Friday, July 18, 2014

How to be a Techy School Counselor!

I presented at my state conference in Hot Springs, Arkansas July 14-16, 2014 on "How to Be a Techy School Counselor!" I'm certainly no expert but if someone finds one techy thing they can do because I shared then it was worth it. I know I've found many techy ideas from others sharing their knowledge so I hope you can find something here and share your ideas as well.

Thursday, July 17, 2014

Help First Lady Michelle Obama Encourage Students to Reach Higher



The Reach Higher initiative is the First Lady's effort to inspire every student in America to take charge of their future by completing their education past high school, whether at a professional training program, a community college, or a four-year college or university.

Join educators, students, parents, grandparents, and others in the United States to encourage students to take charge of their education by attending postsecondary technical schools and colleges after high school with the Twitter hashtag #ReachHigher.






Friday, July 11, 2014

Magic, ASCA, and Me!

Some of the highlights from my first ASCA conference in beautiful Orlando, land of Disney and dreams, involved meeting professionals I have connected with over this past year as well as those who helped me make it to the conference!


 

 Y'all might know this lady on the far left, Carol Miller aka www.themiddleschoolcounselor.com
I connect with her while surfing the internet for school counselors with websites and blogs. We've since connected via Twitter, Google+, Linkedln, and on the middle school Facebook page Caught in the Middle. Awesome lady with LOTS of resources on her blog. This was our first appearance at ASCA. By the way, next year if you want to meet someone from your connections, PLAN a date, time, place BEFORE ASCA because with 2,000+ people you will search hours trying to connect!

Created my very own ASCA14 at the ASCA table during the conference. Everyone was asked to decorate their bag and post their creation on Twitter. I am no artist but went ahead and created by "masterpiece" and twitted it anyway.

 


 


This guy right here is awesome! Jeff Ream www.thecounselinggeek.com came up with this really cool idea to help school counselors attend ASCA 14 by creating a contest. Contestants created a message about school counseling using technology. Bridget Helms and I were two of his three scholarship recipients.
Enjoyed meeting Jerry from Universal Technical Institute during ASCA! UTI was one of the sponsors of Jeff Ream's contest to help school counselors attend ASCA. I simply had to get a picture with Jerry to let him and UTI know how much I appreciate their support of school counselors!






HOBSON'S was another sponsor of Jeff Ream's contest that helped me attend ASCA. Great group of people and appreciative of their support of school counselors!




Fellow Arkansas School Counselor Felicia Watson from Earle Arkansas joined me during the Tweet Up in the Dolphin Hotel and Resort Lobby during the ASCA 14 convention. I'm going to continue to talk her into using Twitter!!











 
 
Very much enjoyed hearing Stedman Graham's address during the General Session on July 1. Surprise! He has a Master's Degree in Education with an emphasis in School Counseling! Who knew????  He is definitely more than just
Oprah's man!
 
 
 


 
 
 
 
 
 
Wow! Just WOW! First Lady Michelle Obama addressed school counselors during the General Session on July 1 and it was phenomenal! She thanked us for our work to help students and announced next year the first ever National School Counselor of the Year finalists will attend a White House dinner. She is committed to helping students see the future after graduation and understand we to have the same commitment. It was one of those moments I got teary eyed and chill bumps at the same time!
 
 
Last but not least I had to post my very relaxing massage I received from one of the exhibitor's during the ASCA 14 conference. I literally walked through the booths for hours to try and finished the treasure hunt map (for a chance to win prizes but I didn't win anything).
 
 I will absolutely be looking for ways to attend ASCA 15 in Phoenix, Arizona next year! ASCA 14 was one of the best professional development conferences EVER.