Welcome to my blog! My name is Emily Brown, and I'm a former elementary school counselor. I worked in elementary schools in North Carolina and Tennessee for 6 years before beginning a PhD program in Counselor Education at the University of Tennessee. I am passionate about the work of school counselors. This is a space where I share ideas from my work as well as things I'm learning in my studies. Connect with me via twitter (schoolcslrideas) or email me at schoolcounselorideas @ gmail.com.
I presented a breakout session earlier this week at the TN School Counselor Leadership Institute called "Technology for the Win!" targeted for elementary school counselors.
This is a copy of the handout that I gave out to a packed room! I also shared that I'd be uploading some lessons in Notebook onto SMART exchange for download. This should be the link to files I've uploaded onto this site. Will continue to add things to exchange so check back!
I attended the TN School Counselor & Leadership Institute in Chattanooga earlier this week. It's always so energizing for me to be around other school counselors and educators and to see their passion for what they do for kids each day. Knowing that most of us are the only counselor in our building, I believe it is so important for us to connect with and learn from others. A few highlights that I'm continuing to think about as I return to my school this week . . .
Behavior Interventions that Work - Amie Dean www.behaviorqueen.com
One of the best professional learning sessions I've been to in a long time. I love how she framed the purposes of behavior. She stated that all behavior traces back to trying to get or get out of something - to get attention, control, power, or revenge and get out of work, pain, embarrassment, or lack of confidence. She set up the foundation for successful behavior as kids needing to know where they stand, that the teacher will follow through, and that the teacher is on their side. She also shared lots of behavior intervention resources that I'm glad to have in my toolbox now.
Building Strong(er) Working Relationships - Rodger Dinwiddle & Teresa Whitaker www.starsnashville.org
I've been to enough of Rodger's sessions now over the years that when I see his name as a presenter, I go! This session talked about school climate through healthy working relationships and working out conflicts. The presenters discussed their 24 hours to work it out office norm and the power of having crucial conversations. Some concepts I'll continue to mull over. They also referenced this video that I love on vulnerability.
Unlearning Helplessness - Motivating the Underachiever - Julia Cook www.juliacookonline.com
Julia Cook's books are staples in my guidance curriculum. She is a dynamic speaker, and she read 3 of her books to us in the course of the session which I loved. She also talked about underachieving students being those who have a significant gap in their ability verses what they achieve at school. This can be the gifted student not reaching full potential to the student about to drop out. In order to achieve, students need to feel connected, to feel confident in their abilities, to have fun, to make choices, and to feel safe. I like this recipe for achievement and the emphasis on relationships as a foundation for achievement!
I also presented a session on technology for elementary school counselors that I'll be posting about soon!
Just a quick link today with a Conflict Resolution Jeopardy game I found online (and edited the answers to make it work for me.) I'm using this in upper grades as a review game to see how well students can think through ways to handle conflict situations.
You can play this game using this link. The website https://jeopardylabs.com/ is an easy way to build your own Jeopardy board to play review games.
As we've been learning some ways to control our anger in 1st grade, we've talked about making good choices and cooling off first. To help students learn appropriate ways to talk to someone when they're having a problem, we learned about using "a bug and a wish." We role played various scenarios like this:
"It bugs me when you cut in line. I wish you would let me have my spot back."
"It bugs me when you take my pencil without asking. I wish you would give it back."
"It bugs me when you make fun of me. I wish you would stop."
Students were taught that the appropriate response is "Thank you for telling me. I will _____________." Hopefully this will fix the problem.
If the person they tell their bug and a wish to is not willing to cooperate, then they need to walk away or ask for help from an adult.
Students loved making bug and a wish talking sticks! They did a great job role playing with friends how they were going to use them.
This year we've learned about the 7 Habits during 4th Grade Guidance Lessons. I spent a week focusing on each habit and incorporated a discussion of the habit along with a video clip and a story each week. I pulled ideas from other resources and Pinterest boards but wanted to share my compilation of resources that I used to make it work for my program. I used habit descriptions found on the Leader in Me website.
Habit 1: Be Proactive
After a discussion of what a habit is and some good habits we already have, we learned about what it means to be proactive and take initiative. We discussed the video clip below. We discussed the difference between proactive and reactive responses with a volunteer shaking a soda bottle or water bottle to illustrate our different responses. We read Salt in His Shoes and discussed ways Michael Jordan was proactive even when things like his height and what other kids said to him were outside of his circle of control.
Habit 2: Begin with the End in Mind
We discussed what this trait means and watched a Kid President pep talk clip. We used this video as a springboard to discuss what is meant by rocks and thorns - obstacles that try to keep us from reaching our goals. We spent time talking about how we can reach our goals. We read a Readers Theater about Nelson Mandela and his goal to end apartheid and how he didn't give up on his goal even when imprisoned for so long. Students completed an activity sheet outlining some of their personal goals and steps they could take to reach them.
Habit 3: Put First Things First
We discussed this habit and how we know what is the most important thing we need to accomplish. We talked about time management and how that helps us prioritize. We read Greatest Homework Excuse Book Ever and discussed how we sometimes use excuses rather than just getting our work finished. We watched a video clip about Rocks in a Jar and discussed why we have to put the big rocks (our priorities) in first. Students completed an activity sheet where they labeled rocks in a jar to indicate personal priorities and then identified other things that they can spend time on after those priorities are met.
Habit 4: Think Win-Win
We learned what it means to think win-win and the importance of working out conflicts. We discussed a situation and identified responses as win-win (both people win), win-lose (you win, but the relationship doesn't), or lose-win (you give in but feel like a doormat). We watched a video clip of the Pixar One Man Band and discussed the moments in this clip when we saw (almost) win-win, win-lose, or lose-lose behaviors. Students also completed an activity sheet with scenarios and they had to determine how it demonstrated a win-win solution.
Habit 5: Seek First to Understand, Then to Be Understood
With this habit we discussed ways to show we're trying to really listen to someone so they can listen to us. We talked about roadblocks to good listening - spacing out, pretend listening, selective listening, and selfish listening. We watched a video clip from Toy Story and discussed the poor listening skills seen from the other toys. We talked about how this habit is really about being able to look at things from various viewpoints as a way to understand others. We read parts of the book Pink and Say as an example of characters understanding someone who was different from them.
Habit 6: Synergize
We discussed what this habit means and why teamwork is important. We watched two video clips of synergizing and discussed ways we saw synergy and how it helped those in the video be successful. We read a Reader's Theater story of the Montgomery Bus Boycott which lead to a discussion of how synergy helped the Civil Rights leaders accomplish their goals. Students also wrote a letter to our principal identifying a problem they've observed at our school and ways they could use synergy to solve the problem.
Habit 7: Sharpen the Saw
After a review of the first 6 habits, we finished our discussion with what it means to sharpen the saw and have balance. We compiled a list of ways we sharpen our mind, heart, soul, and body. We watched a video clip from Soul Pancake and then identified activities shown in the video that could help you balance each part of your life. Students did an activity sheet where they identified personal ways they're working to have balance in each area of their lives. We finished our time watching Jannah Bolin's 7 Habits song which the students loved!
Happy National School Counseling Week! I'm so proud to be a part of this profession dedicated to helping students succeed academically while supporting their social and emotional development. I received this note from a student at the holidays and thought this week was a perfect time to share. Little reminders that what you're doing makes a difference are needed some days!
