manic-depressive? how bout manic-happy!

my guidance bonanza week was a success! I did a total of 13 guidance lessons last week, 12 character and 1 career (1 of my characters had to be rescheduled to yesterday) + the individuals I saw one-on-one...

It was really nice to find that I felt pretty comfortable being in front of all the different kids (grades ranged from 1st to 8th), and got them pretty involved in it. I think (or like to anyways lol) that most of them enjoyed it and got a little something out of it.

This week is a less manic, but still pretty busy. I like being busy up here and having something to do. I am still doing career stuff with my eight graders, doing a red ribbon class with each of the 7th grade classes (looking at the truth behind alcohol and tobacco advertisements), and feelings lesson with my kindergarten and pre-k classes (using pumpkin faces). The kindergarten class today LOVED it :). Also, I have a few individual students that I am working with one-on-one. Plus, our 'Rainbows' group will be starting up soon (it's a group for children who've experienced grief or loss), so that should help fill my time... and it's an issue I really to explore more with this population since many kids experience this either through separation/divorce, deployment, moving, and death of loved ones.

My running shoes are in, and I LOVE THEM :) no shin splints or leg pains! So I have really been trying to step up my motivation to get out there and get active.


Life is good. Internship is supremely satisfying. School is well, school.

I think it's plain to say...

I'm pretty excited about life :)

guidance lesson bonanza!

yes, a bonanza it will be this week!

I have 14 guidance lessons planned for this week for my students...
*13 of these lessons will be on character values for grades 1st - 8th.
- Well this week is National Character Counts Week (at least according to my School Counselor magazine), and my supervisor (and the very appreciative faculty) are letting me do my very own lesson that I came up with. I call it the "Character Cup" :) It is filled with popsicle sticks with different important character values written on each one (like cooperation, acceptance, and respect)

• Introduce the topic to the students (ex. what is character?) and the importance of good character values (i.e. better friendships, better person, helps others, leader/role model to other classmates, the right thing to do, etc.)
• Either the counselor or a chosen student volunteer gets to pick a popsicle stick out of the character cup
• What does this stick say?  Who know what it is?  What are some different ways/examples we can show this character value?  What makes this a great character value to have?
• **For older kids, try to get more explanation and meaning from the answers they may provide since they have better-developed vocabularies and communication skills.  They could also be asked to act out a short role play/skit. Anther idea includes identifying people (real or fictional) who demonstrated a said value.
• Repeat until all sticks are pulled

*(the remaining) 1 is the beginning of my career guidance lesson for my 8th graders.
- I am doing a week long lesson (Friday - Thursday) on careers. I am looking to introduce them to different terms and ideas (ex. What is a job? What is a career?) to get them started on thinking on what they are possibly interested in doing when they get older. Still getting my schedule and agenda together with Kellie, but I am pretty excited about getting to lead it!

So this week and next week, I expect to be pretty busy but not that I mind! I still have way more guidance lessons planned since getting really any steady one-on-one hours is kind of a challenge. I'm looking to do a tattling book lesson with the new book I ordered (Don't Squeal Unless It's a Big Deal) and a feelings guidance lesson using pumpkin faces. So I foresee some busy weeks ahead :)


I had also started the Couch to 5-K as I had mentioned in my previous post. It is being somewhat delayed as I wait for my new running shoes to be in. My previous 'running' shoes were giving me no stability and shin splints :p So once they come in (I estimate in a week or two), I will start again. Until then, I will be walking, jump roping, or using my pilates ball to get my groove on :)

insomnia

"Insomnia is a gross feeder. It will nourish itself on any kind of thinking, including thinking about not thinking." - Clifton Fadiman

I have been having trouble sleeping the past few nights. Perhaps I am thinking too much... too much about getting school work done, doing well at my internship site, my father and his job overseas, life after graduate school, finding love, not living life enough...

lots of chaos and humdrum there, what to do?

guess I need to figure that out because I really like my sleep