ASCA: My Conference Highlights, part 2

They need a spell checker in the sign department.

More ASCA goodness coming your way!

ASCA Day 2

Dr. Tim Shriver

Dr. Tim Shriver, Chairman of the Special Olympics was our speaker. He gave us the background on how the Special Olympics started and talked about his famous family, the Kennedys.  He told us how his Aunt Rosemary, born in 1918, had an intellectual disability and what it was like for families with a child like Rosemary during those years; locked away, denied an education, and forced sterilization.  Dr. Shriver talked about how his grandmother, Rose Kennedy, insisted that the other children include Rosemary in whatever they did. Whether a party, a dance, or getting together with friends, Rosemary was to be included. He talked about how he believed this impacted his uncle, President Kennedy.  In his now famous quote, "Ask not what your country can do for you, but what you can do for your country," Dr. Shriver says he believes President Kennedy was telling all Americans there are those around us who need our help. We need to ask ourselves how can we help them and each other.

As Dr. Shriver shared about the Special Olympics we heard moving stories of perseverance, saw statistics of monumental growth and heard how the Special Olympics is impacting children with disabilities around the world.  But still there is much work to do.  Dr.Shriver shared this powerful video with us during his presentation.  A young teen whose brother has an intellectual disability is taking a stand against the use of the  "R" word.



Dr. Shriver ended his speech by introducing a high school who participates in unified sports. This is where students with and without intellectual disabilities are combined in approximately equal numbers for training and competition.  These energetic students had us up and dancing.  What an inspiring group of young people!

Keller High School Athletes-Unified Sports 

The Special Olympics has a great website with a FREE  K-12 curriculum called Get Into it which celebrates the diverse gifts of every student whatever their ability. This website is an interactive web-based curriculum with fun, interactive, and creative activities, experiential role plays and engaging videos to help promote respect and acceptance among people with and without disabilities.

2000+ School Counselors #Reach Higher

More sessions, more learning!
My first session of the day was one I had been eagerly anticipating!  I heard Russell Sabella speak  at

ASCA last year and in the  fall at our state convention. His sessions were loaded with lots of great tech tips and I had no doubt he would deliver another information packed and thought provoking session. Russell Sabella and Madelyn Issacs did not disappoint!  Their session, Legal and Ethical Issues in School Counseling,was a fast paced session that was hard to keep up with at times, but what a lot they packed in 75 minutes!  The focus of this session was awareness and risks and how we can reduce the risks.  Madelyn Issacs started off by telling us, "If you are not getting training (in tech) all the time, you are hopelessly behind."  Wow!  She tells us tech is only a tool, people determine its function and value. Russ then tells us the value of these tools is how we use them. He reminds us that whenever we go on line we have power to impact how people view School Counselors, and we know the media is going after the weakest link!  "As people who are caretakers of children we are held to a higher standard.  If one of us is inappropriate it brings us all down."

Here are some great quotes/ideas from this session:
"Just because you can doesn't mean you should!"(even if it's legal and ethical)
 "Private ≠ Privacy, Privacy ≠ Confidential"
We forget their are other audiences viewing our online content besides our intended audience.
When you post,  ask yourself, "Is there one person who shouldn't see this?"  Then don't post it!
"Facebook is not your therapist!"
"Post only things that are positive."
On "friending" students and parents...  Once again, just because you can, doesn't mean you should.

On using Skype, email and notes on Google Docs, be cautious about sharing information/private documents over non-HIPPA compliant protocols.  As for notes on Google  Docs, be certain  they do not contain any confidential information.  Be factual, be brief.  

Important to remember...

There was a ton of other information on HIPPA, FERPA and COPPA compliant sites and programs. We also learned about data encryption for our files, folders and hard drive, file shredding file wiping, and file transfers. I am hopelessly behind here and was a little overwhelmed by all the information and options. For more information about technology you can check out these websites by Russell Sabella.
SchoolCounselor.com, GuardingKids.com and My Data Boot Camp 2.0.


My next session was with Julia Taylor on Promoting Parental Involvement.  Julia reminds us to meet parents where they are.  Consider the things that may be barriers to them like time, personal history (how welcoming is your school), intimidation, school atmosphere ( hopeful? easy access?), child care, deportation, language, transportation, and divorce.  She says it is important for parents to know what we do without having to talk to us.  How do they know what we do?  Communication is key. It can be a website - post links to resources,  an e-newsletter like S'more, maybe Facebook, Twitter or Instagram. Provide information online, like a virtual AP fair they held for parents who can't always make it to school.  In this case, each AP teacher did a 3-5 minute talk about their course and work requirements. These video clips were recorded and put on a glog so parents could access them later at home.  Other great ideas included the app Remind, parent coffee club, book club, lunch and learn, parent needs assessment, parent education evenings once a quarter with a speaker like a banker to talk about how to pay for college or a police officer to talk about dating violence or social media.

The last session of the day was How to Create an iMovie with your iPad by Kelly Curtis.  She showed us lots of great examples of how they had used iMovie in promoting their PBIS program and other events around the school. These movies are posted on their school Facebook page and parents can see them and get a greater understanding of PBIS.  They also help connect parents with the school expectations.  Movies can be embedded in an e-newsletter like S'more as well so parents can see them.  Some video ideas Kelly shared were about the difference in tattling and telling, being an upstander, a day in the life of a ___grader to show the next grade coming up, playground expectations, and a teacher promo for a special school wide reward.  After some basic instructions about selecting a movie or trailer, dragging and dropping, panning photos and adding music we were turned lose to create our own video.  Here's my ASCA iMovie product!

Following a full day of sessions I met some of my new friends to try a nice pasta restaurant we heard about called The Strand.  It was quite good! The evening was filled with delicious pasta, relaxing conversation, and the sharing of experiences that comes from being School Counselors.

Oh so delish Lobster Mac and Cheese with Bacon!

From  left front to back: Lori, Jeannie, Valerie, Jan, Bridget, Susan, Carol, Jennifer,  and Grace

Photo by Grace's very charming husband

ASCA, the Last Day

The last day of ASCA 15 arrived far too quickly.  Just one last session and keynote Ted Federle remained.  I chose to attend Academic Support Groups by Karen Griffith, as one of my goals this next year is to address the 40% of 4th grades who are deficit in academic skills.  Karen had a ton of ideas that were new to me.  Like many of the previous presenters I had seen she was funny and went through her presentation with lightning speed.  Karen started off by telling us when doing groups be prepared. Well duh! But I know what she means.  There has been a time or two I came in and said, "Oh dear today is group.  What are we going to do today?"  The more you do ahead of time the less you have to do in the moment and the more present you can be with the children. So true and so obvious, but I hadn't really thought of it that way.  There are many people who can do group activities with students, BUT it is our EXPERTISE that makes the activity counseling. Karen also recommended against asking teachers what kids need which groups because she says we are asking teachers to do something beyond their skill set.  Hmmm. That is true.  I know when I have asked teachers in the past, some  will recommend the entire class or recommend kids for groups that are really not appropriate.  Karen says instead, ask teachers at grade level meetings who they are worried about and why, then you decide what kind of group is needed.  I like that.  I can get buy-in, but then I am free to make the best decision for students.

There were lots of great lesson ideas from her session, but no PowerPoint or handout to reference for later.  Sorry.  But it was a really good session, just wish there had been more take away resources.  Here are some high points and ideas from her session:

*academic skills are more than just study skills, it is also motivation and academic advising 

*There is no such thing as an "educational" emergency.  Your time with students should be protected, those "educational" emergencies can wait 30 minutes until you finish your group.

*6-8 sessions is not enough time for change to happen in groups, she recommends 12 sessions

* buy inexpensive clickers like used at big events to count the number of people entering a venue and give these to teachers trying to track how often a child off task/not working

*offer "On A Roll" ( say it fast it sounds like Honor Roll) guidance awards for students who bring up their grades, maybe not A's and B's but up from D or F each report card

* cool card sort activity- Using pictures from the internet, choose several dozen that show students showing varying degrees of studying to not studying.  Asks student to sort cards 5 most like you, 5 somewhat like you, and 5 not like you  OR choose 10 that show the different ways you are in class, put them in order OR put in order how you think the teacher sees your behavior/performance in class.

From Bullied To Broadway To Books

Broadway performer Tim Federle was our closing keynote speaker.  He says, "Everything that got me picked on as a kid gets me paid today."  He shares with us"7 things I learned on Broadway I wish I had known when I was a student."
1) Set backs now are the most interesting parts of your story.  Some call it character.  He says take control of your own narrative.
2) Perfectionism is way over rated. He shares a story of teaching adolescent boys to tap dance for the Broadway show Billy Elliot.  Those who came with grit exceeded those more naturally talent because they wanted it more.
3) There's no such thing as an anti-bully zone. We do our students a disservice if we tell them, or imply, once they graduate there is no more bullying.  Instead we must teach coping and resiliency.  It is important to help students realize the difference between what is a problem and what is an annoyance. Bullying doesn't stop, you just have to find your tribe.
4) Follow your whims as much as your dreams.  He tells the story of a single idea, he had a title for a book, Tequila Mockingbird. When he mentioned it to his publisher she didn't say no, she just said put it out there. That whim has sold over 100,000 copies.  Tim says our job is to say yes when no one else does.
5) Be nice to the guy who washes your socks.  When competing for a role in a Broadway show it came down to who fit in the costumes the best.  After receiving the call he got the role, Tim later found out he fit in the costumes the worst.  The head of wardrobe was someone he had known and befriended when he first started on Broadway.  That man stayed up all night altering the costumes for Tim.
6) Everyone is always starting over. In theater you are always looking for your next part of role. Just like in theater, we have to keep putting ourselves out there and taking chances. Life is a journey.
7) You never know when someone is going to change your life.  I had to leave to catch my plane as Tim begin to explain this, but I think I understand this one. I can think of situations in my own life when I met someone who I had no idea would later be a significant influence on me.  Or the time, hurtful as it was, when someone walked out of my life so someone better could walk in.  Or that person who shares a personal story or experience that totally changes your way of thinking from no way to I can do that.  You never know when someone is going to change your life.

RESOURCES
I would like to leave you with a few more resources before I close.  First ,there is a great new girls group book called Starbound by Carol Miller the founder of all those wonderful School Counselor Facebook pages.
Watch D.O.G.S.  (Dads of Great Students) an awesome program for getting Dads involved with their students and your school. It's not free, but something your PTA may want to get involved with.  And of course the previously mentioned free resources from Special Olympics, Get Into It,  helps build acceptance and respect and for persons with and without disabilities.


Well that's it for ASCA 2015.  If you were not able to attend, I hope you have enjoyed attending vicariously through these posts. I had a great experience and I'm looking forward to ASCA 2016 in New Orleans.  Until then, stay in touch through my Exploring School Counseling Facebook page, Twitter  @ExploringSchC and this blog.