Part of our Counselor’s Corner series. Click to read other posts in the Counselor’s Corner.
National School Counseling Week is February 3–7. The purpose of National School Counseling Week is to spread awareness of the role that school counselors play in supporting the academic success, personal and social well-being, and career development of students. This year’s theme for National School Counseling Week is “School Counseling: Building Magical Futures,” which speaks to how school counselors impact students beyond the K–12 setting. (Also, this year’s ASCA National Conference will be held this summer in Orlando, Florida in “magical” Disney World!)
Using social media is a great way to search for ways to celebrate your school counselor or your role as a school counselor. Here are a few sites I recommend and some ideas for how to use them.
Pinterest
I have written before about how educators can find pinspiration on Pinterest. Finding ideas for National School Counseling Week is no different. Do a search on Pinterest for “National School Counseling Week,” and you will find lots of great ideas pinned by school counselors. I have a Pinterest board of National School Counseling Week theme ideas that can get your ideas flowing. Try looking up “Disney party” or “magic party” themes to get inspiration for a “magical” themed National School Counseling Week.
Twitter
Tweet it! Twitter is a great professional development tool for school counselors. You can use the #scchat hashtag to search out all things school counseling. You can also use the hashtag #NSCW or #NSCW14 to search specifically for ideas related to National School Counseling Week. Feel free to ask questions about what other #schoolcounselors are planning to do to celebrate National School Counseling Week.
Instagram
Like Twitter, you can use hashtags on Instagram to search for National School Counseling Week celebration ideas. Use the hashtags #schoolcounselor, #NSCW, and #NSCW14 to search for images. If you are a visual person, the pictures you find on Instagram can help you generate ideas.
Facebook
Many school counselor bloggers have Facebook pages where they share information and ideas related to school counseling. There are also closed Facebook groups for school counselors where you can ask others about their ideas:
- Elementary School Counselor Exchange
- Caught in the Middle School Counselors group
- High School Counselors’ Network
Look for your favorite school counselor blogs on Facebook, or join a school counselor Facebook group and ask a question about how others celebrate National School Counseling Week. School counselors are eager to share ideas and resources!
Blogs
Last year I hosted a National School Counseling Week Link Party to share ideas of how school counselors celebrated National School Counseling Week. You can get ideas from the school counselor bloggers’ posts from last year or check and see if they are doing anything new this year.
For even more ideas, check out part 1 and part 2 of my blog post “Ways for School Counselors to Celebrate National School Counseling Week” from last year.
Finally, ASCA also has great resources for celebrating National School Counseling Week.
How are you celebrating National School Counseling Week this year? Where do you find National School Counseling Week ideas?
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