Classroom Guidance

I do a Classroom Guidance lesson at the beginning of the year with each of the 3 classes I'm in charge of; 8th, 9th, and 10th. During this lesson I go over what my main responsibilities are as a School Counselor; scheduling, testing, and counseling. When I talk about counseling with my students I always go into what are the three things that I have to report. I find it is a good way to open the door to that conversation, it also allows me to remind students of that conversation if and/or when they come down to talk to me. "Remember when I was in your classroom at the beginning of the year and I told you there were three things that I have to report?"

Then I go into my conversation about our two types of diplomas, credits, verified credits, yadda yadda. It's amazing how many times you can over something and students still forget.

I also give each student an "information sheet" to fill out and give back to me. My goal is to meet with each student individually to talk about what they want to take class wise, career wise, college wise, etc. During that time I find it will be helpful for me to have their information sheets to help me guide them. It also has some information to allow me to pick out students who might be in need of a little more attention counseling wise. Below is the information sheet.

Before I finish my lesson, I give each student a checklist. I created these checklists, but I added them below to share with you :) I tell students that whether they are college bound or not, these sheets will help them graduate.