Focusing

With my small group members who were referred for impulse control issues we have to work on focusing.  This book by Randy Cazell (2009) can be used for a whole session.  It requires focusing to pay attention to the issues faced by the 7 characters in the book, what they did to focus better, and make a connection to which of the characters reminds member of self.  For example, one of the characters wonders around the room looking at thinks and does not have work done when it is time for recess.  Another character stays up too late and is tired in class and wants to sleep in school. I think you will find it useful for students in grades 1-3 who need coaching to pay attention better in class.

Group Proposals

I have a binder like this for all my groups.  Right now I am running 23 groups and my part-time counselor is doing eight.  Our school is so large in order to see all the children referred we must see the vast majority in groups.  Also small psychoeducational group work helps children develop skills and cope with many common challenges.  This year I am running several "impulse control" groups in both first and second grade.  I call my first  grade groups Turtle Groups and second grade Remote Controllers.  It is probably obvious that turtles pull their arms and legs in, which many young children need to do instead of touching things and others.  By second grade they can use the "tools" of the remote control to learn to pause, rewind (redo a skit), lower volume, etc.  I do separate Turtle  groups for boys and girls in first grade, but all the students referred for this group in second grade are boys.  Inside the binder is the rationale, objectives, assessments, session plans and handouts, and evaluation tools.  Running so many groups these binders with group plans are a lifesaver.  I reuse them year after year, but also revise and improve the contents.  I generally develop two new groups a year.  Creating a group proposal is time consuming but greatly enhances the effectiveness of delivery because planning is the most important indicator of a group's success.  These binders are also very helpful when I am supervising an intern or breaking in a new part-time counselor.

4 Rs of Bullying

This is the simple bulletin board I did to remind our students what they need to do to respond to cyberbullying.  It also shows some of the student work products from the counselors' and librarian's  lessons.  On the left if a definition of cyberbullying.

4Rs of Bullying

For the fourth grade the Steps to Respect bullying education program requires the students to be able to recognize what is bullying, refuse the bullying by being assertive, report the behavior to a trusted adult, and adds record the message in the case of cyber bullying.  I taught this lesson using a Power Point but the 4 door foldable that each student completed was the key material of the lesson.  Our students like making these easy to construct summaries of lessons.  In this case they wrote the 4 Rs on the outside, on the inside they wrote the most important words, and under the flap they did a picture to remind them of the key idea of each.  For example, for Recognize they write one-sided, on purpose, repeated, and/or power.  The drawing could be a reminder of the imbalance of power.  My students took their foldables home with a letter to parents about the lessons we are teaching on digital citizenship and cyber bullying and inviting them to a parent event next week on this important topic.

Study: Parents overestimate childhood optimism and underestimate anxiety

Parents want their children to be happy.  New research by Lagattuta (2012), an associate psychology professor at UC Davis, involving more than 500 children ages 4 through 11, found that parents consistently rated their children as being less worried and more optimistic than the children rated themselves.  The researchers found that parents’ own emotions biased not only how they perceived their children’s emotions, but also the degree of discrepancy between the parent and child reports.  Children consistently provided higher ratings than their parents when reporting their worries (i.e., scared of the dark and worries about something bad happening to a family member) and lower ratings than parents when evaluating their feelings of optimism.  Hopefully awareness of this parental positivity bias may also encourage counselors to be more attuned to emotional difficulties children may be facing.

Fear In A Hat

This activity is an adaption from http://www.wilderdom.com/games/descriptions/FearInAHat.html

In some of my small emotion management groups I use this activity during a session at the beginning of the working stage.  The tone could be set by introducing the topic of fear and explaining how it is normal and natural that children are experiencing all sorts of anxieties, worries and fears about what might happen (what if thinking). I have each member write personal fears anonymously on an index card which are collected and put in a hat.  In elementary students worry that someone might recognize the handwriting but if the slips are kept in a hat then handed to counselor after being read it helps keep some privacy. Each member draws a card with someone else's fear reads them aloud to the group to  and explains how the person might think,  feel, and behave. A good way of starting to deal with these fears is have them openly acknowledged , without being subject to ridicule.  Having one's fears expressed and heard can reduce their intensity.  I also found a list of top 10 common fears of childhood and as part of processing this activity shared the list with members and observed if a group member had that one (or expressed it).  A few on the master list stimulated more discussion (especially fear of parents death or divorce).  I always get feedback from parents that members came home and discussed this activity which tells me it makes an impact and furthers discussion of fears with trusted loved ones.

Cyber Citizenship Month

This month my school is focusing on preparing our digital natives to be good cyber citizens. Citizenship is a character trait that is now being applied to use of technology. Cyber citizenship is a term that refers to being responsible when using the Internet, cell phones, and other electronic devices. What people do on-line when no one is looking tells a lot about a person’s character and morals. This is the first generation to be born into a world that already had computers. This means that you need to learn the rights and consequences of living in a digital world.

The librarian, technology coordinator, counselors and a PTA rep are coordinating our schoolwide effort to raise awareness about this important idea. Using the Internet, texting, etc. allows anonymity. We have third graders posting videos and making comments on YouTube, blogs, etc.  Sharing can be great but certain cautions and responsibilities are required. 

The counselors lessons are focused on the cyber bullying part of this puzzle.  In third grade we begin to teach the children if they receive messages, pictures, etc. that are bullying to record or document the message and share it with a trusted adult.  We use the lessons available on the Committee for Children web site that is part of the Steps to Respect program.  My fifth graders get a bullying message to respond to requiring them to write back a message to a peer who “sent” a type of chain mail attack, pass it on or you will be the next target. After they wrote and read their responses we had a great discussion.

We sent a letter home to parents with conversation started questions to discuss cyber bullying at home.  It takes some convincing to get young people to report this type of bullying because they are afraid parents will take away the technology (even if they were the target).  We emphasize to parents this generation cannot avoid technology, but they must be taught how to use it responsibly.