I don’t think I could say it any better Paul and Alan. Etmooc is definitely alive and well. The connections we have made will last a lifetime and for that I am truly grateful! I get to keep learning with all of you fabulous people that I consider a part of my extended family.
Inspired by the #etmooc community’s latest learning endeavor—a tweet chat that drew community members together for a lively hour-long discussion about integrating Twitter into learning earlier this week—Levine combines his usual wicked sense of humor and insightful perspective into a set of reflections that…
As school counsellors, there are some very important things we wish to share with you.
You are the reason we do what we do
We care; we mean really care about teenagers. We do our best to touch as many students as we can, being advocates for you in school. We feel you have a right to know why we do what we do. We are counsellors by choice. Some of the things we have to do are difficult, but we choose to be here.
We are here because we believe we can help
As your School Counsellors, we have several roles. Even if we get caught up doing several things at once, our hearts are always with you, the student.
What you do with your life is up to you
You are in charge of you. We are here to help you reach your full potential. We will insist that you learn. It is your ticket to absolute freedom.
Be all that you can be
It isn’t easy being a teenager; even we can get frustrated with your raging hormones. You are growing and changing. We understand that. Take responsibility for your life and your actions and your teachers and others will respect you.
We do care, don’t ever forget it
That’s why we are here
That’s why we choose to do what we do
We will help in any way we can. We may get you support with a mentor, another counsellor or whomever can help us help you.
Stop … Think … Speak
Remember, your thoughts lead to feelings lead to your actions. Change your thinking and you will have control of your life.
No matter what anyone else says or does to you, you are a worthwhile person
Truly you are a gift
You are somebody
You deserve dignity and respect
There will be times during your school experience where negative things are said or done to you. You may experience painful times. Life can be difficult. It’s not what happens in your life that matters, but how you choose to respond to it and we are here to help.
What you put into school is what you will get out of it
With your help, we can make a difference. If you choose to share a part of yourself with us, we can work together to make changes in your life. Your school experience will become everything you hoped it could be. Get involved and you will feel better about yourself.
Give life a chance
One of the easiest things to say and one of the most difficult things to do are to live one day at a time. If you can master letting go of the past, not worrying about the future, but living each day to the fullest, then you will have lived a great life full of few regrets.
Be patient
Change takes time. Let yourself grow. We all can change if we have the courage and the wisdom.
We have faith in you
Never give up! Have Hope! Live every moment to the fullest! Become all that you are meant to be and you pay it forward to others.
The first week of School Counsellor in 30 #SCin30 is almost over , but School Counsellors feel free to post anytime. I loved being able to see you in the videos and so look forward to hearing more from you in the weeks and months to come. If you haven’t added a question or a video please do so and I will add here at a later date.
Thanks George Couros for your support and kickstarting the idea!
— Susan Spellman Cann (@SSpellmanCann) May 3, 2015
I sure hope School Counsellors from across the world will be inspired to join us on this journey. We look forward to keeping this going for a long time so that we can truly connect and learn from and with each other. Thanks so much for joining in to this vlogging experience. I know you are all so busy, but appreciate all your efforts to share your voice in #SCin30 #SCin30 Q1
Q2: Submitted by George Couros is How do you see the role of School Counsellor changing?
Add your questions to our google doc here. Thanks so much for collaborating! See you in #SCin30.
REACH OUT it is important to reach out to friends , family, and people you trust.
REALIZE SMALL STEPS MATTER when you are trying to cope it all depends on what you have to cope with every small step you make towards being able to cope matters.
REALISTIC EXPECTATIONSif you are trying to cope with something serious the process to feel better could take a long time and you may require supports. Set realistic expectations of yourself.
REMEMBER TO BREATHEbreathing helps. You can learn breathing techniques that can assist you in life. Ask your School Counsellor to help you.
REMEMBER TO NOURISH YOURSELFdrink your water and eat things that make your brain work better.
REVIEW YOUR SELF TALKwhat you say to yourself matters. Learn new ways of talking to yourself that are helpful and positive.
RECREATION CAN HELP you may like to do Art , exercise or any other recreational activity like music that can heal and help you.
REMINDyourself that there is hope and help. You can …
REFLECTon what has worked in the past and what could work in the present and future.
REACH OUT FURTHER you may need to see a School Counsellor or therapist. It is OK to seek help. For more serious concerns you may need a Psychiatrist or other helping professionals to work with you on a team. YOU MATTER, so you need to know reaching out for as many supports as you need is a sign of strength.
B: Books : Read a book on the topic you are trying to cope with can help.
Beliefs Challenge your thoughts about the topic: Be positive! Books can be healing!
C: Caring and compassion make a difference: Helping others helps you to focus on others not on your problems. Random Acts of Kindness lead to greater happiness for you and others.
D: Decide that you need to take care of yourself.
E: Exercise is always helpful. You are able exercise 10-15 mins. each day. You can do it!
F: Find great strategies that work for you. Ask your friends what works for them.
G: Give yourself a break. Say to yourself I am more than … my grades, my size, etc.
H: Hope . It is so important to maintain a hopeful perspective . Help others ! When you help others less fortunate you help yourself.
O: Open your mind to new strategies. Try a positive method of coping that you haven’t tried before. maybe try painting and get in the flow. It can make a difference.
S: Strategies: the more you have the better. Here are 99.
T: Trust: that your feelings will not last forever. Feelings are neither right nor wrong they are just feelings. It is what you do with them that matters.
U: Understanding your coping skills matters.
V: Visualize what you want.
W: Watch a funny show to get your mind off all the serious stuff.
You can learn to cope. Connecting with the right people can help you cope in an effective manner. Hopefully the above list will give you new ways of coping and if you have a great way of coping please share your ideas!
Twitter and great educators often inspire new ideas and this time it was no exception. I came upon a tweet by George Couros a while back, and for those School Counsellors who don’t know @gcouros , he is a Principal , Educator , leader , inspiration and thought provoker. Really , he is a Canadian educator, an everyday person who cares.
I loved reading his blog post on his new project #EDUin30 it is such a fabulous idea. You and I can now share 30 second videos on twitter by simply taking our phone, videoing our thoughts and sharing them on twitter in a tweet.
I know videoing yourself is not an easy thing to do as I did this in a vlogging project called #openspokes for a couple of years . Believe me putting myself out there wasn’t easy at first. It definitely made me reach outside my comfort zone. Making a video for longer that 30 seconds is a big commitment, but sharing our thoughts in 30 seconds is something we could all most likely sustain. So I invite all School Counsellors from around the world to share , to learn, to grow and to collaborate with me in this project . I am excited to get started and would be so honoured if you would join me on this journey.
For those of you with an iPhone here is the step by step guide
1) Go to your camera – move your cursor over to video .
2) Press the big red dot and Press play answering your question. You can see my sample below only I uploaded to youtube this time.
3) Go to twitter. Press the feather at the top as if you were writing a post.
4) Then below go to your camera and post your video. As long as it is less than 30 seconds it will post directly to twitter.
5) Voila YOU DID IT! Don’t forget to add the two hash tags #SCin30 and #SCin30 Q1 etc. . It’s really that easy.
6) Thanks for sharing and I look forward to posting and learning with you.
School Counsellor in 30. #SCin30.
Instead of breaking the hashtag as #EDUin 30 does I prefer to use weeks. I thought it would work if we do it in questions. Question 1 : #SCin30Q1
Why did you become a School Counsellor? #SCin30Q1, so when you post your first video and I so look forward to it please post to two hastags #SCin30 and #SCin30Q1 or on whatever question we are on at the time of posting.
I would also love if you would add some questions you would like to see in this collaborative google doc.
My goal is to get at least 100 questions that we all collaborate on and answer related to School Counselling and a School Counsellors unique perspective . I would also encourage School Counsellor educators and School Counselling students to join in.
WHY DO THIS?
As George said to make reflection a part of our work. I hope this will also help us to inspire each other and create new ideas. As School Counsellors many of you feel isolated as you often work alone in your schools without other School Counsellors to bounce ideas off of. This is another way to share that can help us to feel connected, be better , do better and most importantly find ways to help our students. I think there are many great things that can happen as a result of sharing this way. Let’s see what happens? Won’t YOUjoin me?.
Thank you George for doing what you do and inspiring educators to make a difference. Grateful that you do!
Graphic by Alan Levine 
Counsellor Talk : Creative Collaborative Connections 
