Clear and Bold Writing Aid...Hemingway

No, your eyes aren't deceiving you...this IS a new post!  I am so glad to be back in the blog world and share more counselor tools with you.  With that said, let's roll:

How many times have to typed a document or email for school and thought to yourself "does this make sense" or "I hope that this is fairly easy for people to understand".  I can gladly say that this is me.  I've been known to type something, reread it multiple times and even have a second reader proof it for me.

So I have a cool web tool that was shared by one of the fabulous teachers at my school and it is Hemingway (like the author).  What exactly does this tool do?  Well counselor friends, it does oh so much, it's like the friend that you ask to check your writing but on your computer/tablet.

To get started, just type or copy and paste your text on the page

As your written text appears, Hemingway identifies grammar tools (such as adverbs, passive voice) and gives you suggestions to update it.  Hemingway also gives you a readability level AND breaks down your writing to let you know sentence/phrase difficulty.

I am so excited to use this tool.  I may just sound like a "true writer" now, so if my blog writing seems a little more "polished" it just may be due to Hemingway (actually, I'll probably use this more for school related stuff, blog posts will be "just me").

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Share how students show character

Sharing character the character trait of the month has been an on-going project that I've steadily been working on increasing each year.  This year I decided to add a video component of students sharing how they show the character trait of the month.  Here's what I did:

-I made signs with each character trait listed (in both English & Spanish, JYJ is a Spanish themed Magnet school, so I try to reiterate our theme, although my Spanish has not improved at all).  The students hold up the sign of the trait of the month while they share how they show the trait.

-I recruited students from various grade levels to share how they show that months' particular trait.  I use my school issued flip camera or iPad to record the students.  I give them the "script" which is:  "I show ____(the character trait) by_____"  for an example "I show respect by listening & following directions from my teachers".

-There's usually not a problem getting student volunteers, they all love being on the school news.

-I edit my own video using iMovie trailers (my character trait movie isn't more than a minute long) and have the video shown on our school's morning news.  The video is shown during the month of the trait.  

I would share the finished product, but since I don't have permission, just take my word for it.

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Storyline Online...Great (Free) Counselor Find

I LOVE reading and enjoy reading to my students during class visits, but there have been a few cases where reading aloud hasn't worked so well in my favor.  These instances include losing my voice, not feeling my best or just not feeling reading the same story for the 10th time in a week.  I've found an amazing alternative solution...Storyline Online!  Which is an online book website where The Screen Actors Guild Foundation records well-known actors reading children’s books and makes graphically dynamic videos so that children around the world can be read to with just the click of a Storyline Online video book image. I also think that this is awesome because we'll be able to have more discussion and lesson activity time during our class visits and there's a good chance that I wouldn't have nearly as many interruptions during story time (we all have a class or two that provides lots of "commentary" .

I have a strong feeling that this will be used quite a bit in my class visits and small groups.  Thank you Storyline Online, this website is a school counselor's dream come true!

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Flying Solo at Your School? You're NOT Alone!

Recognize this lyric "1 is the loneliest number that you'll ever do" (music by Three Dog Night) and boy is it true working solo in a school!   Most but not all elementary schools have just one school counselor.  I've been very fortunate to have an intern for several years so that helps both me and my school tremendously but I have certainly worked solo before. 

Here's some ways to not feel so "alone" as a school counselor:

-Meet with other school counselors in your district monthly or even quarterly to share ideas, best practices or even to vent.  In my district, we are divided by regions and my regional counselor group meets once a month and I so LOVE that time to connect (they are an amazing group)!  

-Use social media to connect:  Lots of us elementary school counselors are on....

 Pinterest:
 
Facebook: Did you know that there are Facebook pages just for school counselors to connect?  Click below to join:
Elementary | Middle | High

Twitter

Instagram 
I'm finally on Instagram:  @ajburston

Use the website tagboard to view ALL social media (FB, Twitter, Instagram) in one place.  Use the hashtags:  #schoolcounselor, #scchat or #escchat 

Yes there are 2 of us at my school but my connection to so many amazing school counselors via social media is endless and the cool part is when I've had the opportunity to meet my social media counselor friends in person, it's so awesome!  I text regularly with Blog Bestie Danielle from the School Counselor Blog and Vanessa from Savvy School Counselor (thanks ladies for being so awesome)!

See you're really not alone!

A couple more tidbits I'd like to share about working solo are:

-Take care of yourself 1st!  That pile of folders will be there tomorrow, those emails will still be in your inbox, and I guarantee that the school will most likely still be standing if you don't work 3 extra hours after school. 

-It's OK to take a mental health day.  Do I?  I sure do!  What better way to absolutely clear your head and have a little break from the hustle and bustle.  Just think, how effective are you being by being overstressed, overworked and overwhelmed?  I feel so much better and more effective after returning from a break.  If you still aren't convinced take a look a blog buddy Susan from Entirely Elementary Blog on The Wasted Day (enough said, Susan I think of this post often, thank you for sharing). 

-Speak up for yourself...being pulled in a million directions by what seems like a million people?  I repeat to myself (and others making demands) "there is ONE of me and I will do my very best to make (fill in the blank) happen but again realize there is  ONE of me".  If by chance those millions of people continue to make more demands, kindly repeat the phrase as needed not raising your voice (it works, eventually they'll get it). 

Even though you are literally alone in your school your really aren't, there are lots of us ready to connect!


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Free Career Exploration Website

During my minute meetings with my students, one of the questions is "do you know what you want to be when you grow up" which gets all types of responses (by the way my favorite response was "mermaid" from a 1st grader).  So I have a cool website to share with you to use as you plan ways to expose your students to different careers.

Career Sighted is a website that shows short 3 minute video clips of real life people and their careers, think the Occupational Outlook Book put into video form.  I love how the videos show and tell what to expect in the job, working conditions, education, etc (covers all the basics). 



This could be used in career cafe groups or in classroom lessons followed by discussion.  Just the exposure of various careers would be quite beneficial to our students and give them several career options to think about.

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Add A Voice Recording to Your Counselor PowerPoint

Did you know that you can record your voice directly into your PowerPoint presentations?  It's so cool!  I've used this easy feature several times for staff presentations, parent info, reminders, etc. 

Here's how to add your voice recording to your presentations:

-1st, you'll need a microphone (most computers/laptops have one already built in).  I actually have a microphone headset that I've had for years to record, but do what works best and easiest for you.

-In PowerPoint, go to "Insert", then choose "Sound" (the speaker icon).

 -When you click on "Sound", then choose "Record Sound".

 -Use your microphone to record what you want to say.  Use the record, stop and play buttons just like on your iPod to navigate.  When you're finished recording click "Stop" (the square), then "OK" (it saves your voice recording automatically).

-After you click "Ok", a small speaker icon will appear.  After you've recorded your voice recording, be sure to click "Save" to save your work.  Your viewers will need to click on the speaker icon to hear the voice recording and that's it!

Like I said earlier I've used this feature several times.  For the pictures for this post, I recorded my voice for our annual signs of suicide awareness for our staff.  By doing this, we can post the PowerPoint on our school's online staff folder (with all other trainings and documents) where staff can have a refresher of the training as needed at their own pace and time.  I've also used this voice recording feature for parent info and directions.  It takes almost no time to create!

Do you use voice recordings in your Counselor PowerPoint Presentations? 











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(Paperless) Counselor Calendar

Again in my efforts to go paperless here's an idea to consider using for the new school year...a paperless counselor calendar!  I used this paperless calendar idea for part of the year last year to try out and I can happily report that I loved it!  Here's how to create your paperless counselor calendar:

-Go to Google and log in (you'll need to have a gmail account to log in)

-Choose the calendar option and you can begin to create your calendars.

Choose Calendar from Google

-Click "create" to make your calendars (remember you can make multiple calendars)

What I love about this paperless calendar feature is that you can have multiple calendars all in one place that can be shared and viewed by others (you can still have private calendars too).  Work with a team?  Then everyone on your team can make a calendar for the team to see (each person's calendar is a different color).  My counselor intern and I both have a calendar that we share and post info for the other to see.  If I'll be at a meeting, I'll post it on our "shared" calendar together and my intern will see it and vice versa.

Share your calendar with another counselor/team member

-You can synch your calendars to your mobile device (smart phones) and of course it will synch to your iPad!  To synch to your iPad, go to Settings, Mail, Contacts, Calendars and update your calendar settings.

Add your Google Calendar to your iPad or smart phone.

-Another cool feature I like about the paperless calendar is that you can have a reminder before your event (on your iPad/iPhone). On my JYJ Counselor calendar, I like to have an alert 10 mins before any event that I have scheduled so that way, I know I need to get to a stopping point on what I'm doing.  It's been really helpful in keeping me on track especially when things start getting hectic and time slips by.

This calendar has been yet another (paperless) success!  Do you use Google Calendar for your counselor calendar?



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Back to School Apps for School Counselors

Many, many more school counselors are adding the use of an iPad to their programs.  I think that this is absolutely fantastic! This will be my 3rd school year using one in my program and each year I find more and more ways to incorporate its use in my day to day counselor life.  So here are a few (free, my favorite price) apps to consider adding on your iPad:

-Dusty D. Dawg Has Feelings Too:  Completely interactive book that shows students that having and showing your feelings is ok.

-Digital Passport for Kids:  Great app to share knowledge of on-line/internet safety.  There are also games and great videos about proper internet use.

-ABC Notes:  Sticky notes and reminders for you iPad.  I don't know about you, but I use more than my fair share of sticky notes.  Here's a paperless alternative (I'm always looking for paperless ideas).  

-PikMe:  This app randomly chooses students, so that everyone gets a chance.  I will most likely use this in my small groups so that everyone gets a turn to talk/share. 

-Frame Artist:  This is a cool picture app that be used to create calendars, flyers, photo collages, etc.  I plan on using it in small groups (could be used individually also) and I plan on using this app to create a photo collage of all the various things that a school counselor does.  

Here's a quick collage that I created to show for this post.  

-Keeper:  (I've shared this before but it's worth sharing again) Store all your passwords in one place.  We all have full plates and remembering 15 different passwords just adds to the madness.  You now only need to remember ONE password to access Keeper.  This app has been a lifesaver for me!  

-Teacher Kit:  Another app worth sharing again, keep (paperless) attendance and notes for your small groups.  To see my full post on this app click here.

And for high school counselors...

-College FASFA Finder: College and financial aid reference

-SATMax SAT Prep: SAT prep app that even provides SAT info on colleges that you're interested in.

-Teen Hotlines:  Need resources, phone numbers or websites for issues and concerns that teens deal with?  It's all in one place thanks to this app.

If you're looking for more free educational apps, sign up to receive daily Fabulous and Free educational apps from Shannon Long by clicking here.   If you have more counselor apps to share, please comment below. Pin It

(free) School Counselor Time Trackers

Being a school counselor there is no such thing as a "perfect scheduled day" as we know that things in the life of a school counselor change from hour to hour, minute to minute.  I will admit that coming from a very structured teacher routine that I had some trouble adjusting to going with the flow when I started out as a counselor.  Maybe I've accepted it a little too much, because now going with flow, is now pretty much my way of life.

Anywhoo, while attending the ASCA conference I attended the Ready to Use Data Templates session. This was presented by Karl Liedtka, a high school counselor  from Leabanon, PA who was so kind to share a wiki full of counselor templates that can be used for various counselor things such as time/task analysis, pre/post test analysis and student trackers.  The time tracker is the one that I plan on using the most.  It's pretty user friendly (there are directions/user guide on how to use it) and the tracker makes the charts and graphs for you!  This will be awesome to use for my counselor evaluation and data collection piece and it's my very favorite price...free!

Screenshot of time tracker

This will be so awesome to use this year and I can't wait to try it out!  

*Please note that I am not the creator of these time trackers, if you have specific questions about the files I would suggest that you contact the creator.  

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Counselor Tech Tools for Summer

Now that summer's here and you may have a tad bit more patience and time on your hands, exploring and learning some new tech tools will put you a step ahead.  Here are a 5 tech tools that are great for counselors that you can become familiar with during your break:

-YouTube:  Did you know that you can make a school counselor playlist on YouTube?  Meaning that all your school counselor related videos that you like and use regularly can be easily accessed.  Here's how:

You will need to have a gmail account to log in.

Once you find a video that you like click "add to" and add to your counselor playlist.  For this post, I just found a video from the NOH8 (no hate ) campaign, which by the way is a great clip to show to middle/high school levels.

Click "Add to"

As you can see I have multiple playlists.  The first time you add, you'll have to name your list, after then it will remember  that list name.

Choose your school counselor playlist

Everything saves to your school counselor playlist, here's how mine looks.  When I need to show a clip, I just go right to my playlist and click on the video I need to use.

-Smore:  I learned about this great online flyer/newsletter site from blog buddy Danielle from The School Counselor Blog. This is another free and very user friendly tool that allows you to create flyers and newsletters that can be shared through email, social media or even embedded into an email or website.  I'm so going to be using this for my monthly 5th grade newsletter (hey, I'm trying my best to keep up this paperless theme).  This may or may not be a good fit for you depending on the type of school that you work in.  The vast majority of the parents at my school have email and prefer email as a means of school communication, so this will be absolutely perfect for getting out my school counselor news!  Just in case you're wondering how I have parents emails, there are 2 ways I get them.  First, of course is through the teacher's email lists and also the PTA provides a contact list booklet for each class which I also use.

Screenshot of me setting up a newsletter using Smore.

-Tagboard:  Another tool to read all things through social media in one spot.  If you didn't already know, social media is a great way to network, get resources and ideas from other school counselors from all over the world.  At times going to various social media sites can be a little overwhelming but thanks to tagboard, you can easily read and see everything by hashtag (the # pound symbol).  Good school counselor tags are #scchat, #schoolcounselor, #schoolcounseling, #asca

Just type in the hash tag to search (I used #scchat)

All types of social media are searched (Twitter, Instagram, Facebook, etc)

Well look who's picture showed up during the search!

-Google Drive:  This is a complete must have for any school counselor.  This is how I created my Online Minute Mtgs and Paperless Counselor Notes.  Please note that you will need to have a (free) gmail email account to access Google tools.  If you're aren't sure how to navigate through Google Drive, there are many tutorials available on YouTube (hey you can make a playlist on tutorials if you'd like).

-Dropbox:  It's time to ditch the "old school" USB drive, welcome to cloud based storage!  Store all of your documents, videos, pictures in one place.  I use Dropbox Every. Single. Day.  It's a must use for school counselors.  One of my favorite features about Dropbox is that you can share folders with others.  Have a group of counselors that you share resources with, make a Dropbox folder where everyone can easily find and access those shared files (don't worry only people "invited" to your shared folder have access to the files).

Hopefully you'll find these tools helpful as you enjoy the rest of your summer break and as you prepare when you return back to school.  

What other tech tools do you use as a school counselor that are life savers?


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Use Your Voice To Keep Your Counselor Notes!

I'm still (actively) on my quest to keep paperless counselor notes.  Previously, I shared how I used Google Docs and my trusty iPad  to keep track of the students that I see daily.  So my wheels have be steadily spinning on what other options can be used to keep paperless counselor notes.  So here's my next "discovery" (if you want to call it that) on keeping (somewhat) paperless counselor notes.

Dragon Dictation is a free (my favorite price) app that converts speech into text, which means you simply just talk and Dragon turns what you say into written text!  Dragon is also available to use on computers (but you'll have to purchase the software).

So how did I use Dragon to keep track of my counselor notes?  Well, I decided to do a 2 week "Dragon Counselor Note Challenge" where I was to keep track of my counselor notes on Dragon for 2 weeks and share my experience with you.  Before I get started with my review, I'll share that #1, I did keep paper notes (as I've always done before going paperless) for the 2 weeks and #2 I have some prior experience with using Dragon from my high school teaching days (this was a unit that we covered in my class).   So here goes...

Each day, I keep a list of what I do each day in my personalized school counselor notebook.  I created this daily template myself where I record which students I've seen, parents called, classes visited, to do list, reminders and general daily info (nothing too detailed).  At the end of each day during my Dragon Challenge, I simply read my day to Dragon to record my notes.

Now to use Dragon, you must speak EXACTLY like you want Dragon to "type" it into text, meaning that you have to literally dictate punctation, spacing, etc.  So if I were to say today is: Monday, April 5th, 2013.  I would need to say it like this today is (colon) Monday (comma) April 5th (comma) two thousand thirteen (period).  For a list of commands for Dragon, click here.

Here's how using it on your iPad works:
Open the app and simply tap on the plus symbol, which means new note (at the top right corner) then the" tap and dictate" button.  Then talk away!

Ready to record!

Once you're finished talking you'll see what you said as text.  You can also type and correct misspelled words and/or type more info as needed (you'll see the keyboard at the bottom where you can type).

What's said is quickly & easily turned into text!  Notice the keyboard below the screenshot, this is where you can type and edit what was converted into text.  

You can email your notes to yourself or someone else or copy and paste the notes into a word document that you just add to each day.

So what's my take on the challenge?  Well I liked using Dragon, but it still doesn't quite make me want to switch from my paperless student notes through Google Docs.  But I do like the convenience for me to give myself quick voice reminders.  You could talk about your day as the day progresses, you would just have to remember to record your memo, that would be the tough part for me...remembering to record my notes.

Do you use Dragon for your student notes?  I'd love to hear your take on using it for student notes.






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Great (free) Paperless App for Groups

Running a school counselor group is a fun and interesting learning adventure for both myself and the students in the group.  In the past, I've kept a notebook with attendance, notes, reminders, etc.  Again in my attempt to head to the road to paperless school counselor tasks, I'd like to share a fantastic (free, my favorite price) app that will help you keep your groups organized WITHOUT paper!

Teacher Kit is a must have app for groups!  So here's how to set up your groups using the app:

-Add a new group (the plus symbol at the top) and give your group a name (for the purposes of this post, it'll be called "Practice Group". 

Add a new class (or group)

-Once you add the group, it'll appear on your "shelf", which lists all the groups that you've created.  Tap on the door to "open" your group.

All your groups appear on the shelf.  You can have multiple groups.

-You can now begin to add students to your group.  Tap the plus symbol at the top right corner and you will be able to add the students.  From here you can add info, parent contact info and even a picture of the student!  As you add the student info and click save the picture will appear with their name in a "school desk" icon (by the way you can move the desks around for changing seating charts around).  

Add your students in your group.

You can add images of the students in your group. 

-To keep attendance for the group click on attendance and tap on each student to mark either present or absent.  You can also add other choices for attendance.  For my book club groups, I have options such as read aloud, and brought snack (also way for me to keep track of info).

Keep track of attendance

-To keep individual notes on students in the group, click on behavior, choose the student you want to take notes on which will open a new window.  Click on the plus symbol and type what notes to you want to input (be sure to give your note a title), click notes and tap description (this is where you type your notes).  You can also use this to track positive or negative behavior.

Add your student notes

I LOVE this app and no longer have a need for my group notebook for keeping attendance or just general student notes.  I'm really feeling this counselor  going paperless plan!

For a more detailed description on using this app, check out this tutorial on YouTube:

Do you have an app to recommend to keep notes/attendance on your groups?

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(free) Relaxation iPad apps

Is it me or is it super busy at your school right about now?  It certainly seems extra busy lately these days.  Something that seems to "calm the storms"throughout our daily counselor lives when dealing with student issues is to have students cool down or relax.  So here are some free (my favorite price) apps for relaxation that you may want to add to your iPad:

-Breathe2Relax (free):  Neat app that I use quite a bit with students individually, small groups and even during class visits!  This app will let you practice your breathing using deep inhale and exhaling exercises.  This is also available on Android devices, click here for link.

-My 1st Yoga (free):  Quick and easy yoga poses for children.  *Note you may need to call this something else other than yoga to be politically correct (maybe relaxation poses).

-Fluid (free):  Cool calming app that gives the effect of running your fingers through water.  A bonus is that you can choose the background (including pictures from your camera roll!)

-Silent Island Relaxation Lite (free):  Ahhh, the relaxing sounds are all here!  

-Zen Space (free):  Create your own zen garden of tranquility!

-Pocket Pond (free);  Looking at fish is nothing but relaxing and since I don't have the space for a tank this will be as close as it gets.

-Relaxing Sounds of Nature Lite (free):  Another soothing and relaxing sounds app!

Do you have any other free relaxation apps?  Please share!

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