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Our tech team has launched updates to The Nest today. As a result of these updates, members of the Nest Community will need to change their password in order to continue participating in the community. In addition, The Nest community member's avatars will be replaced with generic default avatars. If you wish to revert to your original avatar, you will need to re-upload it via The Nest.
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Note: This only affects The Nest's community members and will not affect members on The Bump or The Knot.
Our tech team has launched updates to The Nest today. As a result of these updates, members of the Nest Community will need to change their password in order to continue participating in the community. In addition, The Nest community member's avatars will be replaced with generic default avatars. If you wish to revert to your original avatar, you will need to re-upload it via The Nest.
If you have questions about this, please email help@theknot.com.
Thank you.
Note: This only affects The Nest's community members and will not affect members on The Bump or The Knot.
Amazingkel - Question
I just read in the last post that you are a guidance counselor. This September I will be a guidance counselor in a K-8 school. I previously was a resource room teacher for 9 years. What kind of things do you to the first couple of days of school? Any special activites to introduce yourself? Thanks!
Re: Amazingkel - Question
HEY!!! So exciting and congrats!!!!! Are you the elem or MS counselor or both?? I am the elementary guidance counselor and I have a counterpart that is the MS counselor. Last year was my first year, so I really had no idea what the first days would entail! So this is what I did, and then I follow with what I plan to do THIS year!
we go back to school the week before the kids do...so, the first few days I spent organizing what was left behind of the previous counselor. I wanted to know where certain kids were in the RtI process, who was evaluated over the summer etc. I got with the ESE teachers and got up to speed on the ESE kids. Then, I printed out class rosters and highlighted the ESE and 504 kids in each class, and made sure the classroom teacher had a copy of the IEP or 504 Plan. I also started making a list of every kid who would have to be IPT tested (for ESOL kids). I also found out that the previous counselor was still working in our district, so i emailed her to get any insight on kids I should follow up with (regarding counseling services, any kids that she dealt with a lot the year before etc etc). Then I also made sure that I went to each and every classroom, and introduced myself to each teacher. This gave them the opportunity to meet with me individually and pose any questions or concerns. Then, the first few days of school, I let the teachers come to me with any problems or issues they encountered. I also make an appearance at the Kindergarten Breakfast (which is for parents of new Kindergartners). It is kind of a meet and greet the first day of school after the bell rings. They drop their kiddos off and come join me, the PTA, and the administrators for coffee and donuts and just get to know everyone and eachother and get their jitters out. This really helped me to get to know them and to answer any questions about their kids new school journey. I just made sure I was very visible on campus, and kids learned who I was pretty quickly. I also run the Gold Ticket drawing (kids get gold tickets for positive behavior...they put them in a treasure chest located in the library) and every Fri I pick a bunch of winners and they come to my office and pick prizesout of my special prize box. This helps with meeting them too bc it helped them to see who i was bc I was on TV every fri on the morning news picking the winners. A week or so into school, I emailed all of the teachers and told them about my "clubs." Clubs are group counseling sessions I run weekly for kids who are dealing with special things..separation/divorce, grief, anger management, behavior management, self esteem etc. I ask them to keep an eye out for any kids who may benefit from these types of groups, and from their recommendations I formed groups. The kids LOVED them. I also started bullying units the first few weeks of school in certain classrooms (Mainly 4th and 5th grade), and also made myself known in the Kindergarten classrooms by either popping in, or doing a classroom guidance lesson to introduce myself. I also formed two Kindergarten clubs...one for girls and one for boys, and each week we talked about a different Key To Character. These particular clubs were for kids who were having trouble transitioning to Kindergarten and learning the ropes.
Mainly I plan to do the same this year, except I will be visiitng the teachers to catch them up to speed on students I was involved with the year before. I saw lots of kids for individual counseling, group counseling, RtI monitoring etc, and I want the teachers to know first hand exactly what I dealt with because some of the situations these kids were dealing with and the homes they came from were FAR from stellar :-).
One thing I noticed about being a Guidance Counselor is that YOU make your position what it is. You can sit in your office and do nothing, or you can get out there and really get to know the student population and their families. You will wear MANY hats, and you will deal with something new everyday. My teachers know I can handles crises too, so they would call the office looking for me when a kid was just freaking out about something, and Id run down there. They also were very good about referring kids to me, and also asking lotsof questions through any kids they were doing interventions with for RtI. We worked really hard together and it is a very stressful job, but SO rewarding!!! You will LOVE it.
This is probably a lot for u to read, so feel free to email me ANYTIME with questions!!!! I emailed lots of guidance counselor friends throughout the year with questionsand concerns and ideas etc. IF u email me at my private email I will send u my work email !
kmuller611@ hotmail.com
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