrote to my students to introduce the topic and objectives for our class meeting.

After greeting and sharing news, I used Naomi Drew's questionnaire to pre-test my student's listening skills. We then discussed their results, and I asked students why being a good listener is important. Many students responded, "to keep us safe", "to get good grades", "to not get detention", etc. 

Draw from their responses and emphasize that listening is a skill that EVERYONE needs to practice (sometimes even adults). Next, go over the 5 Steps To Be A GREAT Listener. Chose a student to read each step and take a minute or two to explain it. 

Once the students understand The 5 Steps the real fun can begin! Pair students up to interview each other. During the interview students ask each other three questions while practicing the 5 Steps. 

To close the lesson, check student's listening skills by asking pairs to volunteer and share their partners responses. 

As a parting gift leave the 5 Steps To Be A Great Listener poster! 

Bloglovin!

My bookmark toolbar is so over crowded its become quite the chore to click through all the blogs I read looking for updates. This predicament has totally taken all the fun out of one of my more enjoyable hobbies. One afternoon I was chatting with a friend about my dilemma when she suggested that I use Bloglovin. 

Bloglovin is an amazing website that allows you to follow the blogs you read by letting you know when they update! Additionally, you can organize your blogs into folders by category (you know how I just LOVE to organize and categorize). So for instance, I have my school counseling blogs, food blogs, home decors blogs, etc all separated into different folders. Below is a screen shot of the school counseling blogs I follow. The blogs with current updates are listed from top to bottom on the left, along with a preview of the new post on the right. 

Bloglovin has helped me make effective use of my reading time by streamlining all my blogs into one website (no more over crowded bookmark toolbar for me). There is even an app for the iphone and ipad so I can check my blogs on the go. 

AMAZING!

We Went To College So Can You!

As part of my College Bound initiative I created a bulletin board to display the different colleges staff members attended. To do this I asked staff to complete a form with the following information:

1. Name of college/university attended

2. Major

3. How did going to college help prepare you for your current job?

I then typed up their responses, took their pictures, and pasted them on different color card stock. I cut the card stock in the shape of college pennants and rectangles to make it more visually appealing.

This was such a fun, easy, and effective bulletin board to make. Staff members were excited to participate and students were anxious to find out where their teachers went to college! 

Next up-College Bound Scavenger Hunt!

College Bound!

This year my district has a goal to increase college and career readiness. I came up with four short term initiatives to help my school reach this goal. My first initiative was to create a college pennant for each hallway. Each hallway will be named for a college or university in the state of New Jersey. Here is a look at some of the pennants I created:

Teachers will be asked to refer to the hallway as the college/university name. For instance, you can find the school counselors office in the "Rutgers" hallway. This is just a small and easy way to get elementary school students familiar with simple college vocabulary! Stay tuned to find out about the other initiatives I will be starting later this month!

What do you do at your school to promote college readiness? 

The Real Definition of COOL

My class lesson for Grade 5  this month is teaching students the real definition of  the word "cool". I got the idea from Naomi Drew's book No Kidding About Bullying and adapted it a bit to fit my needs. To start the lesson I ask students think about the word cool. I ask them, "what does being cool mean to you"? Some of the responses I got were "someone who is popular", "someone who is funny", or "someone who gets in trouble a lot". This is okay, because the point of the lesson is to show students that acting "cool" actually means treating people with respect.

Then ask, "do you know anyone who is cool because of the way they treat people?" Responses will range from student's friends to family members. Remember to ask them why they think that person is cool!

Next, is the real meat and potatoes part of the lesson. Explain to students that today you are here to tell them about the new definition of cool. Create a poster or a power point slide with this definition:

Compassionate

Feeling what another person is feeling in your own heart

Outrageously Kind

Being considerate, friendly, and helpful towards others

Often an upstander

Standing up for someone who is being mistreated

Lives with integrity 

Doing the right thing even when nobody is looking.

Review all four components of the definition. Engage students by asking them whom in their life fits this new criteria. Also, ask if anyone would be willing to share a time when they acted "cool". 

To close the lesson split the class into four groups. Ask each group to create a role play that demonstrates their understanding for each part of the definition. My skit prompts can be found here! If you have any extra time, ask students to complete this worksheet to reflect on someone who is cool in their life. 

My students loved doing the skits and I'm excited to use this terminology with them in future lessons, groups, and counseling sessions!

PicMonkey

I love playing around over at Picmonkey.com. Have you checked out this site yet? You can create super cool things for your blog!

***Caution:You could potentially waste hours and hours of your time, but don't say I didn't warn you!***

Hurricane Relief Resources

Hopefully you will never experience a hurricane like Sandy, but if you do here are some great resources to refer to in the aftermath.

1. Sesame Street's Hurricane Kit. This kit provides an hour long video about Big Bird loosing his home after a hurricane. I showed this video to a group of 5th graders and they really connected with it. After the video use follow up questions to foster a discussion.

2. The National Child Traumatic Stress Network puts out an After the Hurricane: Helping Young Children Heal handout for parents and teachers. I really like this because it is brief and to the point. This is great to send home to families and also place on the parent bulletin board.

3. Also from The National Child Traumatic Stress Network the Teacher Guidelines for Helping Students after a Hurricane is a great handout to give teachers or other staff members in your building.

4."After the Storm" is by far my favorite resource that I have come across yet. It is filled with worksheets, activities, and discussion starters to use with young children and is easily adaptable to use with teens. I have shared this with parents, teachers, and used their worksheets with students in my office. This document is definitely one you should bookmark or save!

5. The Windy Rainy Stormy Terrible Night is a book that talks about the emotions children feel after a hurricane.

6. The New York Times Learning Network shares lesson plans that teachers or counselors can make use of.

7. Lastly, stay positive for your students, fellow colleagues, and families they need you! Remember, "there's always a rainbow after the storm".

These are just a few of the resources that I have tapped into over the past few weeks. What hurricane or diaster resources you have used?