My Binders

{I wrote this post months ago, but completely forgot to publish it.}

Carol Miller's post Counselor Binder Update reminded me that I needed to post what was in my binder. This year I am using 4 main binders. YES!!! 4!!! 2 of them are my transcript binders (A-L, M-Z). The 3rd is my regular yearly binder where I put meeting notes, evaluations, certifcates, etc. The last one is my senior binder. I use that more frequently than my yearly binder. The sections are:

• Weekly Calendar
• Senior Spreadsheet 
• PLATO/AAI/Credit Recovery completions 
• Parent Contact Logs 
• Student Contact Logs (don't know how often I will use this form since I have all students sign in when they are in my office)
• Misc. (everything else that should be in the binder)

Instead of tab-dividers, I created cover pages and put them in sheet protectors to serve as dividers. I like it much better than regular dividers. 
Font: KG Seven Sixteen. Free download from teachers pay teachers. I love this font!! There is a whole package of fonts!!! 
Background design: Polka dot paper from: Free download from The Hazel Owl on teachers pay teacher. Direct link: Digital Papers-Polka Dots
Binder Spines: I also used the polka dot design for my some of my binder spine covers. The other polka dots are: Lotsa Dots from Mardel 

Snow Days!!!

We've had a few snow days in the last couple of weeks. I LOVE SNOW DAYS!!! We had two in one week and one the next week...and now we're on Spring Break. We have to make-up the days (Good Friday and June 8), but high school counselors work until June 24 anyway so I'm not complaining ;) 

{I went to high school in Denver so I'm used to the snow. Texas snow, however, is different. Texas "snow" usually means ICE. I feel comfortable driving in snow, but ice??!!...that's a completely different thing. I will gladly stay at home and enjoy my unplanned day off.} 

Being out for snow days did change the plans we had for our seniors. We were planning to take them on college tours. Each group [of seniors] was going to visit one of four colleges. We might be able to reschedule for next month. 

**Being Prepared For The Unexpected** 

Usually the weather people are good at predicting serious snow/ice, but sometimes the weather is worse than anyone expects. That was the case a couple weeks ago. The snow didn't begin falling until after 8am, so the schools didn't close. As the hours passed, the snow kept falling and the roads got bad (accidents, delays, freeway closures, etc.). Smaller districts were releasing the students early, but the larger districts weren't. As a result, many parents came to the school to pick up their child. Thankfully, we had a plan in place from our experience with the blackout. We had a lot of parents show up, but we handled it extremely well. We were well organized and prepared. Everyone had a specific assignment/duty. Of course, there will always be room for improvement, but I am proud of the job we did. We even had parents tell us how organized it was. 

View from inside the school

My doormat at my apartment. I live one the 2nd floor. 

2nd floor again. The wind was blowing hard. 

Quick post: Catching Up On The Year

I'm going to attempt to cover my year so far....In no particular order.

Red Ribbon Week!!

We decided to have a little fun and support Red Ribbon Week using Mr. Mackey from South Park. Each grade had a "Mr. Mackey" board. I think we enjoyed it more than the students. 

Word Walls!!

We wanted to promote college during "Education! Go Get It!" Week. We loosely defined college as any and all post-secondary options: 2-year college/university, 4-year college/university, military, trade/technical school, workforce, etc. We had a financial aid word wall and a college word wall. 

Marching Storm!!

Prairie View A&M's band, the Marching Storm, performed for our students before the State Fair Classic. We wanted to expose our students to college life, different types of schools and different types of bands. 

Ugly Sweater Contest!!

I entered an ugly sweater contest...and WON!!!! I won Most Creative. My sweater had lights and an annoying chirping bird. My (counselor) coworker won Best Holiday Sweater.

My sweater

My co-worker's sweater--Best Holiday Sweater

My co-worker's sweater. Unfortunately, she didn't win :(

#2 won Ugliest. Yes, that is hair on the sweater. LOL!! 

Winning sweaters: #12: Most Creative; #14: Best Holiday 

NBCSL!!

We took a group of students to the National Black Caucus of State Legislators' Conference in Dallas. Rickey Smiley was the keynote speaker.

 

Lights Out!!

We had a power outage, but school must go on :) We were the welcoming committee and crowd control. We had a good time on our "porch."

I think I covered almost everything. 

Until next time...

Quick Post: Life of a Senior Counselor

I asked one of our student assistants to update my bulletin board with the graduation date.  She did an EXCELLENT job!!!!! She wrote "2015" on each tassel. #AttentionToDetail

It's Been A Long Time!!!

Wow!! It's been a long time since I posted :( I Guess I didn't make my goal of posting weekly. Maybe next year. LOL!

A lot's been going on! Our (counseling) department won the CREST Award!!!!! What is CREST??
We attended the Texas School Counselor Conference in Galveston. We had a great time! Our next goal: applying for the RAMP.

Had to make sure we took some time for Wellness

Picture with my roomie 

Weekly Update

College Night: Monday was the annual District College Night. More than 250 colleges were represented. My students really benefited from attending. I forgot to take pictures, but here is the link to pictures posted on the District website. 

Individual Meetings: I began my individual meetings with my students. It took me longer to get started because I didn't complete the conference checklist ahead of time like I wanted. The meetings are going well and faster than I expected. My goal is to finish meeting with all my students is October 14. I estimate it will take approximately 2 days per teachers and I have 3 teachers, so I think I will make my deadline!

College Information: I completed my first Common Application student submission. I had never completed one before. I didn't know it was so detailed. I thought I only had to answer a few questions and upload a transcript. Whew! I know better now. LOL! Now that I know what to expect, I should finish the rest of the requests in my inbox next week.

Transcript Updates: finished and submitted them!

Counselors' Corner: Our principal wants a "help desk" in the cafeteria everyday during both lunches. The "help desk" will consist of at least counselor and an administrator. Each counselor has to cover a week during their students' lunch. This was my week. I didn't have many students visit me, but I anticipate more as the year progresses. 

Credit By Exam: I called in all the students who signed up for a CBE and gave them their paperwork (CBE contract, Independent Study Form, study guide). The deadline to submit the contact was today, Friday, September 19. If students don't return the contract, I don't order their test. It helps cut down on tests ordered and students not showing up to take the exam. I had over 40 students sign up for a test, but only about 20 returned the contract. I will give them until 9am Monday before I order the exams. 

Instagram Photo Challenge: didn't post a picture this week. I will post 2 next week. 

Quick Update

Quick update since I didn't post last week. This will cover this week and last. 

We are finally finished with the majority of our schedule changes!!! We only have a few changes left--mainly balancing a few classes.  I finished my senior classroom visits Monday.  They went well. I worked with the Go-Center, so the students received academic and college-readiness information.  I met with students today about attendance recovery and credit recovery.  I was at work late last night working on that paperwork.  I am determined to not take work home this year!  I don't usually take much home anyway.  I want my home to be my work-free sanctuary.  

The next major tasks on my to-do list are:

• District College Night: Monday, September 15.  All high school counselors have to be participate, either as chaperons or sitting at the their school's table. It's a great event.  Hundreds of colleges are represented.  I'll post pictures next week. 

• Individual Senior Meetings!  My goal is to meet with all of my ~240 seniors before Open House and 12th Grade Parent Night October 15.  Fingers crossed that I meet that goal.  I'll post the conference checklist next week.  

Instagram Photo Challenge-Weeks 2 and 3

Week 2: New
Didn't know what to do, so I took a picture of our resource center and binders.  We had the resource center last school year, but without the labels.  I added the binders this year.  We will put the other grades out when they have handouts, fliers, forms, etc. for their grade.  The scholarship binder is updated monthly.  

Week 3: On Track
Again, didn't know what to do, so I took a picture of the time I left work yesterday.  I was working on credit recovery enrollment forms and attendance recovery notices, so I can help my students be "on track."   LOL!! 

Week 2: New

Week 3: On Track

First Week of School

{My goal is to update my blog weekly.  Week one: accomplished!}

One week down!! Not sure how many to go. LOL! The first week was as busy as expected.  

I spent most of the week changing schedules. I was kind of surprised how many of my seniors did not want to take a 5th year English class. Texas only requires 4 years. I tried to convince them to stay in English (AP English Literature) because they will take an English class in college.  My principal and AP wanted them in it too, but approved them to drop AP Lit for another AP course, additional music period (if they are going to major in music in college) or another rigorous course.  

Thankfully, the deadline for students to request schedule changes was Thursday.  Counselors have until the 10th day of school to make changes. I have a few more changes to make Tuesday and then I'll be finished!---Hopefully! I'll probably have to balance some classes, but no more changes!! 

I am starting my senior meetings next week.  Classroom visits first and then individual meetings.  I want to meet with all 250+ of my seniors individually before Open House (October 15).  

Instagram Photo Challenge

Found this Instagram Photo Challenge on Pinterest. It's not my senior year, but I have seniors so it counts :)  Here is the challenge and my week 1 picture.  

Instagram Photo Challenge

Week 1 Photo: First day of school...Registration in the library

And just because it's National Bacon Day...

MMMMMMM.....Bacon!!!!!

2013-2014 Year In Review...In Pictures

Since I only made one blog post last school, here is my year in pictures.

12th Grade Counselor's Office

Acceleration Counselor's Office

Working on schedules on a Saturday before the first day of school.

The 10^th grade counselor put together a great and thorough safe room (crisis) kit.  Everything was ready to go when we needed to use it this year.  THE KIT HAS EVERYTHING!!

Parking Space Painting.  The 9^th grade counselor and I paid for the right to paint our parking spaces.  It’s one of the fundraisers the PTA has to raise money for the after prom lock-in.  We spent two Saturdays painting our spaces.

Homecoming Week: Superhero day…we joked about us being super counselors and decided to make it real.

9th Grade Counselor

10th Grade Counselor

11th Grade Counselor (ME!!!!)

12th Grade Counselor

Acceleration Counselor

Homecoming week: Tacky Tourist Day

Homecoming Week: Nerd/Geek Day

Those suspenders though! LOL!!!!

Homecoming Week: Hall Decorations.  The homecoming theme was Dr. Seuss.  These are pictures of 2 hallways

Homecoming week: Pep Rally Stage…This set was impressive!!  The students came out a door on the balcony

Gotta love the kindness of students.  We joke with our students that they need to have snacks to see us. Of course we let the students see us without snacks.  One of my students brought this for me because we would ask for twinkies. LOL!! We laughed so hard. 

Christmas Decorating.  Since we all love Christmas, we decided to decorate our doors and the counseling suite.  We even hung stockings, but no one left us candy. LOL!  We adopted an angel tree student from our feeder elementary school too.

9th Grade Counselor's Door

Close-up Picture

10th Grade Counselor's Door

Close-up Picture

My Door.  I know the penguin didn't match, but I liked it :) 

Close-up Picture

12th Grade Counselor's Door

Bulletin Board in Counseling Suite

Board with the lights on

File cabinet in counseling suite.  Our counseling clerk/administrative associate had us use leftover wrapping paper to make gifts.

With the lights on

Counseling Clerk/Administrative Associate's door 

Close-up Picture

Acceleration Counselor's Door

Close-up Picture

 Valentine Singing Telegram from The Choir

Teacher/Faculty/Staff Appreciation Week

Cup was filled with candy

Teacher/Faculty/Staff Appreciation Week: I had to spin the “wheel of fun” to win this Sonic gift card….it will come in handy next school year (14-15 year) during my late nights at the school.  (I rarely take work home.)

"Wheel of Fun"

Student “incentives” from me.  I only did it once.

Inspiration (from Pinterest, of course)

Bought mine (fruit roll-ups) from Sam’s…thought they were the kind like the picture above

My office…I will post updated pictures in August because I made some changes. My office theme was the Lotsa Dots collection from Mardel.

Inspiration

My version.  I only ended up using one set of the drawers: new/returning students, fax cover sheets, history update forms (transcript update forms)

Created my contact logs during the summer (using the documentation I had throughout the year) but didn't do a good job of completing them during the 13-14 school year.  That is one of my many areas of improvement.

And the highlight of my year....

This still makes me laugh!!!