Today I’m guest blogging over at The Corner on Character! Barbara, who writes this heart-felt blog shares wonderful ideas for character education and kind encouragement for all of us who work.
The Corner on Character is a daily read for me. If you’re not already a follower, check it out!
One of the most widely-read posts on School Counseling by Heart is Post-It Note Counseling, which outlines a technique that I use in individual counseling sessions to help kids who are reluctant to talk about how they are feeling. I use Post-It Note counseling all the time, to great effect. I think others must be using it too, because fairly frequently it pops up on my Pinterest page, so far removed from the original pin that I think it must have circumnavigated the globe before arriving back here! (Luckily, it still links back (more…)
Disclosing sexual abuse is difficult on so many levels. Kids may have been threatened or bribed. They may be worried that the abuse is their fault and that they will get in trouble. They may fear that they won’t be able to live at home any more, that it will cause divorce or the breakup of a parent’s relationship, or that someone they care about will be put in jail. Confusion, shame, and fear are powerful, silencing feelings. And children may just not have the words, know what to say, or how to say it. We need to teach kids the importance of telling, but we also need to teach them how to tell. (more…)
It was the middle of summer, and all I could think was, “I wish I had all my fifth graders together.” This is not usually the kind of thought I have in July, but three things had happened: Jerry Sandusky had been convicted of sexually abusing ten boys, the NCAA had announced sanctions against Penn State, and a local couple had confessed to sexual assault against a 13-year-old. I knew that many of our students would have seen and heard lots about these incidents, from the media and from adult discussion around them. If school had been in session (more…)
The recent shooting in Aurora, Colorado is a terrifying specter to all of us, but especially to children. I know that some of our kids must be frightened and, without school in session, may not have the opportunity to talk about their fears. I’m sure that many of them have seen lots of media coverage and may be thinking about all the times that they have been to the movies and what it will be like when they go the next time. Some of them were anxiously awaiting the new Batman movie and that excitement and anticipation may now be mixed with fear or anxiety. At times like this I wish school was in session. We would have (more…)
