“I don’t know how!” “I can’t!” “I don’t want to!” “I don’t care!” Working in public education for 20+ years has afforded me the opportunity to observe some consistently true dynamics. One such interaction is the interplay between attitude, effort, and ability among students. In recent years there has been…
Category: School Counselor
QUIET PLEASE: DE-ESCALATION IN PROGRESS!
REMEMBER: When a student is escalating, our response will always impact the situation one way or another. Of course, no educator or counselor or parent or person of any sort, for that matter, would ever want to intentionally escalate a student. In the heat of a tense situation, however, we…
THE DIFFERENCE A SPACE CAN MAKE…
Sometimes a little difference is, in reality, a very big 180-degree kind of difference, a night-and-day type of difference. The details matter. Have you ever tried to freeze water at 33 degrees? What about calling someone but being one number off in their phone number, or worse yet, being off…
HOW TO SURVIVE THE LOSS OF A LOVE: A Great Little Self-Help Book
Two colleagues I consider to be dear friends are retiring at the end of this school year. Typically, retirement of friends causes a little tinge of jealousy to rise up in me. Not so much this time. While I don’t see them often anymore due to a change in my…
NO ONE CAN MAKE YOU FEEL INFERIOR WITHOUT YOUR CONSENT (E. Roosevelt): Lessons in Bully Resistance
February, the month of LOVE, is home to Valentine’s Day and, personally, my more preferred celebration, Random Acts of Kindness week. This year, RAK week is February 9th-15th. You agree, I’m sure, that RAK should be every day, not just a week-long celebration, but intentionally promoting it during this week…
A LETTER TO MY FAVORITE TEACHER
Dear Mrs. Davis, You were my second grade teacher at Arapaho Elementary School in Richardson, Texas. The year, 1965. I really don’t remember much about what you taught me, outside of the Planets Song, but I remember how you made me feel…Loved. You were old, plump, and wore horn-rimmed glasses. …
THE UMBRELLA PLAN: A Counseling Strategy for Planning Ahead, Just In Case
Have you, like most people, ever taken an umbrella with you just so it wouldn’t rain? You know the old adage about how it won’t rain because you are uncharacteristically prepared for it?! That’s this strategy! When a student seeks you out because of a current significant stressor, grab the…
THE RIPPLE EFFECT: A Strategy for Analyzing Conflicts
rip·ple ef·fect (n.): The continuing and spreading results of an event or action. www.oxforddictionaries.com A simple technique I frequently use with students is the “Ripple Effect” strategy. Often, I work with students who are impulsive in their decisions, resistant to authority, quick to anger, or easily baited by peers to…
YOU SCRATCH MY BACK, I’LL SCRATCH YOURS: The Give and Take in Relationships
With the approach of Valentine’s Day, a very busy day for counselors due to broken or lonely hearts, I thought it would be worthwhile to consider the importance of practicing reciprocity, the ability to give to and receive from others. The ability to give and take in a balanced manner…
Tis the Season to be Grateful: Gratitude Journals
During the days leading up to the holiday season, consider having students keep a Gratitude Journal. Whether you are a teacher or counselor at the elementary, middle, or high school level, this is something that is free, beneficial, quick, and easy that you can do with your students! On the…