Month: March 2016

What Should A Networked School Counsellor Post on Twitter ?

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School Counsellors Education Leaders Follow us on Twitter  #SCCrowd and #scchat 

As School Counsellors who are educational leaders on twitter, we should first and foremost be professional. Everything on-line is public. Act as if it always is even if your privacy settings give you the illusion that it is private.

Click here to see my haiku deck The Illusion of Privacy

Twitter:

  1. This is a place and a space to connect with other educators and School Counsellors from across the world. It is a place that you can learn from others by growing your Personal Learning Network (PLN).
  2. It is also a place where you can eventually collaborate with others making a difference in your school and in your community.
  3. Share your resources!!! This is a place to share some of the great resources that you or others create, but also a place to get amazing resources that can impact the way you help your students.
  4. Follow and share blog posts of those people you respect.
  5. Twitter is an amazing space to share the wisdom of others. You can post or create your own quotes.
  6. Celebrate others. I think we should consider celebrating colleagues on a regular basis. There are so many people who surround us that are doing amazing things and all too often are not recognized for the fabulous things they do and the positive impact they have on others. So celebrate others today … celebrate them often.
  7. Thank those that help you.
  8. Retweet inspiring ideas.
  9. Live and let live. You aren’t going to agree with everything and everyone, but you can be the kind of leader you want to be. Find great leaders, and follow them.
  10. Help others get started on twitter. You recognize how much it has helped you . So pay it forward.

TO DO ON TWITTER:

  • Always be appropriate and professional and use common sense in what you share.
  • Surround yourself with positive people just like you do in real life.
  • Relationships are key on twitter , use the reply( @____ the name of the person)  to have discussions , ask questions and share ideas and resources with others.
  • Be a positive leader. In order to teach students to be good citizens ( digitalcitizens we need to model that every day) .
  • Listen and learn from the great educators and people around the world.
  • Act as if everything you say is heard by every student and family you have ever taught or worked with.
  • Be real , be yourself.
  • You can develop great friendships on twitter. Like in real life, use all the skills you have to meet people who enrich and enhance your life.
  • Think about the kind of legacy you want to leave.

NOT TO DO ON TWITTER

  • Never ever share confidential information , even if it looks disguised.
  • Never ever talk about others in a negative way.
  • Never say or do anything that goes against who you truly are.

If you are new to twitter check out this check list .

Thanks to @gcouros yet again for the inspiration. As George says don’t use profanity. You would not use it in the classroom, so don’t use it online. A lot of what I have said can be applied to Facebook as well. So think before you post applies to all of us who use social media. Social media should be used to learn, share and grow as well as a way to have a positive impact on the world. I look forward to reading your tweets.

There Is An Artist In All Of Us

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Five years ago I did not paint and now thanks to great friends and my experiences in ETMOOC  , I have more confidence and find it one of the most rewarding , therapeutic experiences that I can imagine. I take mini courses and I watch lots of youtube videos to get tips. It is so much fun.

I have keratoconus a progressive eye disease, ( I was diagnosed later in life ) so I think partly that diagnosis has driven me to create visually in case my vision ever gets really poor. Painting is therapeutic and healing for me. I have played sports all my life and I absolutely love to read,  both which can bring me flow , but nothing brings me the kind of flow that painting does.

Painting brings me flow the kind of flow that was discovered by Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi.  Fifteen hours can feel like five minutes for me. I love that it brings me joy and that I am completely absorbed in the process. It is fun and easy and yes I think anyone  can benefit from art and painting.  If I can you can too.

 

I plan on using the painting that I did above,  thanks to the online instructions from theArtSherpa ( see below) with our students. Art and Counselling definitely go together . Paintings tell stories often times with hidden messages.

Process for students:

Today we are going to embark on a journey of letting go of any negativity and go with the flow. For the next two hours you are not allowed to say to yourself I can’t . If you hear yourself speaking those words take your note pad and write I can … I will.

So let’s begin this process by being mindful and breathing. Lead students through a short mindfulness process to begin. Let them know that they are going to create a special painting today and that there are no mistakes. They can create their trees and painting anyway they like even if it is different from the paining they see. Like mine birch trees do not produce multi coloured leaves , but I did just because I wanted to visually and I  love the effect.  This seminar is about being yourself and letting go.

If they would like to follow the step by step instructions here they are:

  1. Write messages of hope and their dreams for their future in pencil on their canvas.
  2. Ask students if anyone would like to share their hopes and dreams with others.
  3. The size of canvas it up to the student. Have students bring the size of canvas they want to work on.
  4. Divide your canvas into six equal sections. They don’t have to be exact and you don’t have to measure them. Tell students they can estimate.  So begin by saying Today we are going to create . We are going to start by painting a rainbow with trees, you can use any method you like to paint your colors on your canvas. I used upwards stokes, but really any would work. Start with red, orange , yellow, greens,  blue and purple.
  5. Guide students through the process being as creative as you like in explaining what they can do next. Constantly remind them it is ok to make mistakes ( really there are no mistakes, but they may perceive them as such). Remind them that their perceived mistakes lead to more creativity and it is ok to be as creative as they wish going with the flow and what their heart wants to paint.
  6. Trees can be very symbolic and you can discuss this with students.Trees are strong and unique just like each of them. Birch trees can mean new beginnings. You can discuss with students what they believe their trees mean for them. I chose nine trees, but they can choose any number that means something to them. I also chose to add flowers and really birch trees have no colorful flowers, but I like the effect. The lovely thing when you create art just for the sake of it is that there is no right or wrong . There are no mistakes. It just is … creative , how wonderful and freeing.
  7. The rest of the directions are below in the video. You can watch and create your own instructions.
  8. Most importantly have fun and trust the process.

Check out the video below for detailed instructions:

If you decide to do this process with your students , please share your creative ideas with me @sspellmancann.

Art washes from the soul the dust of everyday life

Pablo Paccasso

Celebrating What We Do

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As School Counsellors we need to be leaders in celebrating what students do as well as what we do for students.

The past month has been a wonderfully busy month for us at school. It started off with our Who’s Frank #whosfrankyyc bake sale and the elephant in the room.

A big thanks to our Principal and fabulous leader @neilof12 who truly helped spread the anti. bullying message by being Frank.

Then came our Mental Health symposium again run by student leaders who I am always in awe of and so proud of the work they do.

A special thanks to @courosa for joining us virtually and to @brettrothery for sharing his courageous story.

We are also partners with Mount Royal University so I had the pleasure of moderating a panel on sexual violence. Such an important topic !

Next it was Career Speed dating where we had 37 guests share what they were passionate about and the process it took them to get there.

Thanks for coming Verena and bringing your husband. Community members who care!

So School Counsellors celebrate. Share what it is you do because together we are better and can make a difference.

I look forward to you seeing the book we have collaborated in creating Colour Your Way To A Healthy Mind High School Students Creating Change.  Coming soon to BCHS as well as our book made with grade 3’s Adventures of Frank at St. James. We can’t wait to share them with you.