School Counselors Starting The Year Off With A Bang!

Whether your school is year-round or traditional, the school year is quickly approaching and it’s important to be prepared when it gets here. So how do you prepare yourself? Some people will make a to-do list to organize what needs to be done while others aren’t quite sure where to begin. Well, if you need a little help with figuring out how to start the school year off with a bang, don’t fret… keep reading.

~~The first thing you should do is set up a meeting with your administrators. That way, you will be able to discuss your role and their expectations. During the meeting inquire about the following:

1. Additional Duties- Sometimes school counselors wear many hats. They are MTSS facilitators, 504 coordinators, volunteer coordinators, McKinney Vento support, Behavior Support, etc. If this is you, prepare yourself. Take advantage of the support your school district provides. Attend the trainings that will educate you on your additional duties. Collaborate with other educators who are familiar with MTSS, 504s, or McKinney Vento so that you can ask questions as needed and create a support system.
2. Schedule- Start thinking about what your daily schedule will look like. ASCA recommends 80% direct contact and 20% indirect. With this, the bulk of your day should be spent with students. Now I know you may have other obligations to fulfill which will require you to think outside the box so that you meet ASCAs expectations, but where there is a will there’s a way… Don’t worry!
3. Goals- Your administrators may ask you about your goals for the school year during this meeting. It will be a good idea to align them with your school improvement goals or you can use data from your Beginning of the Year or BOY needs assessment to help you create your goals. That way, it will be easier for you to measure them during your Middle or the Year and End of year meeting with your administrator.

~~ Get to know your co-workers. There is noting like enjoying the people you work with. Introduce yourself to your staff. Go to lunch with them. Make a special effort to get to know them. This will set the stage for a happy and successful school year!

~~ Create a needs assessment. The point of this assessment is to find out what you can do to support your teachers, students, parents, etc. There are a ton of needs assessments available online but I always like to create my own so that I can tailor the questions to fit my school. To do this, I use a google document, think of questions I want to ask and type them in the document. Here are a few questions I like to include in the assessment:

1. How would you like for me to support your students?
2. Are there any personal needs that I can support you with?
3. What are your students looking forward to this school year?
4. Are your students struggling socially and/or emotionally? If so, explain.

Once complete, send the assessment out. I like to send mine via email or classdojo because both are the primary form of communication my school uses but you choose the best way to communicate with your staff. Once you get a good amount of responses, it’s time to analyze the data. This part is important because it will help you create your schedule and slowly but surely build your school counseling program. For example, if certain teachers indicate on the needs assessment that they would like more guidance lessons on conflict resolution, then you can schedule more lessons with those teachers focusing on conflict resolution.

~~Think about Communication. How do you plan to keep in touch with your stakeholders? One way I do this is by having all of my teachers add me to their classdojo so that I can send and receive messages to the parents of the students in the class. I’m also able to access messages sent by the teacher, that way I am kept in the loop. Have you thought about creating a school counseling website. This is not something you have to do but it wouldn’t hurt. Newsletters are also a great way to communicate with parents and teachers!

~~ Decorate. Make your office space welcoming and inviting. See if there is a bulletin board you can use for the year. The board can be where you display the character trait of the month or your school counseling information. You can post your newsletters or any other information you want to broadcast.

~~Last but not least, Enjoy your year! Last school year might have been a little challenging but REMEMBER this is a new year! I also have a few great “Get to know the School Counselor” activities that will help you prepare for the first week of school. You can find them in my teacherspayteachers store or below…

1. This get to know the School Counselor fun graphic organizer will get your students thinking about the role of the school counselor. Students will have to cut and paste the sentences that describes how the school counselor will help. Click here to access this resource.
2. This “All About Me” activity will be great to use when getting to know your students! Let this activity help you identify individual student needs while learning all about them! Click here to access this resource.
3. This activity sheet will have your students write what they love, write/draw the way they feel and draw a picture of how they see themselves. You can use this sheet to help your students get to know each other, spark healthy classroom discussions and build classroom community! Click here to access this resource.

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