Opportunity to Influence

This past October, the leadership staff of our district worked together to host a leadership summit for secondary students. This summit provided an overview of 8 Values that the high school has embraced and will continue to focus on this year. One of those values is responsibility. This was the value I was asked to speak on. While I do not mind public speaking, it is not something I always seek to do. However, I was asked after watching the film Miss Representation. One of the main points being, you cannot be what you cannot see/imagine. Timing was serendipitous. 

But what could I say about Responsibility. Well, as it turns out, a lot. I ended up speaking for 10+ minutes with the primary message being: We have responsibility to take care of ourselves and positively influence others. At this point I am not even sure how I talked as long as I did but my hope is that this opportunity to share about influence has influenced others.

If you would like to watch this presentation, please use this link. 

I'm late, I'm late for a very important date!

When thinking about time management, I note that this is an area where I struggle. Partially, I hate saying no to things. Therefore, I have a tendency to double book myself. This is an area I continue to work on. Perhaps my most positive area of growth is utilizing the phrase, "I need to check my calendar." It's not a no but it is a more responsible step towards balance. It has also led to better awareness of how I am spending my time as a counselor.

Currently, my time has been dedicated to Minute Meetings. These are short opportunities for me to connect with students in a 1-1 session. The set up of these involves partnering with teachers, and working through their rosters one student at a time. Within about two weeks, I have completed nearly 200 minute meetings. That's 200 students that I've intentionally worked to connect with and find out about how they are doing and what they want in their futures.

So why spend so much time on this? It takes time away from getting other projects going (e.g. groups, student need follow up, preventative meetings). It can be draining. I'm never 100% sure of what the student will share with me. However, one of my priorities is to connect and serve all my students. That's 500 students whose names I need to learn and connections I need to make. This has been one way that has helped me learn those names and build those relationships. Thankfully, my teachers also value these conversations and understand that when crises come up, Minute Meetings are postponed. Getting back into them, comes back to my time management and prioritizing my counseling program.

For more ideas with Minute Meetings please comment, or check out these blog posts:

• http://www.schcounselor.com/2011/12/got-minute.html 
• http://jyjoynercounselor.blogspot.com/2012/01/minute-mtgs.html
• https://www.schoolcounselingfiles.com/blog/category/minute-meetings
• https://lisakingcounselor.com/index.php/2016/09/13/minute-meetings-what-why-and-how/

First Steps

One thing I've learned about myself is that my spirit is lifted through creativity. So my first day in office, rather than entering the world of skyward and jumping right into scheduling, I developed and put up my first bulletin board.

Quote from the Cheshire Cat 

In preparing for the school year, my first steps have been to connect with families of students with 504 Accommodation Plans and students/families who were in temporary or unstable living situations at the end of last year. Preparation also entails ensuring that schedules are complete for at least 1st trimester and creating schedules for new students.

An area I need to grow in is applying those same intentions of connecting with my staff members. Sometimes this means ending the previous year with more intention. Sometimes it means creating a personalized welcome message for staff. Sometimes it means purposefully introducing myself with new staff members. 

To work on that area of growth, I created welcome back notes for my teachers. They included a pack of gum and a note that read: 

Here's to a FRESH school year! Let's start with some EXTRA encourage-MINT from your school counselor!

I'm hoping it acts as a reminder to staff and to myself that I am here to support my teachers. We are all on the same page in trying to support our students to be the best they can be.

First steps have been taken; students come on Tuesday and it is time to keep walking!

Theme Decided!

I am someone who enjoys having a theme to work around. I honestly feel a bit lost if I don't have a general theme or idea to plan my year around. Last year, the school's theme was #ChooseLove So it was easy for me to plan around that. Basically I tied everything back to our choices and how acceptance of ourselves and others might realistically look.

This year, I don't yet know about a school theme. Our district theme is Wonder. While the novel by R.J. Palacio provides a ton of inspiration and counseling themes, I didn't want to be so tied to it. Instead, I'll be using Alice in Wonderland as a general theme to support the growth and learning of my middle school. This should allow for some fantastic quotes and bulletin boards and the ability to tie the connection to my staff.

Side note: Alice's journey could parallel many of my middle schoolers who are discovering that the world doesn't always provide what they expect and some things are indeed nonsensical.

So here is to my 2018-2019 Theme: Welcome to Wonderland!