October Newsletter

One of the requests from our administration this year has been to create monthly Guidance Newsletters for our specific grade levels.  As someone who LOVES the chance to create, I jumped on this idea.  I have found that this is an excellent way to connect with parents and keep my students informed.  Here's a copy of this month's newsletter:

 

Advisory Lessons

One of the reasons I was selected to move to the high school level was because of my experience organizing our middle school advisory program.  Of course, this was put at the top of my list:  High School Advisory. Because this is the first year that our school has incorporated  a DAILY advisory class, our administration would very much like to see it succeed.  One of the ways that I try to support our staff is by sending daily Advisory activities.  Staff are not required to complete the given activity, although most staff do utilize the plans.  I have learned that most staff resistance to advisory is due to "not having time to plan for advisory."  I love that I am able to take this burden away!
I figured that I am not the only person out there attempting to come up with Advisory lesson geared for High School Students.  With that in mind, I decided to share my activities.

A couple of notes:

The high school staff came up with a "daily theme" to help drive the activities of advisory.  These themes were based off our school improvement plan and other areas of needed improvement.  In general the days are:

o   Monday- Academic Advising and Silent Reading or Study Hall- Advisors will meet with student individually for grades check, profile building, etc.  while all other students read or complete homework silently.

o   Tuesday-Service Learning-Advisory groups will create a service learning project specific to their group.

o   Wednesday-Current Events/Topic Time- This will be student-led* discussion/activities, possibly choosing a current event to discuss.

o   Thursday-College/Career Prep- Activities will rotate from practice with SAT/ACT questions to having each teacher become an expert on a particular college who will share with each group.

o   Friday- Character Clips- Students will watch a brief clip on TED or Youtube and discuss.

Our goal is for the majority of these activities to be STUDENT LED.  This is a work-in-progress.  To get the program off the ground, the first six weeks of advisory were staff led.  My first step in making the transition was to create a Student Advisory Council.  We meet weekly to discuss concerns, solutions, and future lessons.  I have even had a few students step up to the plate and begin creating lessons for Wednesdays' Advisories.  What a relief for me and an awesome opportunity for them!

So here are this week's Advisory Lesson.  Be sure to leave a comment giving feedback and sharing ideas!

Advisory Week October 28

Monday:  Silent Study Hall/ Academic Advising:  I have received a request for a lesson on goal setting in regards to grades.

  Click here to access the lesson.

Tuesday:  Service Learning:  

Continue your service project or start a new one!  Looking for a new idea? 

• October is Bullying Prevention Month.  What can you do to prevent bullying behavior?
• Domestic Violence Awareness Month
• Other ideas for October from wikipedia:  (google them and you will find service ideas)
• Hispanic Heritage Month
• Dyslexia Awareness Month 2012 
• National Breast Cancer Awareness Month
• National CyberSecurity Awareness Month
• National Down Syndrome Awareness Month
• National Youth Justice Awareness Month
• Spina Bifida Awareness Month
• Ideas for November from Wikipedia
• National American Indian & Alaska Native Heritage Month
• National Epilepsy Awareness Month 
• Lung Cancer Awareness Month

Wednesday:  Topic Time:  Please allow your Advisory Council Member to lead the activity- created by the Advisory Council. 

Click here to access the lesson:  Eye Contact.  This week’s lesson is meant to build trust, work on eye contact, and create fun in the advisory period.

Thursday:  College Prep:

9^th & 10^th Advisories:  Ten Years From Now
Using the handouts:

go through this on-line presentation with your students:    Click Here  

10 Years from Now: 

 Learning Goals:

·         To explore students’ dreams about the future and what they envision to be the details of their lives
·         To develop an understanding about how much income will be required to maintain an idealized lifestyle
·         To prepare for a discussion on education and career opportunities and choices

based off a lesson:  Thinking of Yourself as a College-Bound Student by www.ecmfoundation.org:  

Friday- Film Clips:  Watch:  Lunch Scholar  Click on the link.  This will open up a Google Doc Presentation.  Click on the button at the top RIGHT of the screen that says “Present” or your movie will not play.  Following the video have your group try to answer the “5^th Grade Questions”.

Sophomore Meeting October 2013

In October, I decided to have a Sophomore Meeting with all of my 10th grade students.  Since I had not personally counseled them the year before, I had no idea what they might have already known about Graduation Requirements and College Planning.  Using my 9th grade presentation as a template, I edited out the GPA parts, added in info about Transcripts and came up with this presentation:

http://prezi.com/zbf-t4xcegma/ua-sophomores-the-journey-continues/

I also wanted all my 10th grade students to create an account on CFNC.org.  We watched this short video at the end of the presentation on how to set up an account and how CFNC can help you plan, apply, and pay for college:
http://media.cfnc.org/web/tutorials/createMyCFNC/cfnc_create_mycfnc_account.html

I ended up running out of time during the meeting, so I was unable to have my students log on to the computers and create accounts.  Instead, I gave them each a challenge to create a CFNC account and to complete one of the sections under My Profile.  Now I just have to wait to see who all rises to the challenge!