5 Things for the School Counselor to Do This Summer

1. Reflect

If you are anything like me, you are always thinking ahead...what will my next lesson be?  What will my next project be?  What new counseling technique will I begin using? 


Before you look ahead this summer, look back:
     1. What does my data say about this year?
     2. What would my colleagues say?
     3. What would the parents at my school say?
     4. What would my kids say?
     5.  And then take 5 giant steps back and ask, What would I   
         say?

The level of honesty in your reflection will be equivalent to the level of growth you can experience from your reflection.

The greatest tool of a counseling program, even that of an educator, is yourself.  YOU have to be healthy, compassionate, and available to be effective.

2. Find a good read.

It doesn't matter where you read - in bed at night, by the pool, with your feet in the sand, at the kitchen table eating breakfast, but make time for one professional read this summer.  Here are a few of my favorites:


     1.  How to Win with People by John Maxwell
     2.  Personality Plus by Florence Littauer
     3.  A Framework for Understanding Poverty  
          by Ruby Payne
     4.  How to Win Friends and Influence People
          by Dale Carnegie
     5.  Man's Search for Meaning by Viktor
          Frankl


3. Read up on legal and ethical issues.

During the school year, everyday concerns take over - lessons, making copies, parent phone calls, putting out fires.  There is little time to build on our "foundational skills and knowledge." 

Follow this link to find 2-3 ethical/legal issues that relate to your school, and get up to speed!
http://www.schoolcounselor.org/magazine/category/legal-%7C-ethical

4. Organize your guidance lessons by ASCA's categories - career, social-personal, and academic.


It's this simple - make sure your guidance lessons are in a binder and then sort them into 3 categories using dividers - career, social-personal, and academic.  If you find that one category has only 1 or 2 lessons, look around for a few new ideas for that category.

If you want to go one step further, I sort my guidance lessons into binders by grade level.  This makes it super easy to find a lesson for a class when I need one! 


5. Find your inspiration for next year. 

     1. What will be your top 3 goals for next year?
     2. What is your personal mission statement in your job?
     3. What specific students and/or teachers do you want to connect better with next year?
     4. Which of your talents and strengths do you want to use more next year?  And how will you do
         that?

My personal mission statement is simple - "I want someone to look at me and say, "Because of you, I didn't give up.'"