Week 6

This week was a challenging week.  We lost our second student this year to senseless gun violence.  We lost 2 other students at another local high school last week.  In Fayette County, there is a crisis team that comes to schools where tragedy occurs.  They were very helpful and liked their idea of creating a giant poster where kids could draw or write a tribute to the deceased student.  One of the students that died had been on my case load 2 years ago.  Lexington really needs to address the teen violence problem that is growing in our town.  These kids are seeing too much glorification of the gangster lifestyle in the media.  I, also, think when the economy is not doing well people tend to turn towards crime.  I wish I could find more ways to show these young kids that there is better life for them if they choose to work for it and have the right attitude. At the school level, we are working very hard to stop the teen violence.  It is going to take the whole community to try and change the culture of these areas where teen violence is becoming too common and accepted. 

week 4

This was, as usual, an interesting week at school.  I had an incident with one of our most behaviorally challenged kids and his sister in which they thought their mother had died.  I ended up, along with 2 other teachers, going with the students to their mother's house to check on her.  Luckily, she was fine.  The mother told her son that he now knew how she felt when he was running the streets at night.  It made me realize that even though many staff members, and justifiably so, view this student as a behavior problem, he really is just a kid that cares about his mother.  I, also, called my mom soon afterwards to let her know how much I appreciate her! 

week 3

This was a short week.  We had open house Tuesday so I was able to meet many of my parents.  Wednesday, I had a 3 year reval 504 meeting.  Friday, I was able to go to the annual college day at Papa John's Stadium in Louisville.  It is beneficial to learn new things being offered by our local colleges.  The theme that kept coming up for me this week was my role as a mediator.  I am constantly mediating between parents, teachers, and students.  After watching the political conventions the last 2 weeks maybe we could use more counselors in government so they can actually get something done through mediation!

web site example

One of our most effective ways to communicate to parents and students at Henry Clay is our facebook page.  Even though facebook, sometimes, causes issues among our students, it is nice to be able to use it in a positive way.  Here is the site address or you can just go to your facebook page and search for Henry Clay High School counseling page.
http://www.facebook.com/yahoo#!/pages/Henry-Clay-High-School-Counseling/120696404667230

tech resource

I am posting a tech resource that  I use with both parents and students often.  The url is www.careercruising,com/ilp It is a free state funded web site that helps students with career guidance.  It helps students and parents with information about colleges, scholarships, and even has a resume builder.  Later this week, I will post a dummy username and password so you can explore the site.

week 2

Well, it only took me 30 minutes to figure out how to sign on to my blog lol!  I think the true meaning of being a counselor is to simply help people.  Counselor are extremely important in a school setting even though we do not always get the respect we deserve.  As one of my fellow counselors told me we have been teachers but teachers have not been counselors so they do not always understand what we do.  At our school, we do some administrative duties but I would say my role is very comparable to a firefighter.  I put out fires all day long with students, teachers, and parents.  I love being a counselor because it is in my nature to help people.  I am a natural mediator as well.  I feel I contribute to the everyday life of my students by caring about them and most importantly giving them my most valuable possession, time!