It is important as educators that we remember that each student comes to us with a story and even if we think we know what that story is we may not, but we should always treat that student with dignity and respect.
Haiku Deck A Fantastic App for School Counsellors
School Counsellors Connecting With Each Other
At first when I heard about twitter I thought oh no one more thing to do and learn so why bother. I really thought I am too old to learn to use this, so what would be the point. Then everything changed. I went to a workshop by Alec Couros and was about to embark on a professional journey that would change how I connected to school counsellors and educators from around the world. Twitter and the professional network I have developed has ultimately impacted the way I practice as a school counsellor in a positive way.
As a school counsellor little did I know that opening a twitter account two years ago was one of the best ways I could develop professionally and connect with educators and school counsellors who are passionate about what they do.
What is twitter you might ask and why is it so helpful?
Twitter was founded in 2006. It is an online social networking platform that allows us to send and receive messages (140 characters). Within the body of the messages are often links to great resources or blogs or ideas that are just plain helpful. You can follow other educators and people who are associated with the ideas that are the most helpful to you. It is an extremely helpful tool that has impacted my professional life in a positive way linking me to educators who are creative, connected and willing to share ideas and resources. My PLN (personal learning network) helps me to learn almost daily. Today I need to thank @SISQITMAN for teaching me how to use word press in a more effective way. I met Glenn in ETMOOC which I found out about on twitter through @courosa which has been a gift to me as an educator. ALL the people in ETMOOC are always willing to help me as I am new to all this technology, but a most willing learner. Twitter leads to so many positive connections.
What I love about twitter:
- Amazing PD tool
- A fantastic way to connect with school counsellors and educators from all over the world
- A fast easy way to get access to great resources in mental health, psychology , education and school counselling
- Easy access to up to date resources in the field of education
- A great way to collaborate, connect and curate information
- Sharing leads to positive relationships that assist us to grow as school counsellors ( what you give , share on twitter comes back tenfold)
How can I learn more about twitter and how to use it?
- Ask your colleagues who are on twitter to help. Hands on lessons are the best.
- Go to a workshop on how to use twitter
- Sign up for twitter and play and learn
- If you know how to use livebinders there are great resources here: Twitter … Helpful Ideas for School Counsellors
- Go to The Complete Manual for Understanding Twitter and learn more.
Who to follow on twitter in the School Counselling Field:
- @SSpellmanCann Canada
- @Michelle0102197 Canada
- @BoskerttheSC Canada
- @TrentLangdonNL Canada
- @EHordyskiLuong Japan
- @ecmmason US
- @sch_counselor US
- @rsabella US
- @juliataylor US
- @pmsscounselor US
- @Brian_Zink Mexico
- @kadriblaster Australia
- @Teaching_Intl China
People who resourceful and share great information:
- @courosa
- @gcouros
- @rljessen
- @karensharon
- @grammasheri
- @nobelknits2
- @verenanz
- @clhendricksbc
- @AlisonSemen
- @folynick
- @SISQITMAN
- @JeffMerrell
- @bhwilkoff
- @dendari
- @mrsdkrebs
- @gallit_z@v_lees
- @onewheeljoe
- @LaEducationista
- @mbritt
Resources to follow:
- @haikudeck
- @scopeistech4scs
- @psychcentral
- @LiveBinders
- @SCResourceCtr
- @tellagami
- @heretohelpbc
- @mindcheck_ca
- @AnxietyBC
- @cspyyc
Hashtags to follow:
- #cscchat Canadian School Counsellor Chat
- #scchat School Counselor Chat
- #edchat Ed Chat
- #cdnedchat Canadian Educators Chat
Once you start tweeting you will love it. Those of us that have stayed with it and learned how to use it effectively absolutely love the benefits to our professional development. Digital literacy is becoming a required skill that school counselors will benefit from . Who knows where it might lead? You’ll be a techie before you know it. I would have never dreamed two years ago that I would be blogging, vlogging, sharing in Google hangouts or that I would be part of networks and Google communities that encourage and support each other.
Thanks to Alec Couros @courosa and everyone in ETMOOC who has helped me. I believe I am a better school counsellor with so many more resources than I ever could have dreamed of.
A big thanks also to Erin Mason @ecmmason I am connected in several ways to other school counselors who are always willing to help and point me in the right direction to resources.
Thanks to @HaikuDeck who have allowed me to share with other school counsellors, educators, and a diverse group of connected learners from around the globe who have assisted in making me better at what I do.
Connect with School Counsellors on twitter
Connect with School Counselors on Google plus Communities
Connect with school Counsellors on twitter chats
There is so much for us to learn together. I look forward continuing the journey.
Learning Through Openspokes
As part of a continual learning journey post ETMOOC, I am begiinning the process of vlogging.
This weeks topic is how do I learn best and as I refelct on what the other vloggers in the fellowship of the openspokes have said as well as reflecting on my own video, I realize at different points in my life my answer would have been different. For now the vlog below expresses a few thoughts on some of the ways i learn best today. However, I recognize that this may change for me depending on what , why and how I need to learn.
There is no doubt in my mind that one of the best ways to learn is to continue to be a learner. My brain seems like it is on overload these days as I continue to learn in a variety of ways.
I certainly hope I continue to model life long learning and that it is OK to make mistakes. It took me several mistakes in attempting to upload my video to youtube, but now that it is there I have learned and written down what to do next time, so that I learn from this frustrating experience.
I am sure next time will be easier and I will be happy with myself that I persisted so that I could figure it all out!
MY VLOG:
Click on the link below to view my Haiku Deck that summarizes many of the ways my fellowship of the Openspokes learns.
Click here: http://www.haikudeck.com/p/4xavgfDse3/learning
Go to the fellowship of Open Spokes on YOUTUBE
Helping School Counsellors Through Technology
The following video is about School Counsellors connecting and finding new ways to help students.
Do We Really Need School Counsellors?
The First One…
As a school counsellor you may be the first one
- To listen to the story of a young man who does not believe he is good enough because his step dad who is alcoholic repeats that he is not good enough everyday in a number of ways
- To be there when a young person comes out as gay for the very first time
- To listen to the dying words of a student who has cancer, but still wants to come to school
- To listen to students who are having suicidal thoughts and don’t know how to cope or to students who need to be hospitalized and you are the first to assess the risk
- To recognize that a student has psychosis and send them to the hospital where they get diagnosed and the family starts the process of treatment
- To understand that a students cutting is way of coping with pain for them
- To sit with a student as she tells her mom that she is pregnant at 15
- To hear of a students years of repeated sexual abuse that they are now disclosing at 17 years old
- To refer young people to a group for dealing with clinical depression
- To work with a student who has been bullied since grade two and wants it to stop
- To help kids who feel caught in the middle because of a parents divorce
- To recognize that a student needs treatment for their mental health
- To get help for a young woman who has an eating disorder, but doesn’t want anyone to know
- To listen to the buried fears of a young man coping with an anxiety disorder
- To recognize a learning disability in a young person and have them assessed
- To be present to the impalpable grief of a brother who lost his sister in a tragic accident
- To reach out to a student with a drug and alcohol problem who feels nobody understands and encourage them to seek treatment
- To show compassion and assist students who are suspended from school
- To work with students who are in an unhealthy relationship and help them understand how to get help
- To assist students with their course selections or their confusion about which post secondary school to go to
- To get students help for their academic challenges and start to achieve what they are capable of
- To listen to the unspoken dreams of a young person
- To reach out
- To trust what they are telling you
- To just listen
- To believe in them
- To help
- To recognize the gifts that a student has and encourage them to utilize them
- To give hope to a student who has felt hopeless
The school counsellor may just be the first one students decide to share their stories with. They feel safe enough in their school to trust an adult with their most precious and often their painful secrets. They want help and they know the school counsellor is trained to help them. There are so many stories out there everyday and in every school all across the world that are being shared. I believe school counsellors are saving the lives of students.
Do we need school counsellors? Of course.
For any of you who are considering school counselling, I want you to know it is the best career in the world. I also want to thank all the school counsellors from across the world that saved a student’s life TODAY and remind you that you do make a difference.
Images for School Counsellors and Students
School counsellors are always looking for images to use or to share on ther schools website. Check out this resource made for you.
Staying the Course: Connections, Reciprocity, and the Web
Trying to sum up my experience in #ETMOOC is an impossible task. Impossible, because how does one begin to put into words that which is felt by the heart? Furthermore, how can a MOOC (Massive Open Online Course) bring about such a feeling? As Alec Couros (course visionary and facilitator, professor of educational technology and media, researcher and keynote speaker) stated, "We all decided to walk through the same door on the internet so we could think together." …
A caring educator shares the value of a connected Mooc.
School Counsellor Talk on Grief
Only people who are capable of loving strongly can also suffer great sorrow, but this same necessity of loving serves to counteract their grief and heals them.
– Leo Tolstoy
School Counsellors often have to assist students with the grief process. Over the years I have seen students who have lost parents, siblings, friends, classmates and family members.
When a school experiences the loss of a student everyone feels the loss as expressed here by a note left to a student who died.
Dear_____,
Even though we haven’t formally met, I look at your spot in English class and I am deeply saddened that you are not here with us…
It is never easy seeing a student in deep pain especially if the loss was tragic or sudden. Often times school counsellors need to ensure that they have dealt with their own issues surrounding grief so that they can best help others. School Counsellors need to be aware of vicarious trauma or counsellor burnout when assisting students who have experienced traumatic events.
Wendy Kurchak who is a retired school counsellor and now certified thantologist defines trauma loss as “a type of loss resulting from a sudden unexpected loss which is perceived as traumatic by the griever. It involves grief response + trauma response = complicated grief.” The suicide of a student is one of the most tragic a school counsellor will ever have to deal with and can most certainly bring about this kind of a response.
The school counsellor will often be dealing with the grief of several students and possibly the adults around them in any situation where a loss has affected the school community.
It is extremely important that a school counsellor takes care of their own selves as well as being present to the grief of others. To learn more about your own level of compassion fatigue go to: http://www.proqol.org/
Grief is a process and not an event. Every person’s grief is as unique as the individual or situation of loss. School counsellors may need several resources to assist students in their school community with a loss.
Students need to be reminded:
- To grieve in their own time and way
- That it is OK to cry and grieving comes in waves (sometimes unexpectedly through a song, a smell, or a picture. Anything can trigger moments of grief)
- Writing in a journal, creating songs, painting, creating a space and a place to grieve may help
- Dr. Allan Wolfelt is a leading expert in this field and offers great information
- It is ok to talk to someone like your school counsellor, a teacher, friend, parent or your local hospice
The school counsellor can use the following sentence completions with students:
- Grief is …
- You can help me by…
- Something I can do to help myself is…
- Others should realize that I…
- When I am sad I …
- My loss feels…
- I don’t know what to do when I am feeling…
- The hardest part of my grief for me is…
- If I could teach someone something about grief it would be…
- I can turn to _________ to help me.
School Counsellors can also find resources in my live binder:
Click here:
If you have any grief resources you want to share , please feel free to tweet me @SSpellmanCann.
Weekly Photo Challenge: Color
EVERYONE HAS A STORY
I took this photo in Greece and was inspired to do so by the story I think exists here.
