I have been in my new position with my new school for about 6 weeks now. Each day has reinforced that I made the right decision and reminded me of how fortunate I am that the district felt that I would be a good fit with their organization. There were some things that happened this week that reminded me why I love what I do.
Monday: This was the first #ILEdChat for the 2016-2017 school year. We have new team members to the chat team and they are a great addition. We have really started to gel as a group and working collaboratively to make the chat the best possible for this school year. We had a great opening to the chat with the timely topic of forming meaningful relationships with students. It was great to see new faces participation in the chat and seeing our regular participants back for another year. It is great exchange of ideas and really invigorates me for the week. You can look at the archive of the chat here.
Thursday: I jumped into a few random chats that caught my eye on Twitter. I was able to learn and share in #3rdChat and #GlobalEdChat . With all of my experience in high schools, the #3rdchat really opened my eyes to the wonderful and mysterious world that is elementary school. I found it important to take a look at this because I have 2 boys who are in the primary grades and the more I can learn about the pedagogy and instruction for the younger grades, the better.
With the #GlobalEdChat, I am amazed at the connectivity that I have through Twitter and yet how limited, globally, I am in my connections. The idea that technology can connect people across oceans, cultures, and languages is an idea that needs to be pushed into the mainstream. As a step towards action, I decided to create a quick form that would collect the contact information of educators who would like to connect. While the number of responses was not YET at a large level, in the first few minutes we had people from across the US, and even had educators from Canada and Australia sign up. If you are interested, please sign up here and I will share the spreadsheet with you after sign up.
Friday: Most of my new position, at lease at this time of year, involves working with students schedules and making sure that things work within the school system. Today was different, I had the wonderful opportunity to interact with actual students who had some concerns about the classes they were in. I had a great time helping the students realize that they had the ability to solve the problems in front of them. The students, both of them, came into my office at a level (1(low) - 10 (high)) of wanting to stay in the class and try at 0. When each left, they made positive movement and realized that success in the class was within their influence and they had to power to make it into a reality. I even got to teach a little chemistry, so that made it even better. :)
I also had to opportunity to introduce High 5 Friday to the students here. The concept is simple: See someone in the hallway, offer them a high 5 and watch them smile. It has a 98%+ success rate and hopefully, I will start to get some "regulars" who look forward to getting the high 5 and offering it to other students.
As an added bonus, this is the first football game of the season for my new school and it is a home game! I am excited to see the team participate in the new division and hopefully, bring home the "W".
Overall, another great week. How was yours? Share your great moments from this week and inspire someone to try something new!
Showing posts with label high school. Show all posts
Showing posts with label high school. Show all posts
Friday, August 26, 2016
Monday, March 28, 2016
The senior that almost got away
My office is connected to the guidance counselors' offices. I have the pleasure of seeing students enter and exit the office all day. It gives me an additional connection to the students and the school, where students are more themselves, open to discussing their current and future plans, their likes and dislikes, and their personal interests, in a way that is challenging to connect with when in classrooms. Students will poke their heads into my office just to say hello, ask me questions about something in school, or even to dote over pictures of my kids (sometimes as a class avoidance technique). I really enjoy talking to the students and getting to know them as people, as opposed to knowing them as their most recent ACT score.
When a counselor sends a student over to my office, it is usually to have the student attempt to explain to me why they do not need to be in one of their current classes. Students also learn quickly, that they are well counseled into these classes and it is a rare occasion where a student places a quality argument in front of me where the dropping of a course for a study hall might be considered. Through the course of this discourse, I end of having a conversation with the students about their plans in a few short months, after they have graduated. Most recently, I learned a valuable lesson from one of these students.
As the conversation with this student was winding down, I asked the traditional question that I ask: "So, what are your plans for next year?". The student responded, with some trepidation, "Oh, I am going to college". Something about her response caught my ear and I waited a few moments before saying anything. These moments were the tipping point. In those short moments of silence and waiting, I noticed a tear had begun to run down her cheek. I picked up the box of Kleenex and handed it to her and asked "What is the matter"?
She told me that she wasn't sure of what she was going to do next year. She had been rejected from a few schools, accepted to a few others, but not sure how to pay for any of it. She had just gotten a job and thought that she could work and go to school, but if she did that, she was going to need to attend a local community college, instead of going away to school.
I told her that is not a reason to be upset, you have a plan in place to complete early requirements at a cheaper cost and then transfer into a school to complete the degree. I told her that this is sometimes better than just going away to school without any idea of what you would like to do or study. This is when she told me that she was embarrassed to say this option to her friends and teachers. She said it made her feel like a failure that she could not afford to go away to school right away. She said that she was afraid that she might never be able to get away from her home town if she went to the community college and worked. She said that she was losing sleep over this potential option and was having some thoughts that scared her.
I was able to calm her down as we continued to talk. I asked if she had told anyone about these thoughts she was having or the fear she was experiencing and she said no. I got her counselor into the office and I asked the student if I could share her story with her counselor, and she agreed. The counselor was surprised to hear this information from one of the higher ranked students in the class. This student had given no indication of any of these feelings or thoughts to anyone, at home or at school.
I thanked the student for sharing this information with me. I asked her if she thought some of her friends might be feeling the same and she replied, "I don't know". I asked her counselor to sit with her and develop a plan of attack to get some scholarships applied for, to know which classes she should focus on at the community college, and develop a timeline of work and school and how and when she could transfer. The counselor and the student exited my office and worked together for a while. They contacted the student's mother to make sure that the burden of this fear could be shouldered by more than just the student and it also let the student know that she was not alone in this.
After a while, the student poked her head back in my office to thank me. I told her that I needed to thank her for being strong enough to share this information with me. She looked confused and I told her that, sometimes, the hardest thing to do, is to let someone know we are not perfect and that we need help. I asked her, what made her decide to share her story with me and she told me that it was the silence. She said that she noticed that I was there to listen and not fill a vacancy of sound.
When I look at my seniors walking the halls, I now look at them and wonder, are they just sharing an answer that they think we want to hear or are they really telling us what their plans are for next year? Unfortunately, I think it is the former more frequently than that latter. This was one student that almost got away. Thankfully, we with the support of multiple people at school, she was able to develop a more tangible plan to address her concerns. Thankfully, she was strong enough to let someone know that she needed some assistance.
Before she left my office to go back to class, I asked her to do one thing: share her story. I told her that she, most likely, has many friends who are experiencing the same things that she was. Her story could let them know that they are not alone and that there are people here to help them sort out these issues and others. Other students will become stronger because of her sharing.
We cannot let other students become ones that got away.
When a counselor sends a student over to my office, it is usually to have the student attempt to explain to me why they do not need to be in one of their current classes. Students also learn quickly, that they are well counseled into these classes and it is a rare occasion where a student places a quality argument in front of me where the dropping of a course for a study hall might be considered. Through the course of this discourse, I end of having a conversation with the students about their plans in a few short months, after they have graduated. Most recently, I learned a valuable lesson from one of these students.
As the conversation with this student was winding down, I asked the traditional question that I ask: "So, what are your plans for next year?". The student responded, with some trepidation, "Oh, I am going to college". Something about her response caught my ear and I waited a few moments before saying anything. These moments were the tipping point. In those short moments of silence and waiting, I noticed a tear had begun to run down her cheek. I picked up the box of Kleenex and handed it to her and asked "What is the matter"?
She told me that she wasn't sure of what she was going to do next year. She had been rejected from a few schools, accepted to a few others, but not sure how to pay for any of it. She had just gotten a job and thought that she could work and go to school, but if she did that, she was going to need to attend a local community college, instead of going away to school.
I told her that is not a reason to be upset, you have a plan in place to complete early requirements at a cheaper cost and then transfer into a school to complete the degree. I told her that this is sometimes better than just going away to school without any idea of what you would like to do or study. This is when she told me that she was embarrassed to say this option to her friends and teachers. She said it made her feel like a failure that she could not afford to go away to school right away. She said that she was afraid that she might never be able to get away from her home town if she went to the community college and worked. She said that she was losing sleep over this potential option and was having some thoughts that scared her.
I was able to calm her down as we continued to talk. I asked if she had told anyone about these thoughts she was having or the fear she was experiencing and she said no. I got her counselor into the office and I asked the student if I could share her story with her counselor, and she agreed. The counselor was surprised to hear this information from one of the higher ranked students in the class. This student had given no indication of any of these feelings or thoughts to anyone, at home or at school.
I thanked the student for sharing this information with me. I asked her if she thought some of her friends might be feeling the same and she replied, "I don't know". I asked her counselor to sit with her and develop a plan of attack to get some scholarships applied for, to know which classes she should focus on at the community college, and develop a timeline of work and school and how and when she could transfer. The counselor and the student exited my office and worked together for a while. They contacted the student's mother to make sure that the burden of this fear could be shouldered by more than just the student and it also let the student know that she was not alone in this.
After a while, the student poked her head back in my office to thank me. I told her that I needed to thank her for being strong enough to share this information with me. She looked confused and I told her that, sometimes, the hardest thing to do, is to let someone know we are not perfect and that we need help. I asked her, what made her decide to share her story with me and she told me that it was the silence. She said that she noticed that I was there to listen and not fill a vacancy of sound.
When I look at my seniors walking the halls, I now look at them and wonder, are they just sharing an answer that they think we want to hear or are they really telling us what their plans are for next year? Unfortunately, I think it is the former more frequently than that latter. This was one student that almost got away. Thankfully, we with the support of multiple people at school, she was able to develop a more tangible plan to address her concerns. Thankfully, she was strong enough to let someone know that she needed some assistance.
Before she left my office to go back to class, I asked her to do one thing: share her story. I told her that she, most likely, has many friends who are experiencing the same things that she was. Her story could let them know that they are not alone and that there are people here to help them sort out these issues and others. Other students will become stronger because of her sharing.
We cannot let other students become ones that got away.
Thursday, November 07, 2013
What do I wish that I had known?
The counseling office is one of the departments I have the honor of overseeing. I am willing to admin that, when I was in the classroom as a teach, I did not really understand what the counselors did. I did not utilize my guidance counselor much when I was in high school, so I did not realize the resource that was available to me. Counselors are educators who go through extensive training to do exactly what their name says: counsel. Whether it is about the courses to take for the next school year, where to apply to college, dealing with difficult emotional issues, bullying, troubles at home, teen pregnancy, eating disorders...pretty much anything there has been an after school special about, counselors are on the front line. They are a wonderful resource and connecting point to a multitude of additional resources. That is one thing I wish I had know when I was in high school, or as a teacher.
We have had college nights in the past, but typically it was in January and for seniors in high school. By that point, college applications and financial aid forms should have already been completed and it makes the usefulness of the evening moot for most parents and students. The counselors came to me with an idea...have a college night much earlier in the year...and invite parents of juniors to attend as well. I told them to run with it. They came up with the sessions, the speakers, the plan, and the logistics for the entire evening. In fact, I am writing this post as the parents and students are in one of the sessions. To improve things, we have an evaluation form for the parents and students to complete so we can make sure that future nights will be designed to better fit the needs and desires of the our families.
I thought it was fantastic that the counselors wanted to get families involved earlier in the process and not wait until the student was in 12th grade to begin thinking about college. I want to take it a step further.When is the time that students should being thinking about their post-high school plans? As a parent, I think that it should begin before the child is conceived, but if we start them thinking about specifics when they are freshman, that can be very useful. There is a slogan being kicked around the have a College 101 night. I say make it College and Career 101and let's go with it.
College and Career 101 can be for the 9th grade students and parents. Further events in the year can be named College and Career 102, 103, etc. For our 10th grade students and parents, we advance to College and Career 201; 11th graders will get College and Career 301; 12th graders get College and Career 401. Which brings me to the title of the post...What do I wish that I had known?
This is the question I want to pose to our parents and our students who have gone through this series of events this year. Their wishes for information will help us design the 9-12 College and Career preparation curriculum. I want to include the student voices to help guide our underclassmen through this high school process to help them be the best prepared for whatever their post-secondary plans may hold.
What do you wish you had known?
We have had college nights in the past, but typically it was in January and for seniors in high school. By that point, college applications and financial aid forms should have already been completed and it makes the usefulness of the evening moot for most parents and students. The counselors came to me with an idea...have a college night much earlier in the year...and invite parents of juniors to attend as well. I told them to run with it. They came up with the sessions, the speakers, the plan, and the logistics for the entire evening. In fact, I am writing this post as the parents and students are in one of the sessions. To improve things, we have an evaluation form for the parents and students to complete so we can make sure that future nights will be designed to better fit the needs and desires of the our families.
I thought it was fantastic that the counselors wanted to get families involved earlier in the process and not wait until the student was in 12th grade to begin thinking about college. I want to take it a step further.When is the time that students should being thinking about their post-high school plans? As a parent, I think that it should begin before the child is conceived, but if we start them thinking about specifics when they are freshman, that can be very useful. There is a slogan being kicked around the have a College 101 night. I say make it College and Career 101and let's go with it.
College and Career 101 can be for the 9th grade students and parents. Further events in the year can be named College and Career 102, 103, etc. For our 10th grade students and parents, we advance to College and Career 201; 11th graders will get College and Career 301; 12th graders get College and Career 401. Which brings me to the title of the post...What do I wish that I had known?
This is the question I want to pose to our parents and our students who have gone through this series of events this year. Their wishes for information will help us design the 9-12 College and Career preparation curriculum. I want to include the student voices to help guide our underclassmen through this high school process to help them be the best prepared for whatever their post-secondary plans may hold.
What do you wish you had known?
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