A Year in the Life of a School Counselor
The Month of May

A Year in the Life of a School Counselor

May 

Well, we have made it to the end of a very busy year! The C.R.C.T. test is over and the students and teachers are ready for summer. I too am ready for summer!

I will be working a tiny bit over the break, but will be able to spend my time writing and teaching Sand Tray Therapy at Mercer University.

I miss my students and staff so I try to keep up with everything that is going on by going into work. I also have to take some professional learning classes to get my CEU’s!

Our fifth grade students will be graduating and going off to middle school. I always accompany them to the visit to the middle school. I get to see my past students and help with any anxiety my 5th grade students might have. 

During the month of May I focus on Career Counseling for my students. We host a big “Career Day” at our school for our 3rd through 5th grade students.

Instead of having people come in to talk about the career they have I invite colleges to come in and speak to my students about their areas of study offered. You may wonder why I do it this way.

In the old days I used to invite people with different careers for school counseling “Career Day” to come in and speak with the students.

The problem with this is that when someone comes in to discuss their career for 30 minutes it is very boring to those not interested. Once, I had a builder go on for an hour and several girls and boys had that glazed over look.

Therefore, I invite colleges to come and speak to my elementary school students. At times I have found that colleges and universities will not come out just for elementary school children. This is so sad, but I understand they have to prioritize and put high school kids first.

Sometimes, I will only be able to get some items from the college such as pencils, banners, etc. My local technical college comes every year to discuss the technical school career majors. When this occurs I try to find a teacher or someone in the community who went to a particular school college or university to come out and speak.

It is so important to plant the seed about college in the younger years. All children deserve to know and learn about colleges. If parents did not attend college, or do not understand the importance of college it is up to school counselors to teach students this invaluable piece of life.

If I can't get the college or university out I get teachers or members in the community to come and speak about a college they attended. I ask them to just talk about their experience at the school and to show photos on the website. It is also encouraged to show the list of majors that the college or university offers.

This year I have included the military during our “Career Counseling Career Day”. I have received great feedback from my local Army recruitment station. The army recruiter is coming out to talk to my 3rd, 4th, and 5th grade students about careers in the army.

I tried to contact the other military branches but did not get a reply back. I may just find someone in the community that is retired from those branches of the military and ask them to come and speak.

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I give special attention to my 5th grade students. I give them the “Career Counseling Personality Trait Career Test”. You can find a free copy of this career counseling test on the link below and use it for your students. It is ideal for all ages. I have used it in elementary school, middle school, high school, college and beyond.

I also give the Career Portfolio Assessment to my 5th grade students. This assessment can be found on the link below. I would also recommend that this be used in middle and high school. Allow the students to keep their copies and compare them each time they do it. 

So, this is how I do “Career Counseling Career Day” at my school. It is a great way to end the year and send my 5th graders off to middle school!

This concludes the "Year in the Life of a School Counselor" series. I hope you have enjoyed seeing how I plan my year as a school counselor.

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Free Personality Type Career Counseling Test All Ages

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The Year in the Life of a School Counselor

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*If you ignore the disclaimer above are using these techniques on yourself and you feel any discomfort or upset it is highly suggested that you seek out a licensed  mental health professional immediately.

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