Elementary School Counseling Newsletter

I have recently started an elementary school counselor newsletter. I believe every counselor, at every level plays an important role in the larger college and career counseling community. I encourage all counselors to think about how you can vertical align your services for students. Inviting elementary counselors to sit on your advisory council, but as well as tech, middle and high school counselors serving on elementary advisory councils creates vertical alignment and critical conversations.  I also hope you will check out the "It's Elementary, Dear Counselor" newsletter!

AMAZING PD for School Counselors!

Last summer, I blogged about the American School Counselor Association's conference and the national attention school counseling was beginning to recieve. I shared with you how I always wanted to attend. For 11 years, I have looked at this conference wondering how I could possibly attend?  Finally this year the opportunity arrived.

So imagine window shopping and desiring something completely out of reach for 11 years! Needless to say, I started to prepare myself mentally for the possibility, that the ASCA conference may not be as great as I had built it up over the years. 

WOW! It was better than I imagined! I do not know how, but it was. I am still reviewing all the sessions and things I learned. I will continue to share what I brought back to Oklahoma. I believe you should have the same amazing experience I did! I promise you will come home renewed, inspired and equipped with knowledge and practical applications to improve your program. 

I think there are many ways you can creatively seek funding. Perhaps a Go Fund Me site, a community organization sponsorship, apply for PD funds through your district or educational foundation, even your PTA might assist. 

Did I mention we heard from Norm Gysbers Ph.D. - Father of Modern School Counseling
I can't even describe the inspiration I gained from hearing him speak!

Until your able to collaborate and gain support from your stakeholders, there is a great group of school counselors who have created a school counselor community scholarship. SCCS 

is such a innovative idea for school counselors, to promote the profession and fill the gap of specific school counselor professional development.  

Please share the opportunity with others, consider donating and advocate for your attendance to ASCA! See you at #ASCA16 soon! 

ADD /ADHD

We all know kids who can’t sit still, who never seem to listen during class lectures, who choose not to follow instructions no matter how clearly you, as the teacher, present them, or kids who may blurt out inappropriate comments at inappropriate times. Occasionally these children are called defiant and/or troublemakers. They are sometimes criticized for being lazy and undisciplined.  When in fact, they may simply have a disability. Attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) is a disorder that appears in early childhood. You may also know it by the name attention deficit disorder, (ADD).

 

ADD/ADHD is a general inability to pay close attention to detail or to filter out irrelevant information causing limited focus on the task at hand.  This disorder begins in childhood and does carry over into adulthood.

Here are a few tips to help you navigate and plan

 

Symptoms

·         high activity levels
·         difficulty remaining still for long periods of time
·         limited attention spans

 

Warning Signs and Possible Characteristics within the Classroom

•  A sense of underachievement, of not meeting one’s goals (regardless of how much one has accomplished)
• Difficulty getting organized
• Chronic procrastination or trouble getting started
• Many projects going simultaneously; trouble with follow-through
• Tendency to say what comes to mind without necessarily considering the timing or appropriateness of the remark
• An ongoing search for high stimulation
• A tendency to be easily bored
• Easy distractibility, trouble focusing attention, tendency to tune out or drift away in the middle of a page or a conversation, often coupled with an ability to focus at times
• Often creative, intuitive, highly intelligent
• Trouble going through established channels, following proper procedure
• Impatient; low tolerance for frustration
• Impulsive, either verbally or in action, as in impulsive spending of money, changing plans, enacting new schemes or career plans, and the like
• Tendency to worry needlessly, endlessly; tendency to scan the horizon looking for something to worry about, alternating with inattention to or disregard for actual dangers
• Sense of impending doom, insecurity, alternating with high risk-taking
• Depression, especially when disengaged from a project
• Restlessness
• Tendency toward addictive behavior
• Chronic problems with self-esteem
• Inaccurate self-observation
• Family history of ADD, manic-depressive illness, depression, substance abuse, or other disorders of impulse control or mood

The hourly wage it takes to afford a 2-bedroom apartment in every state

POSTED 11:41 AM, JUNE 2, 2015, BY DALLAS FRANKLIN & KFOR-TV, UPDATED AT 11:50AM, JUNE 2, 2015

OKLAHOMA CITY – A recent study is showing us the hourly wage needed to rent a two-bedroom apartment in every state in the U.S.

Can you guess how much Oklahoman's need to make to afford a two-bedroom apartment?

In Oklahoma, the Fair Market Rent for a two-bedroom apartment including utilities is $716, according to the National Low Income Housing Coalition’s annual housing report “Out of Reach.”

In order for someone to afford this level of rent and utilities without paying more than 30 percent of income on housing, a household must earn $2,387 monthly, or $28,639 annually.

Assuming a 40-hour work week, 52 weeks per year, this level of income translates to an hourly wage of $13.77.

According to the study, no one who is working full-time making minimum wage can afford a two-bedroom apartment at market rent.

In fact, a person making minimum wage would need to work 76 hours a week in order to afford a two-bedroom unit.

Keep in mind that number shows how much hourly employees would have to make in order to avoid spending more than 30 percent of their income on rent.

Financial experts say 30 percent is roughly the amount most Americans should spend on rent or mortgage payments so they don’t get over their heads.

Two-bedroom rental unit housing wage, Source: NLIHC

NLIHC also created a map that shows how many hours per week a person would need to work to afford a one-bedroom apartment on minimum wage.

According to the study, a person making minimum wage would have to work 59 hours a week in order to afford a one-bedroom apartment.

Hours at minimum wage needed to afford a one-bedroom rental unit, Source: NLIHC

The Fair Market Rent varies for different counties across the state.

The results were published in a study entitled “Out of Reach,” which focused on how affordable housing was not available for low-income renters.

Click here to read more on the “Out of Reach” study.

Oklahoma CareerTech Key Messages (FY14)

Are you looking for some fun facts about Oklahoma CareerTech to use in presentations or when talking to someone who is not familiar with CareerTech?  See below for some selected points about the Oklahoma CareerTech system.

General

• Oklahoma CareerTech System graduates add more than $3.5 billion annually to the state's economy.
• Oklahoma CareerTech enrollments totaled 546,877. Secondary enrollments were 152,227, and postsecondary enrollments were 394,650.
• Nearly half of Oklahoma ninth- through 12th-grade students – 81,515 – were enrolled in CareerTech classes.
• CareerTech served more than 6,600 businesses.
• Oklahoma CareerTech Skills Centers offer specialized occupational training to adult and juvenile offenders in juvenile facilities, community correction centers and state correctional facilities.
• Student placement in FY13 was 92.94 percent: employed - 39.44 percent; continuing education - 50.90 percent; entering military - 2.60 percent.

Comprehensive Schools

• CareerTech offered courses at 541 schools sites in 391 districts.
• 36 percent, or 117,046, of students in grades six through 12 were enrolled in CareerTech courses.
• There are 1,281 CareerTech teachers in comprehensive school courses in grades six through 12.

Technology Centers

• There are 29 technology center districts on 59 campuses.
• 72 counties in Oklahoma contain technology centers.
• Oklahoma CareerTech serves high school and adult learners with specialized career training in more than 90 instructional areas on the 59 technology center campuses.
• High school students living in a technology center district attend tuition free, while adults are charged nominal tuition.

Oklahoma Career Readiness Certificate

• Oklahoma’s ACT National Career Readiness Certificate is an industry-recognized, portable, research-based credential that certifies essential skills needed for workplace success.
• Individuals can earn the ACT NCRC by taking three WorkKeys® assessments: Applied Mathematics, Locating Information and Reading for Information.
• In Oklahoma, 106,592 individuals have earned National Career Readiness Certificates: 506 Platinum; 20,864 Gold; 61,375 Silver; 23,847 Bronze.
• More than 100 Oklahoma Career Readiness Assessment Sites can be found across the state. okcareertech.org/business-and-industry/workkeys/job-seekers/okcrc-assessment-sites

Business and Industry Services

• CareerTech served more than 6,600 businesses.
• Oklahoma Bid Assistance Network helped 1,474 businesses secure $478,657,362 in contracts.
• BIS enrollments totaled 381,424.

CAREER DEVELOPMENT INSIDE THE BELTWAY - Webinar

What Policy-makers Know, Don't Know, and Need to Know

June 16, 2015

1:00-2:00 PM CDT

ACRP Professional Development Webinar via GoToWebinar

Bridget Brown, Executive Director of the National Association of Workforce Development Professionals, will examine policies affecting career development and career resources. Join us for an informative presentation by a uniquely positioned observer and leader of policy conversations at the national level. Following Bridget's presentation, former ACRP President Jo Kahn and Curtis Richards, Director, Center for Workforce Development, Institute for Educational Leadership, will offer brief responses to the presentation.

Click Here for Free Member Registration
Click Here for Non-member Registration ($20)

"My Backpack Is Not The Heaviest Thing I''m Carrying Today!"

This week an article from the Washington Post appeared numerous times on my Facebook feed.

I you haven't seen the article, 'I wish my teacher knew' it is great! Tugs at the heart strings, reminds you of your purpose and is a good conversation starter among educators.

Giving student's needs assessments gives them the opportunity to tell us their stories anonymously. It empowers students to be honest and raw, while they help us do our job better, by knowing how to advocate for them. We discover what services are most important for their success and how we can provide it.

Often as a school counselor, I would hear students stories and knew the background information affecting their performance at school. However, I often found it difficult to transmit student needs
and issues into a message. A message for parents and teachers to consider and reflect upon.

Sharing this article with your staff, faculty and parents may help you communicate the burdens students walk into our buildings everyday carrying. I think many of our student are telling us, "My backpack is not the heaviest thing I'm carrying today!"

So I ask you...are you asking questions? Are you giving students a voice and a place to lay the burden down? Are you allowing those voices to be heard? If so, I unfortunately hope what you hear breaks your heart! I hope it makes you unable to stand for the injustice and in turn you take action. I hope you help them feel welcome at school. You start that lunch group to address anger, coping skills and positive thinking. I hope you build that clothing and basic needs closet you've been thinking about. Because whatever challenge your students face, you are the best resource to help them navigate to a better place. I'd even bet that's why you got into this education thing in the first place!