Wednesday, September 29, 2010

LGBTQ Teens and Suicide

Read a tragic article today. A gay teen at Rutgers University committed suicide after his roommate posted video of him on the internet making out with another male student. The article raised some interesting issues and provided video commentary as well. Take a look: http://abcnews.go.com/US/victim-secret-dorm-sex-tape-commits-suicide/story?id=11758716

The video mentioned Dan Savage's You Tube project "It Get's Better" located here: http://www.youtube.com/user/itgetsbetterproject which is a collection of videos from LGBTQ adults sending messages of hope to LGBTQ youth assuring them that even though they may be experiencing bullying and other discouraging behaviors now, "it will get better." This may be a helpful resource to school counselors working with LGBTQ youth who are feeling discouraged and are looking for a message of hope.

Monday, September 20, 2010

Bullying Prevention Week: October 4-10

It's coming up folks! While the whole month of October is technically bully prevention month, bully prevention week is usually celebrated during the first week of October-- this year October 4th through 10th. The PACER Center has put together a number of resources that counselors can use to infuse their school with anti-bullying preventative messages. Check it out here: http://www.pacer.org/bullying/bpam/index.asp.

There are obviously many other bullying resources available in publications and online. You may want to take this time to start becoming familiar with them as Bully Prevention week and month come closer. Think about ways that you can start infusing bully prevention into your everyday work with all the students you encounter. We may be just interns, but this is something we can always be considering!

My New Fave Book: My Mouth is a Volcano!

What: My Mouth is a Volcano! (Book and Activity Book)
By: Julia Cook
Ages: 4-8
Year: 2006
Pages: 32

Description: (from Amazon) All of Louis' thoughts are very important to him. In fact, his thoughts are so important to him that when he has something to say, his words begin to wiggle, and then they do the jiggle, then his tongue pushes all of his important words up against his teeth and he erupts, or interrupts others. His mouth is a volcano! My Mouth Is A Volcano takes an empathetic approach to the habit of interrupting and teaches children a witty technique to capture their rambunctious thoughts and words for expression at an appropriate time. Told from Louis' perspective, this story provides parents, teachers, and counselors with an entertaining way to teach children the value of respecting others by listening and waiting for their turn to speak.

My thoughts: This is a fantastic book! So fantastic that I sat the other intern at my elementary school down today so that I could read it to her! Together we are in charge of leading a social skills group for five, third grade boys with ADHD/attention difficulties. While last week we did introductions, tomorrow is our first official lesson day with the group. We are going to use this book with them! One, it's super funny. Two, it gets the lesson across in a clear, but not preachy manner. And three, it's told from a boy's perspective which is something we really wanted to find so that it would reach these particular boys in our group. And four, you can purchase the activity book to go along with it! Your work is already done for your fellow school counselors!

GO BUY IT NOW!

I'm sorry!

I'm sorry I'm sorry I'm sorry!

It's just so difficult to keep up a blog when you're trying to do your internship!

So- just as an fyi on what I'm up to, have I read the girls yet- No. Why not? Because I went to go buy it at Barnes and Nobles two weekends ago and then didn't have it. Did I order it from Amazon and it's on it's way? Yes. Will I be using it in a girls group at my elementary school in the coming weeks and be updating you with the questions we use in our girls group? Yes. So don't worry your pretty little heads too much.

Saturday, September 11, 2010

What I'll Be Reading this Weekend: The Girls

The Girls, by Amy Goldman Koss, appropriate for grades 5 through 8. After seeing the bibliotherapy seminar a few weeks ago, the other intern and I at our elementary school though it would be interesting to follow in the speaker's footsteps and develop a group curriculum for fifth grade girls based on this novel. The speaker at the seminar could not recommend this book enough and said that her fifth grade girls could NOT put it down! Let's see if I feel the same way :)

Here's a description from Amazon.com:
When the other members of Maya's clique decide to ostracize her, the girl is shocked and devastated. She has no clue what she could have done wrong, and neither do Brianna, Renee, or Darcy. However, Candace is their leader, the self-assured one, the one who decides who's in and who's not, and, suddenly, Maya's not. In brief chapters that jump from one girl's perspective to another, a picture emerges of social status and peer pressure among middle schoolers who are struggling to figure out who they are, where they belong, and maybe even what is right.

Middle school cliques, relational aggression, queen bees, what more could a girl ask for, right?

Website You Should Know About: Transition Year!

All you school counselors interning in high schools out there! Check this website out: Transition Year!

According to their website:

" Whether you need help picking a school that is the best fit, are looking for tips on managing stress once on campus, or want guidance in making a smooth transition for a student dealing with an issue like depression, this site has the tools and information you need. The Transition Year is an online resource center to help parents and students focus on emotional health before, during and after the college transition.

It's common to assume that the major obstacle in adjusting to campus life will be academic. However, research shows that emotional issues are most likely to interfere with success at college. Transition Year helps you prepare."

Sounds great to me!

Sexting!

To go along with my previous post about cyberbullying, Sexting (sending sexually explicit messages or photographs, usually via cell phones) is becoming a more and more common phenomenon, and is often included in cyberbullying. For those of you who may be dealing with this issue in your middle or high school, here are some resources you may find useful:



Talking to Kids and Teens about Social Media and Sexting: http://www.aap.org/advocacy/releases/june09socialmedia.htm


Girl Scouts Cyberbullying (Sexting): http://lmk.girlscouts.org/

The Truth About Teens and Sexting: http://abcnews.go.com/GMA/story?id=7337547&page=1


Gosh, time does fly! Let's talk about...Cyberbullying!

Well, folks, time certainly does fly when you're learning how to be an intern! As you can see, I haven't been updating as frequently as I suspected might occur. I promise, I will try an do better.

Today I want to talk about Cyberbullying. We all know about bullying and how harmful its effects can be on the bully, the victim, and the bystander. And I'm sure, by now, you've all heard about cyberbullying-- the 21st century, technological version of run-of-the-mill bullying--whether it's on the internet, through social media networks like Facebook or MySpace, through cell phones, wherever! -- If it uses technology and it's bullying, then it's cyberbullying.

Wednesday, September 1, 2010

Read Read Read

Something I keep meaning to do (when I get that oh-so-coveted free time I've always been looking for) is read some more psycho-educational books. We talked about some great ones today that I wanted to share with you, as well as a few more that I've put on the list myself:

The Motivation Breakthrough by Richard Lavoie
Queen Bees and Wannabes by Rosalind Wiseman
The Curse of the Good Girl by Rachel Simmons

Happy reading!

And the school year begins!


Welcome back folks! And the school year begins. Some of you may be just beginning your Master's program, others of you may be beginning your second year and that means beginning your internship, getting involved at your on-site internship (whether school or otherwise) and a whole gag of other wonderful things. For my internship site I had the wonderful opportunity of attending a bibliotherapy seminar this morning, and for the next couple of posts I thought I would share some of the books I learned about. Feel free to check them out for yourself!

First, the wonderful seminar was offered by a school counselor by the name of Amy Sauder Lehman who has written the book "That's My Story Too"-- check it out here: http://www.amazon.com/Thats-Story-Brambrut-Sauder-Lehman/dp/1598500821/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1283385367&sr=8-1. This is a book for K-5th grade that includes 4 books/grade with lesson plans and reproducibles for each book. She was a great speaker and clearly knew what she was talking about and could get adults, and surely children, engaged in the material. I highly suggest this resource, and I plan on buying it myself!