Welcome Back

Welcome back to another great school year! I am looking forward to seeing all of our leaders tonight at Meet Your Teacher! I wanted to take a moment to remind parents to read my introductory letter regarding important information about Highland Park Guidance and Counseling. It can be found at the right side of this blog under Parenting Forms, labeled "2014 Letter To Parents." I hope to see each of you tonight!!

March Lessons

In March I visited classrooms and conducted various lessons on the 7 Habits and I incorporated technology into many of my lessons.

Kindergarten and First grade are my Leadership Spotlight of the month. Students received a lesson on Habit 5: Seek First to Understand, Then to be Understood. They heard the story Enemy Pie and discussed how the boys, or "enemies," in the story became friends by spending time together and getting to know one another. Habit 5: Seek First to Understand, Then to be Understood is the habit that helped the boys realize they had a lot of things in common and made better friends than enemies! Students paired up with another student in class to complete a Venn diagram to practice Habit 5. They learned what is similar between them and their classmate, as well as ways they are different.

Second graders received a lesson via Skype with an underwater videographer. This is part one of second grade's career awareness lessons. Students were able to hear from an underwater sea diver who works with sharks in the Bahamas. Students Skyped live over the Smartboard with the videographer and learned about her job, as well as about the sharks she works with. Students were able to ask questions of and interact with the guest speaker. This lesson was a huge hit with students and was a way to help them learn about a job form a person that they might not otherwise be able to based on location.

Third graders are receiving a MAP test preparation lesson to help them with preparing for the MAP test since this is their first year taking one.

Fourth grade and fifth grade received a lesson on Habit 2: Begin with the End in Mind. Students learned about goal setting and brainstormed many goals they have for themselves. They watched a video of a famous performance painter who did not have goals for his life and found himself wandering aimlessly, not using his talents or holding down a steady job. He found a way to motivate himself, created some goals, and changed his life dramatically. When he had no goals he was painting graffiti and was jobless. Once he found motivation and created goals for himself, he became a famous performer. Since then he has a met his goal to raise over a million dollars for charity with his earnings. 

See more here.

Students created a T-chart to help them brainstorm what it is like when you don't have goals vs. when you do based on the video they watched. Students then chose one of the goals they have for themselves and created a "map" to meet that goal, with the steps they would need to take along the way to be successful. Students learned how they can use goal setting, or Habit 2, with short-term daily goals as well as long-term life long goals.

Sixth graders participated in a lesson "What is Your Reputation?" Students learned that it takes many actions to create a positive reputation and only one negative action to ruin it, and it takes a lot of work to gain back a positive reputation. Students brainstormed what they want their reputation to be. They created an Avatar, or a "Voki" with Google Chromebooks that states their reputation. Please enjoy the examples below!

**I am currently having difficulty embedding the Voki's onto my website, so please check back soon.

January Recap and New Technology Tools

January was Conflict Resolution month for guidance lessons. Students learned about using Habit 4--Think Win-Win to solve conflicts in each grade level. In kindergarten and first grade I taught students the difference between tattling and reporting. Students learned how to solve "child size" problems on their own rather than running to the adult every time something bothers them. Students learned that not tattling all of the time helps them to be a better friend and is a Win-Win for everyone (they are a better friend and they have more friends/their friends aren't getting in trouble all of the time). Kindergarten and First graders practiced deciding if a situation is a "tattle" or a "report" by completing a smart board sorting lesson.

2nd Graders read "A Bad Case of Tattle Tongue" by Julia Cook. Students learned the rules for tattling, including the difference between reporting if someone is getting hurt or in trouble, and tattling--when the problem doesn't involve you, when you can wait and try to solve the problem later, and when and how to solve small problems on their own before running to an adult for help. Students also completed a smart board sorting activity to decide if a situation is at "tattle" or a "report." They are also my Leadership Spotlight of the month.

3rd Graders were taught "I-Messages" with a Smart Board Lesson. This technique is one students can use to try and solve a problem by telling the person they are having a conflict with how they are feeling, why they are feeling that way, and what the other person can do to make the situation better. An I-Message is a very effective way to solve a problem with out causing further arguing. It is not blaming and does not cause the other person to be defensive. Students worked through several scenarios to practice identifying how a conflict situation would cause them to feel and then created an appropriate "I-Message" for each one. Students were encouraged to use I-messages specifically at recess as many times that is where conflicts arise at school. We also read the book "Trouble Talk" a book about bullying by Trudy Ludwig and discussed how an I-Message could have solved many of the conflicts that were evident in the book.



4th Graders watched a video on Decisions & Conflicts and learned the decision making process for how to resolve conflicts: Stop (don't rush into a solution), Think (what are all of the possible solutions and consequences of each), Act (make a choice), and Review (decide if it was the best decision resulting in the best outcome). Students practiced thinking Win-Win by completing a marshmallow and toothpick team building activity. After the activity we discussed what think Win-Win sounded like (inviting other's opinions and ideas, encouraging others to participate, not monopolizing the participation of the activity, and reaching the end goal).

5th and 6th Graders received the same lesson on Sean Covey's Leadership Habit 4: Think Win-Win. Students learned that Win-Win means not only that you are willing to hear other's opinions, but it also means that you are not a "doormat" and allow others to do all of the work. Students watched an inspiring video about a team of mountain climbers who helped one of their fellow teammates, Erik Weihenmayer be the only person to climb Mt. Everest (the tallest point in the world) blind. Students identified where and how Think Win-Win was evident in the team's journey and ultimate success. To read more please click here.

Last, I am taking two technology classes this winter and I am learning many different and creative ways to incorporate technology in my lessons. I am going to show you two things I have created via different awesome sites and I will be soon using these with students to help them apply the skills they are learning through my guidance lessons. Here are two sneak previews:

(Top: Storybird--where students create and publish original stories, and bottom: Voki--create an avatar and make a statement!)