by schoolcounselingbyheart | Aug 18, 2013 | humor, This wacky job!
Despite all my well-laid plans and Pinterest dreams, my back-to-school reality has been what it usually is – far from perfect. I headed back into school to set up my room (ahead of when I’m supposed to be there, of course, so I could get everything ready before things got challenging. Bwhahahahahahaha, what was I thinking!), only to find that my carpets had not yet been cleaned, my new laptop had not been delivered, and the new phone system does not work. In other words, things are back to normal! But it could be worse. In fact, some years my back-to-school experience has been a bit more like a (literally) take-your-breath-away horror movie, complete with the creeping crud, horrendous odors, banishment, and a party line. (more…)
by schoolcounselingbyheart | Aug 6, 2013 | collegiality, technology, This wacky job!, Uncategorized
Well, the school dreams have started, and I’m feeling a new urgency to get organized. I’ve even been going to bed a (tiny bit) earlier. The first day of school must be right around the corner. Yay! Ugh! Ack! Yup, definitely experiencing some mixed emotions! One thing that has made going back to school easier over the past couple of years is the knowledge that I take an invisible host of supporters with me. No, I’m not delusional – I’m talking about all of the school counselors all over the world who share their great ideas, encourage me on the tough days, crack me up with their tales of kid hijinks and bureaucratic ridiculousness, and just all-around inspire me. Yeah, I mean YOU! Fellow bloggers Andrea Burston from JYJCounselor and Danielle Schultz from School Counselor Blog have come up with some great ways for us all to connect as we head back to school. (more…)
by schoolcounselingbyheart | Jul 12, 2013 | collegiality, humor, This wacky job!
Who knew that the ASCA annual conference would be so great? Well, probably lots of people, but this first-time attendee had her socks knocked off! It’s hard to know where to begin – I learned so much at all the sessions I attended, discovered terrific resources, and met some incredible school counselors. I’ll share some of my favorite resources in a later post, but for now – inspired by letters I’ve been getting from students at camp, and by the Twitterfest that went on at #ASCA13 – I’ve got something a little more fun in mind, something to give you a sense of what it was like to be there.
This one time, at ASCA Camp . . . (more…)
by schoolcounselingbyheart | Apr 21, 2013 | self care, This wacky job!
As a school counselor with seventeen years of experience, I can tell you: It does get easier, but it never stops being hard. I’d like to say that my month-long absence from the blogosphere was because I was on a fabulous around-the-world voyage, but in actuality I’ve been off on a storm-tossed odyssey unlike anything I’ve experienced in my entire career. You know that critical issues class you take in grad school that covers just about everything that can go wrong for kids and families? It was like that, except for real, and squished into the space of three weeks instead of scheduled into tidy, interesting presentations over the course of a semester. Whew!
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by schoolcounselingbyheart | Jan 2, 2013 | This wacky job!
From the Department of “ACK! Get the Counselor, Quick!”
Don’t you just love how the nutso stuff that happens at school somehow always winds up as the school counselor’s responsibility? Nothing like a little discomfort to clear everyone else out of the room, leaving you with . . . any number of situations, but today we’ll be talking about The Strange Things Kids Bring to School. I’d been planning to share my personal dooziest of doozies sometime in the future, but when I recently heard about the unbelievable “gift” a colleague in my district received, I knew this topic just couldn’t wait. (more…)
by schoolcounselingbyheart | Nov 18, 2012 | This wacky job!
SuperCounselor is thankful for all of her kind and faithful readers who no doubt understand that the recent dearth of posts is directly related to all the superheroics that she has had to perform in this pre-holiday season. (She knows you’ve been being superheroic yourself! ‘Tis the season, after all.) She promises that she will actually finish and post some useful stuff soon, but right now she’s got two more crazy days of school, and company’s coming, so all she has time and energy for at the moment is something easy, like introducing you to her family. (Wait, did I say her family was easy????) This year, SuperCounselor will be hosting Thanksgiving dinner at her house. (Surprise! She doesn’t actually live at school, although sometimes it feels that way.) She is so thankful for her family members, who have helped make her the superhero she is today. (Perhaps you’ll be able to tell how!) Here’s who will be sitting around her table . . . (more…)
Despite all my well-laid plans and Pinterest dreams, my back-to-school reality has been what it usually is – far from perfect. I headed back into school to set up my room (ahead of when I’m supposed to be there, of course, so I could get everything ready before things got challenging. Bwhahahahahahaha, what was I thinking!), only to find that my carpets had not yet been cleaned, my new laptop had not been delivered, and the new phone system does not work. In other words, things are back to normal! But it could be worse. In fact, some years my back-to-school experience has been a bit more like a (literally) take-your-breath-away horror movie, complete with the creeping crud, horrendous odors, banishment, and a party line. (more…)
