Are you a first-year school counselor? Looking for where to begin or what to do first? Here are 5 Tips to get you on the right track to having a successful first year!

# 1: Be Visible (Physically)

This is the all-time most significant piece for a first-year school counselor. You want your district to know that you are a huge asset and the best way to do that is to show them you are available and working with kids.

Let staff see you walking up and down the halls checking on kids. Also, stop in during the morning rush and do check-ins with teachers. Don’t be afraid to do small talk! Sometimes, the teachers need that! Offer to cover for teachers when they need a bathroom break… especially the first couple of days! This will help you build a rapport and build that trusting relationship.

Always present yourself professionally and with a smile. You are their positive influence, so model the climate you would like to see in your building.

Don’t be shy when it comes to Public Relations projects in your community! Use that time to get involved and speak up about your excellent program and school district! If you need more tips about this topic, read How to Use PR to Stand Out!

#2: Be Visible (with Your Program)

Don’t be afraid to show off what you do best!

Be confident, you got this! Have you ever heard the phrase, “Fake it till you make it”? Well, sometimes it’s spot on!

You drag yourself to countless hours of graduate school and jumped through one million hoops to be the school counselor you are today. So, when I say, “You’ve got this”, I honestly mean it!

Be so confident that you plaster yourself everywhere… okay maybe not the bathroom, but you get my point! Show administration and staff what you’re doing with your program.

Make those pretty little graphs and hand them for all to see.

Turn in semester reports to let your principal know what you’ve accomplished.

Make classroom schedules and hand them out to teachers to let them know when you will be visiting. Also, put in your calendar when you are doing Responsive Services, System Support, or Meetings… this will show them how your time is being spent… and they may have a new appreciation for what you do at school!

#3: Keep Records

I know you’re thinking “Duh”, but this topic can be a little tricky! You just graduated… and I know they talked about this… so you know best what kind of record-keeping you feel comfortable with. Some people like to keep very detailed notes and some don’t like to write anything down. There is the whole privacy thing to worry about… so you do what is best for you and your building. If you’re not sure, talk to your administrator or another counselor in your district. Personally, in my district, we love Google Drive! I can access it anywhere and share it with whoever I need to!

I just want you to be aware that records are not just for individual students. Being a counselor, you will have tons of different types of paperwork to file away. Every year I make 4 basic files that go in my filing cabinet, this way if my principal wants something specific, I know right where to look! Purchase Orders & Receipts, Children’s Division Reports, Personal School File, & Consent Forms. Plus, I have a clipboard (that I keep in a drawer), with all the parent contacts and phone calls that have been made/received throughout the year.

The rest of the info I collect throughout the year is lots of data… small-group, individual students seen, and classroom lesson data.

Which, by the way, I keep very handy in my Simply Perfect Planner!

If your graduate program pushed the Time on Task Analysis… you will be in luck with this planner! It basically tracks it right in your daily schedule! 🙂

#4: Brush Up on Classroom Management

Okay, this one threw me for a loop! I was a first-grade teacher and I felt like I had pretty good classroom management. Therefore, going into my counseling position, I wasn’t worried about this one bit. Let me tell you, it was an eye-opener! First of all, the fourth graders act NOTHING like my little first graders! Also, going into 20 different classrooms, whose teachers set totally different procedures and management strategies for each other, was hard. After my realization of this, I thought I would learn all of these classroom styles and adapt to them. Whoa… that was not going to work!

So, what I found that does work, is to set my slim but firm expectations right at the beginning during my Meet the Counselor Lessons. This way, it’s just built in and they know what to expect when I come into their classroom.

You have to remember, that even during classroom lessons, you’re the counselor. Don’t go in there with a super strict attitude and lay out a hundred rules. You get to be the fun one! One of the best classroom management secrets is to have engaging lessons!

#5 Consult, Consult, Consult!

For me this is huge!!! No matter how many years you have under your belt, if you’re not sure about something, consult a mentor! Ethically, it’s just the right thing to do… because you want what’s best for kids and their families!

As a first-year counselor, your state may require that you do one or two years of mentoring. I know my state requires two-year mentor training for new school counselors. Once we have completed the two years, we get a certificate that we can use to upgrade our initial school counseling state certification. When I was first signing up for this, I thought… OMGosh… I just graduated with my master’s and now I have to do two more stinking years!

But, it was worth it! I got paired with another person in my district who was a former counselor and has a ton of knowledge. I learned so much over those two years and I always had someone I could go to if I had a question. Therefore, check it out… see if you have a mentoring program in your district or state.

If you are a first-year counselor, I would love for you to say hi and learn more about your first year! Actually, that goes for anyone of you, seasoned or not! Lol!