Friday, July 31, 2015

Group Proposal Binders

My part-time counselor for the past 2 years loves her label maker; therefore, she labeled all the group binders we use to run groups.  We have several group proposals for each grade level. All our groups are for students in just a single grade because of the schedule.  Since some students will participate in groups each year, the books for sessions and activities are unique to one group.  For example, the session plans call for different books for each of the groups on self-regulation in kindergarten, grade 1, and grade 2.  The same is true for our study skills and organization groups for grades 3, 4, and 5.  In side each binder is the rationale, the goals for the group and ASCA mindsets covered, pre-post surveys for staff, parents, and students, sample communication with parents, written session plans, and copies of all handouts and worksheets. Last year my part-time counselor and I ran 52 small groups, 466 sessions lasting @ 30 minutes each.  Approximately 40% of our student body received direct service from a counselor in a counseling group.  Without these binders with everything we need to lead a session at the ready, we could not have possibly provided this level of service. Sample of what is inside can be seen on Groups page (Howard B. Wigglebottom group).

3 comments:

  1. Wow, that sounds fantastic and so efficient. I'll be a first year counselor next year (after six years as a classroom teacher), and I hope to build resource binders like that for both small group and classroom guidance topics!

    Meg
    Third Grade in the First State

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  2. I would love to see an example.

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  3. There is a sample in the Groups page - the Howard B. Wigglebottom group proposal.

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