This week begins course registration at my school. As second semester starts we turn our eyes towards next year. But as hard as it may be to get students to think about next year, when this year is only halfway over, we actually need to get them thinking about four or five years down the […]
Course Registration can be one of the most stressful and yet most exciting times of the school year. Students are beginning to think about their futures, not only next year but five years down the road. The choices our students make today really can have a lasting impact on their high school experience and the […]
We live in a digital age. That is hard to argue against. For evidence you need not look further than your hallways before school, during passing periods and often even during class. Students are on their phones checking social media or sending text messages. Parents are sending emails to stay on top of their children’s […]
May is one of the favorite months of the counselors in my building because we get to spend the first three weeks proctoring AP Exams. Let me tell you there is nothing more rewarding than sitting in a room and announcing, you have ten minutes remaining on section 1 (apply liberal amounts of sarcasm here). […]
For each of the past four years my school has been tasked with presenting a drug prevention lesson. Our community, though not necessarily our school, has been faced with a disproportionate amount of overdoses from heroin. And while very few students ever start down the path towards addiction, even one student being introduced to the […]
I’ve been in many English classes where teachers are constantly reminding their students that google is not a source. You may use google to find a reference, but google itself is not the source. It is a hard concept for students to grasp. On the surface google does seem to have all of the answers […]
Last week our school completed their first round of PARCC testing. We were a pilot school for the new Common Core based exams last year, but the first full run proved to be quite different from the small scale practice version our AP English students undertook a year ago. Perhaps the biggest challenge we faced […]
Today is the DuPage County Institute Day. I am fortunate enough to be attending a counselor specific set of seminars, something that isn’t often available in my district. My first sessions took a deeper look at the impact mental illness can have on academic achievement. Below are my notes on the topic. I hope to […]
Congratulations my fellow educators we’ve almost made it through half of the 2014-15 school year. Months of lesson planning, grading, assessing and forming connections with our students, have come down to a few more days of final exams. Next week we’ll be home enjoying a much deserved break with our family and friends. But first […]
Today there are no students in my building or any school in my district. In their place hundreds of parents travel from class to class at the sound of the bells. This isn’t some form of freaky Friday or trading place, it is parent teacher conferences. Of course parent teacher conferences are a common occurrence, […]
