Showing posts with label guest post. Show all posts
Thursday, November 10, 2016
Our True Colors Counselor
Today I'm joyful because of a note I received from a third-grade superhero that sent my spirit soaring; it read, "Thank you for being our true colors counselor."
Her gratitude touched my heart so deeply.
What a cool job it is, to plant character seeds
and watch them take root and grow.
I've been writing about sprinkling kindness like glitter a lot lately.
Superhero Dr. Jean invited me to guest post at her blog on Tuesday and I'm over the moon with gratitude. Click {here} to read A Kinder World.
And in case you missed it, author Sue Scheff allowed me to share my thoughts about inspiring Kindness Footprints at her blog.
I'm so blessed to get to do what I do,
to be a true colors counselor
and share my ideas about
warming the world with compassion and kindness.
For more ideas, visit my friend Lisa at Ripple Kindness.
And {here} for a Christmas Kindness Countdown Calendar.
For more ideas, visit my friend Lisa at Ripple Kindness.
And {here} for a Christmas Kindness Countdown Calendar.
To our Veterans and their families:
Happy Veterans Day tomorrow.
We honor you, we celebrate you, we thank you,
and we will never forget your service and sacrifice.
Tuesday, October 11, 2016
Rocking Responsibility
Today I'm excited because my guest post on the core value of responsibility went live at Free Spirit Press. Click the graphic below to check it out.
What's your favorite way to help your learners rock responsibility?
One thing that helps us nurture the virtue of responsibility is our Peer Assistance and Leadership (PAL) mentoring. Specially-trained high school students come to us every year to support and mentor a younger student. This morning, one of them came back for a visit while on Fall break from college classes and sent the heart of her young PALee (and mine!) soaring.
I was so blessed to get to see, hear, feel and experience their
happy reunion.
For the last fifteen years, I would singlehandedly read all of the bios of the teen mentors and them pair them with my students. This year, we decided to try something new: A PAL draft. So instead of me doing the pairing, I asked my students to fill out a "What do I want my PAL to know?" draft card. Then, today, I spent an hour with our new batch of PALs, sharing the cards and letting them choose the child whom they will mentor this year.
Empowerment in action.
As you might imagine, we ran out of time, so Round 2 of our draft continues tomorrow and I can't wait. Do I have the best job or what?
Monday, October 3, 2016
Positively Incentivizing
Today I'm thinking about effectively incentivizing positive choices.
Click the graphic below to read my guest post for Free Spirit.
In the post, I suggest giving students the option to earn Brag Tags, Badges, and Experiences. Shortly after that post went live, I saw this creative idea on Facebook.
It was put in the yard of an unsuspecting student of one of the teachers, Christina Hogue, at our sister school. Isn't that a fun way to incentivize good character? Would it work in your district? If not, how would you tweak it? What could you do for a child in an apartment or condo, who might not have a yard? How might you change it if your school's parents didn't want you to share quite as much info?
And just yesterday, I read this post about rethinking those Clip Chart systems. I've always thought that if we were going to use a clip system, maybe it could be more of a Character Clip, using a visual like this.
Here's how it could work.
Let's all start on caring in our community of caring. Then, throughout the day, as students are caught showing good character, we could say, "Bailey, thank you for making such good choices. What spot on the wheel do you think you could move your clip to?" Think about how empowering it would be for this child to go and move her clip to the pillar whose power she was positively sharing. Students could also be on the lookout for positivity they see one another giving: "I just saw Jimmy taking turns and sharing. Maybe he could move his clip to fairness?"
If there's a misstep, it could be handled privately
and the student could set a goal for how he or she will turn
that behavior around to get back on track and self-regulating
as they travel down the Character Road.
Energy flows where attention goes, that's for sure.
What are some of the creative ways in which you incentivize
to shape those desired positive behaviors?
Saturday, September 17, 2016
Pursuing Perfection, Catching Excellence
Happy Saturday; today I'm excited to have a day
with absolutely nothing to do.
Not one thing.
I slept in until 10 am. Decadent.
And I may meander to the salon for a pedi at some point.
But mostly, I'm just taking the day to breathe.
Breathe in the goodness of another miraculous day.
A chance to relax, restore, refresh, recharge.
No running around.
No rat race.
No chaos or confusion.
A chance to just BE.
And reflect.
with absolutely nothing to do.
Not one thing.
I slept in until 10 am. Decadent.
And I may meander to the salon for a pedi at some point.
But mostly, I'm just taking the day to breathe.
Breathe in the goodness of another miraculous day.
A chance to relax, restore, refresh, recharge.
No running around.
No rat race.
No chaos or confusion.
A chance to just BE.
And reflect.
Look what I found on Twitter as I was enjoying every last drop
of my morning candy bar in a cup coffee.
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| Click graphic for source. |
Perspective. From Peter Pan. Perfect.
Wait, did I just say perfect?
Okay, time to talk about perfection,
because the struggle is real.
At least for me it is.
Because I used to still want things to line up perfectly.
It may be part of how I'm hard-wired, that need for order.
And I'd like to say that I'm getting better at
adapting and accepting
when they don't align the way I'd
envisioned,
hoped,
dreamed
they would.
That is, after all, a huge piece of growth mindset.
Accepting mistakes as part of the process.
Embracing failure as a success.
Letting go of that perfection ideal.
But I still mix up catching excellence
with the pursuit of perfection. Practically every day.
That's why this Lombardi quote speaks to me, I suppose.
Because he's right; perfection isn't attainable.
It's not supposed to be.
So who's with me in the fight against those persistent perfectionistic tendencies
that threaten to thwart our propensity to practice grace
and our potential to maximize growth?
Because it's the journey that matters,
the chance to stretch and sightsee,
inspire and influence,
support and savor
as we keep moving forward.
Can I hear an amen?
Have I mentioned how grateful I am to be
on assignment with Free Spirit Publishing?
It's so kind of them to invite me share my
perspective,
reflections,
ideas
and activities
with their readers.
Wednesday, August 31, 2016
Sunshine In The Storm
As August ends, I hear rumblings; can it be that more rain is headed our way. If you're in the south, then you know it has been a stormy, soggy month.
We're ready to see more of the sun, that's for sure.
In leadership classes this week, we've been reading What Do You Do With A Problem? by Kobi Yamada. In this engaging text, the narrator is trying to figure out what to do with the problem that finds and is following him. The illustrations are drawn in such a way that the problem starts out looking like a black cloud and continues to grow to almost-hurricane proportions. As he talks his way through the problem, he realizes that the secret to problems is that they actually hold an opportunity. So I said to my students that it was kind of like finding blessings in your burdens, sunshine in your storm. That's when a new student challenged me with, "What if your problem is so bad that there's no way to find anything good in it? What then?"
Such a melancholy yet beautiful segue into a discussion about the role of the school counselor, someone to guide you when you're lost, to comfort you when you're sad, to light the path in your darkness, to help you move in right direction.
Someone to spread cheerfulness.
Someone to remind you that you matter.
Someone to remind you that you matter.
Someone to share joy.
Someone to listen.
Someone to understand.
Someone to care and hold your heart when you're hurting.
Here now, some pictures of where I get to do what I love:
The stage to the right, for our role plays.
The Puppet Palace in the far back corner.
The Counselor Cafe kidney table in the center.
Behind it, through that opened door, we have a Peace Room ...
filled with lots of different textures to help soothe our senses.
Feelings books, a reflection mirror, warm fuzzies, oh my.
Here's our Crayons to College bulletin board behind the stage
and a close up of our Pillar Power board.
Team Trustworthiness? I choose YOU.
Just outside of Leadership Central, a 7 Habits of Happy Kids display.
 |
| Click the picture to download the lettering from Mel at From The Pond. |
I am abundantly blessed to do what I love and love what I do.
In case you missed my guest post about trustworthiness
at Free Spirit Press earlier this week, click the graphic below.
Here's to a daily dose of that glorious Vitamin D.
Monday, May 2, 2016
Increase The Dose
It's Mental Health Month and my guest post over at Free Spirit Press focuses on a mind, body, spirit three-pronged approach to mental health and wellness.
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| Click the graphic to go read the post. |
What are your go-to strategies to maximize your mental health?
One huge thing for me after the trauma of that head-on collision was finding things to be thankful for, blessings in the burden. Did you know that gratitude can tack on up to seven years of life? Gratitude creates such a win-win because it blesses the giver and the recipient.
This week is Teacher Appreciation Week 2016, so I set out to thank our school staff by putting these little sticky-note pads together for them today.
It made my heart happy to spread a little sunshine.
Yesterday I was blessed by the invitation to give a one-hour keynote about grace at the women's renewal retreat at our church. Committee members made one of these for each of us. Don't you love this? Grace.
To close today, a few reflections to ponder from my research and presentation.
For more from Craig Denison, visit First15.org
 |
| Photo credit: Amy Homa |
 |
| Photo credit: Jennifer Runde |
So I ask you the same question I posed to retreat participants:
How will you increase the dose this week?
Monday, April 18, 2016
Finding Balance
Let's start the week off with an inquiry:
How are you at putting perfectionism in its place
and helping the children in your care find balance?
I was recently tasked with addressing that concern;
click the graphic below to read my guest post at Free Spirit
and add five concrete suggestions for this issue to your toolbox.
Need even more help with balance or with some other situation?
Why not start with the school counselor. He or she stands ready to listen and assist students of all ages and stages through their troubles, difficulties, and conflict as they learn to become independent thinkers and problem solvers themselves.
Oh, and now there's a book to better explain our role. Check out Mrs. Joyce Gives The Best High-Fives by author (and Texas school counselor) Erainna Winnett. It's about a school counselor and some of the strategies she uses to connect with kids. But make no mistake; Mrs. Joyce does a LOT more than just giving the best high fives. In fact, she's a superhero of the caring kind, ready to come to the rescue and provide a safe place and a sounding board for students in distress.
Raymond, who's new to Emerson Elementary, doesn't know Mrs. Joyce yet, so he's not sure what to make of her, until he gets a invitation to go to her office and finds out all about this friendly favorite, that is.
Mrs. Joyce explains her role as the counselor
so gently and eloquently. Check out the book's trailer:
I was especially delighted to find Savvy School Counselor's suggestion in the back of the book that a school counselor (or teacher!) use a Circle Map to introduce yourself and your role to the students at the start of school.
I could also see reading Mrs. Joyce's story as we close out the school year and reflect on all of the time we spent together and all of the leadership skills we sharpened through counseling classes.
High Fives to Erainna {and her illustrator}
for this colorful addition to my counseling collection.
Wednesday, March 16, 2016
Recovering, Reflecting, Returning
We've all had 'em, those days, the terrible, horrible ones when you wish you could have a do-over ... or, better yet ... that you'd have stayed under the covers and not come out in the first place, right?
So how do we recover, relax, reflect & return gracefully
so that we can, in turn, help our children learn to reboot?
That was the assignment that Free Spirit gave me;
click their adorable graphic below to read my suggestions.
Our friend, ventriloquist Dennis Lee, lived through one of those days two weeks ago and is now recovering from that life-threatening collision. We were blessed to visit him in the Rehab Center yesterday and deliver this big box full of handmade get-well wishes, admiration and love from the school families at Ferguson Elementary, Westwood Elementary, and Bales Intermediate.
And talk about your growth mindset and optimism; we caught him with that signature smile and effervescent personality sketching notes for next year's show.
Despite the trauma.
Despite the many broken bones.
Despite the long, rocky road to recovery in front of him.
Resilience doesn't get much more graceful than that.
He expressed his gratitude to those prayer warriors who have been covering him as he heals and he assured us that he can feel the power of every one of those prayers. Then, with an unwavering faith that will only serve to strengthen his testimony, he promised that he will be back on stage one day.
We are so proud of you, Dennis Lee.
Thank you for being a beacon of hope, inspiration and light.
We're behind you as you rest, restore, recover & return.
Tuesday, March 8, 2016
Inspiring Collaboration Guest Post
Today I'm overjoyed because one of my cyberspace counseling colleagues has agreed to tell us about a strong cross-curricular collaboration that resulted in an assembly idea that I predict will be music to your ears. Please give a warm Corner welcome to School Psychologist (and my friend!) Julie Gordon-Buccitti.
******************************
Hello from Overbrook Elementary!
We were so delighted to be invited by Barbara to share with you about our special whole-school collaborative project that we initiated this year. Our collaboration is a unique one, since we�re not aware of any other school psychologist and music teacher collaboratives in our area. Bringing our disciplines together made sense though, as music is a wonderful therapeutic medium and avenue for self-expression!
Overbrook is a kindergarten through grade 2 school, that has been distinguished as a PBIS (Positive Behavior Interventions and Supports) Model Demonstration School. It was one of just two schools in the state of Connecticut last year to receive this honor!
With the support of our amazing principal, Diane MacKinnon, and our wonderful staff at Overbrook, we were able to create such excitement throughout our school. We began with a series of co-taught lessons that took place during our music classes and focused on the work of Carol McCloud, author of Have You Filled a BucketToday? We included read-alouds, hands-on interactive tasks, written activities, songs, and instrumental music. My friend and colleague, Denise Martino, even wrote an original song that was perfect for our bucket-filling endeavor. With the help of some local businesses, who were kind enough to donate buckets to our project, the children used buckets as drums as they sang Denise�s beautiful and very catchy tune. We even caught children singing this tune at various times and locations throughout the day!
I also purchased the book in Spanish, as we have a large population of bilingual students at our school, and, with the help of our kind ELL Aide, Miss Claudia, I was able to co-teach a lesson in Spanish. I was so touched as our bilingual students helpedme, as I was attempting to read and communicate! This was a good empathy lesson for me as I took on the challenges of using a language that I am not as familiar with.
In our school, there have been many social-emotional learning initiatives. Some of these initiatives have included whole group and small group lessons in classrooms and centers, whole group lunch lessons in the cafeteria, and co-teaching in our music classes. In addition, there are now plans underway for bringing social-emotional learning into gym class. It was my hope that by bringing social-emotional learning to our students across a variety of settings, that we would see carry-over of the skills taught into multiple settings throughout the school. Based on feedback I have received from students, staff, and parents, this is exactly what is happening.
Recently, Denise and I had the pleasure of putting together a Bucket-Filling assembly. This assembly was attended by our entire school, as well as community stakeholders like our Superintendent of Schools, Pupil Services Staff, and our local newspaper, The New Haven Register. During our assembly, we incorporated a number of activities, making sure to include variety and opportunities for movement, in order to keep our little ones actively engaged. Our students performed Denise�s original song, there was a read-aloud, we all took a bucket-filling pledge together, and acted out some skits and asked our students to identify whether we were bucket filling or bucket dipping. Our students have become quite the bucket filling experts! We also made some special edition bucket filling PBIS tickets, to tie in bucket filling with our Model PBIS program already in place.
At the end of our assembly, we wrapped up with a bucket filling music video and our students and staff had so much fun singing and dancing. Both music teacher and school psychologist are being asked when the next bucket filling lesson will be taking place. I wonder if our littles know how much they fill our buckets each day.
 |
| Click to download these special-edition tickets. |
At the end of our assembly, we wrapped up with a bucket filling music video and our students and staff had so much fun singing and dancing. Both music teacher and school psychologist are being asked when the next bucket filling lesson will be taking place. I wonder if our littles know how much they fill our buckets each day.
Our assembly was also written up in our support staff and specialists� newsletters to parents, so now our parents can use similar bucket filling terminology, and together we can reinforce the importance of being a bucket filler at school and at home.
It was truly heartwarming working together to make this project a success. So many staff members helped in so many ways. I owe a huge thank you to my wonderful collaborating partner Denise, too; our buckets are overflowing!
Thank you for allowing us to share our story and our excitement about this project with you. We look forward to continuing with our bucket filling work, and encouraging kindness throughout our school and community!
Denise Martino, Music Teacher
Overbrook Elementary School
A K-2 PBIS Model Demonstration School
East Haven, CT
East Haven, CT
Thank you, Julie & Denise, for sharing your heartbeat with us;
we are positively inspired by your bucket-filling collaboration.
we are positively inspired by your bucket-filling collaboration.
Tuesday, March 1, 2016
Mindset Matters
Happy March.
Today I'm excited because my guest post on resilience is now live; click the graphic below to go to Free Spirit Press and read all about it.
I'm also delighted that I've been invited to present a parenting workshop on Mindset tonight in a neighboring district.
Click {here} to view and/or download the handout.
I use this tangible to show what our brains look like
when they're in fixed mindset mode and growth!
Here's a guest blog post at Free Spirit if you want more info.
And a bulletin board we used to unlock fixed beliefs:
Here's one of the slides I love to share:
I use this tangible to show what our brains look like
when they're in fixed mindset mode and growth!
Here's a guest blog post at Free Spirit if you want more info.
And a bulletin board we used to unlock fixed beliefs:
Here's one of the slides I love to share:
Want more Mindset info? Check out my
Growth Mindset Pinterest page {here}.
One final note to my faithful readers: Today marks post number 1300 at The Corner On Character. That being the case, it's nearly impossible to make sure that links that are live when I post will continue to work in the days, months, and years ahead. I apologize for any inconvenience this may cause as you connect to learn and grow with us.
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