Supervision...the up's and down's

The new responsibility for the school counselor’s this year is supervision before school, nutrition, and lunch and after school.  These are the exact times of the day that students usually come in to see their counselor.  Although school has been in session for a month, I am still not used to the schedule.  The day goes by quickly and I do not get to see many students during the day because I do not want them to miss out on instructional time. 

The positives of supervision are being visible to students.  Even though students are very much in their own world, they do notice when an adult is around.  They do like to talk to me during my times in supervision so I feel somewhat useful.  I get to see students interact outside of the classroom, which allows me to get to know them as regular teenagers.  I get to learn about who’s birthday it is (birthdays are huge at my school site), who the couples are, and I get to chat with them about their weekend and what they plan to do after school.  Of course, I always put an academic and/or college twist to it. 

What am I doing so that this can work?

I am planning ahead!  I will have a decent amount of students on my individual counseling caseload this year, so I will email all of their teachers to work out a schedule.  The teachers appreciate the notice and I can plan better. 

I use a “Counselor Schedule” that I found in an online search.  I have changed the format of my planner yet again, but this works for me.  First, I make a “To Do” list in a form that I created in word to write down everything I need to do.  Then, on the “Counselor Schedule” I write down my tasks.  This allows me to cross off items on my list and to show what I do throughout my day.