College Counseling: Going Beyond the College Tour

This may be obvious-but-TECHNOLOGY IS AMAZING.  Here is the story:

The second week at my internship, when I was still developing my sea legs, I joined my supervisor as we explained PSAT  results and SAT study options to an SAT Prep class of about ten sophomores and juniors. They logged onto College Board's website to explore their personalized study profiles, again-technology is really cool.  The students were receptive during our classroom counseling lesson and asked many questions about topics other than standardized tests.  Given some classroom time with two trained counselors (well, one trained and one in training), the students asked about college admissions, how to research schools, financial aid, and housing.  We did our best to quickly answer their questions, while re-focusing them to the tasks at hand. 

At the end of the class period, I approached the teacher and asked if I could continue coming in once a week to do college-oriented lessons.  Since she has a pretty loosey-goosey SAT Prep curriculum, and welcomed my suggestion.  Now I teach one fully class period every Wednesday.  I have lead lessons on financial aid, Naviance college searches, career interest inventories, and goal setting.  A couple of weeks ago, I asked the students to complete a survey that would help me orient the next couple of lessons.  From that survey, I found that only one of our students had ever toured a college and only one ever talked to an academic or admissions counselor.

Lightbulb moment.

One of the great things about being a school counselor these days is that we are taught to embrace collaboration, reaching across disciplines to advocate for our kids.  Our school has a frozen budget so a bus to a college tour was out of the question...and the teachers are very busy preparing our students for the HSA, a state mandated test, which students are required to pass to graduate-so getting time for a tour is not likely. Then it dawned on me: I have a good friend who is finishing her graduate studies in Higher Education/Student Affairs at a university in Ohio.  Though she couldn't be in our classroom in the flesh, a host of web-based video chats exist to facilitate an open exchange.  The teacher was into it, the students were into it, and my friend, Ms. Amanda, was into it.  This got me excited, people!

Cruddy quality photo-but you get the picture...get it?

A few weeks prior to our virtual college advising session, the students and I sat down to generate a list of questions to guide the discussion.  Here is a list of what we came up with as a group:

Questions:

"Other"

• Is it hard for people to live off campus and succeed academically?
• What can I do now, as a high school student, to prepare for college?

Freshman Transition

• Do freshman struggle with classes as they transition?
• Which classes usually cause the most problems?
• If I am struggling with a class, what do I do?  Who can help me and how do I find them?

College Seeking

• How do you find a college that is right for you?  What should we be considering when looking at different options?
• What is the average cost for college and how can I pay for it?
• What options are there if my grades are average and I want to go to a 4-year school?

Admissions

• What do colleges look for most when looking at applications?
• What kind of students are colleges looking for?

Academic/Career Advising

• Is there someone to help me decide on a major?
• Is there someone to help me find a job after I graduate?
• Do we get to choose our classes, if yes, how?
• Do juniors and seniors choose classes first--> younger students take whatever is left?

I know that I could have answered most of the questions on my own, but I wanted to give the students the chance to talk directly with an "expert" like Amanda.  After the session, I asked the students to complete some simple surveys.  The students responded positively in all categories.  Using technology and measuring its effectiveness via simple surveys helps me not only advocate for my students, it helps me advocate for the role of the school counselor.

Stepping across academic and professional disciplines, as well as employing technology in the classroom helped me bring college to the kids.  I would love to hear from other counselors about how they step outside the box to advocate for their kids in innovative ways.  

Attendance Issues and School-Wide Approaches

I have a lot of friends who work in education.  This fact is probably pretty typical for someone that works in the education field.  Several high school friends work as teachers around the country, many college friends joined Teach for America or entered the profession via their undergraduate programs.  Heck, even my long-term girlfriend, Emmi, is a pre-k through 2 music teacher down in Silver Spring, Maryland.  I love having connections to so many other educators because when we get together, we get to trade stories and find that many of us deal with the same issues despite differences in geography or age-level.  

I have connected with teacher friends on the issue of attendance several times.  Every once in awhile, Emmi will mention that a student has missed her music class several times- which makes it difficult for her to catch them up- which makes it difficult for her to fairly assess their understanding of key musical concepts... frustration for everyone.  According to this recent attendance and student performance report for New York City by The Campaign for Fiscal Equity, Inc. in 2011, attendance and achievement are inextricably linked with chronic absences (missing 10% of the school year) signaling students at-risk of being academically off-track.  So as counselors, how do we promote student buy-in when facing attendance issues?

One of my friends from high school, Mr. Kayser, is now a music teacher in Racine, Wisconsin.  Administrators in his district created a "truancy competition" where teachers, counselors, administrators and students were encouraged to make public service announcements about the dangers of truancy.  As a music teacher, Mr. Kayser took the opportunity to incorporate the creative talents of the students to create and share the message.  Here is how he explained the project in the description of the video:

"This video was created for a video competition held by the Racine Unified School district to promote the dangers of truancy.  

All lyrics, choreography, and video was created by the students at S.C. Johnson Elementary (Racine, WI) during a multiple week "Music Video" unit!  

During the first week each student had the opportunity to write his or her own lyrics. Students learned about rhyming, using descriptive words, and making the words fit with the music. 

During the second week we explored the world of recording. The students learned about the various techniques and equipment involved with recording. (We used Garageband to record the song) 

During the last week we explored the different types of music videos, how they are made, brainstormed ideas, and spent time filming throughout the school! 

Hope you enjoy the creative product of the talented students at SCJ!"

I was so impressed by Mr. Kayer's efforts (and have probably watched the video ten times)!  Not only did the students create a fun and educational product, they had to discuss and learn about the dangers of truancy- the product is great, but I am most excited about the process!  Alex didn't write the song or the choreography or force the kids to perform.  Instead, he asked them to create the message.  With nearly 3,000 views, I sure hope this group of creative students won that competition.

My internship site is a high school with an attendance rate around 75-80%.  Right away when I began my internship in January, I was pulled onto an attendance team with administrators, social workers, a few teachers and several students.  First, I was charged with gathering data from our freshman cohort.  Using Naviance, which is basically the coolest counseling tool invented since the Post-It, I met with all students who had below an 85% attendance rate and asked them to complete a survey.  We sought information about both the barriers to their attendance (health issues, parental issues, work requirements, etc) and incentives for coming to school.

After I collected the data, our attendance team created an "Attendance Competition" with the ultimate prize of a free carnival at school.  Basically, the grade level with the greatest increase in their attendance between the beginning of February and the end of April wins.  I made classroom announcements and Twitter declarations.  Another intern made a display for the hallway where we mark the weekly percentage changes.  I am also charged with creating a weekly classroom notice that each teacher posts on the inside of their classroom door to help hold students and teachers accountable. Several weeks in and I am happy to report that all of the grade levels have increased their attendance percentages.  I am excited for that free carnival, gotta get that cotton candy.

Ultimately, I believe that attendance interventions need to be created (at least in part) BY students and not always simply FOR them.  When students participate in the intervention process, they learn about accountability and leadership.  The students who are involved with my high school's attendance competition are charged with getting the word out and acting as leaders with their peers.  They learn, first-hand, how important attendance is for school achievement.

I Wish I Were Spiderman.

For some reason, on multiple occasions, various students at the high school where I am completing my internship tell me that I look like Spiderman.  It happened first a couple of weeks ago.  As I walked past a group of students in the hallway who were speaking with the school's principle on my way to speak with a teacher, a student yelled out, "Hey, look! It's Spiderman."  I took another step as I realized they were talking about me.  And BAM!, I crouched down and posed with a "web-slinging" hand gesture that I learned through my various viewings of the "Spiderman" films.  Without a word, I stood up and kept walking to my original destination.  On my way back to the school counseling office, the group of students apologized for calling me Spiderman.  I used this opportunity to introduce myself as the new counseling intern and ensured them that I was not offended; rather, I was just playing.

No "Spidey-Senses" here.

Again, today as I walked a student back to their class after we had a short meeting, an entirely new group of students passed me in the hallway.  This time, a young female student said out loud as I passed, "There goes that guy that looks like Spiderman."  I thought I would spare them my impression since we had already passed each other.  For some reason, I feel like I should be flattered by the suggestion that I could be a superhero, but the fact is that sometimes I really wish I was a superhero.  Those special powers could really come in handy when advocating for students!

My counseling SUPERviser told me two weeks ago that stuff in the counseling office was about to get crazy.  I scoffed off the warning...If I only knew then what I know now.

Many scholarships are due during our students' spring break holiday.  When making a scholarship headquarters in our counseling office (including a binder full of local scholarship opportunities as well as direct scholarships from local political delegates) I failed to realize how much work it takes to ensure that I send off scholarships correctly.

Scholarship Headquarters: complete with a binder full of scholarship opportunities for all students.

My supervisor was not kidding, today was off the chain.  We had students applying for SATs, registering for classes, applying for scholarships, and stopping in to talk about other issues all at the same time all day.  While I cannot sling webs or climb up walls, I realized that I can keep kids organized... a very important skill!  I may not have "Spidey-Sense" but I do believe I possess the coveted "scholar-senses" which allow me to believe that each student has the opportunity to succeed.  Wrapping this up:  it was an overwhelming day but I am learning and realize that school counselors ARE superheros!