Need help creating the perfect school counseling lesson plans? Worry no more… here are 8 tricks to engage your students and have meaningful discussions. Read more to find out the 8 Tricks for the Perfect School Counseling Lesson Plan!

A while back, I sent a survey out to all my Simply Imperfect Counselor followers and I received great information! You opened up and allowed me to see what your struggling with and gave me some great feedback on ways that I could help you through this blog.

So, that’s what this post is all about! (Plus, many more to come… you gave me LOTS of ideas!)

Starting at the basics… you all wanted to know How-To Create the Perfect Lesson Plan and give meaningful information to students in such a short amount of time.

My first year, I struggled with this, because I was used to spending all my time with First Graders… I didn’t quite understand the brains and behaviors of Fourth Graders. Over time, I quickly found out, I could get a lot of DEEPER conversations with fourth graders just because they already know the simple expectations of the school. I also realized I needed to get a grasp on what kids can do at EVERY Grade-Level in order to make each lesson a building block. With that basis down, I was ready to make meaningful lessons that kids can actually GET!

With that being said, this is a basic walk-through of how I set up my lessons. Of course, every school district is different. This set-up may work for the kids in my building, but depending on the dynamics of your school, you may need to alter it a bit.

Know Your Standard/s and What Topic/s You Will Cover

To teach a lesson, you first need to know what you are trying to accomplish. So, find a standard that needs to be addressed and go from there! Or, if you’re like me, sometimes you know what topic needs to be addressed (based on your Needs Assessment). Then, you can start assigning standards to those topics.

Either way, know what you want to teach and the standard that goes along with it.

Think About Your Focus and Talking Points

Take time to think about your major talking points and what you want to focus on that topic. For example, I just did a lesson on Being Proactive and I only had 30 minutes to teach. So, I thought about what I wanted to cover for my 1st Grade students (Circle of Control and Making Good Choices) and then I made a building block for 2nd Grade and got a little deeper (Proactive vs. Reactive Behaviors and Taking Initiatives). All of these things fit into Being Proactive, but sometimes with such a big topic, you will need to narrow it down to fit your time frame. We can do this by making Focus Points.

Pre-Assess Your Topic

Once you know exactly what you will focus on, try and think of how you can asses if they already know it or not. You know… a pre… pre…. pre-assessment! Yeah, I said it… uggghh. A pre-assessment can be formal or informal and doesn’t have to be a big deal. It CAN be quick and easy.

Here are some examples:

• Thumbs-Up / Thumbs- Down
• KWL Chart
• Survey
• Yes/No Cards
• Boxing (What I know, What I want to know)
• Quick Writes

Doing this dreaded task will give you a baseline for your lesson. Just think… when you look back on all that data, you will know (and have data to prove) what you need to be focusing on for the following year. To read more about collecting and using data check out Beginners Guide to School Counseling Data.

Get Student Engagement

It can be difficult walking into someone else’s classroom and trying to teach a lesson. Maybe you are super lucky and your kids come to you (That would be awwwwesome!) But, for me, I go into 20 different rooms with 20 different teaching and management styles. Not to mention, I am only in there for a short amount of time. So, from the moment I walk in their door, my number one goal is to get them transitioned to learn and start engaging them with my topic.

Include Bibliotherapy

I am a nerd at heart and I truly love books! Even more than the feel of a good book, I love the messages books can send our young readers. A good picture book can go a long way in getting kids to relate to the situation being presented.

For my K-2 students, a book is a must for all my counseling lessons. It really sets the tone for learning. Books can be the perfect attention grabber to be able to dig deeper in conversations. For my 3-4th students, I still like using a book… I just get really picky. The topics discussed with my older grader are more involved, so I want to make sure I have a book that can reflect the complexity of the conversation. For example, I don’t want to bring a picture book that I used with my Kindergarten students into 4th Grade and only have surface level conversations because the book’s meaning was not complex.

With that being said, if I am not using a book to “hook” my audience, I will use Cinematherapy. Some of you may be thinking… “What the heck is that?” I thought the same thing when I first heard it! It’s this thing, where instead of using books to help aid in the discussion of a counseling topic, you can use movies/shows… or parts of them!

Include Cinematherapy

There are so many great children’s shows out there that teach valuable lessons. Of course, I am not one to put on a video and call it good. I do like teaching and want to get the most out of my time.  So, instead, I like to use snippets of shows or movies that focus on the topic I’m teaching. This is another great way to relate the content back to the kids. Once the video or clip is shown, kids are able to dive right into the discussion… sometimes before it’s even over!

Also, with books or videos, it’s okay to pause and talk about it during the book or movie. For example, while reading books, I like to discuss what is happening along the way and let students infer the feelings of the characters.

Discuss & Share Experiences

When I talk about having discussions, I’m talking about the students engaging in meaningful conversations with each other. At this point, I am acting as a facilitator and asking open-ended questions. Such as, “what do you think will happen next?” “What does this make you feel?” Have time in your lesson to discuss and allow the kids to share how the content relates to them. Kids can also learn a lot from each other. One time I had a 4th Grade discussion going on about diversity and I was eating it up!

Kids will amaze you with their discussions. Sometimes, I have to halt a conversation and talk individually with a student afterward. In my elementary world… Kids say the darndest things! 🙂

Do a Hands-On Activity

Ohh, this is the fun part! I love doing activities and seeing the kids in action, using what I just taught! Try to mix these up because kids can get bored really easily! I learned this the hard way… “Mrs. Woody, do we have to do another coloring sheet?” Gone are the days of my first-year counselor coloring sheets! We are moving & grooving now and doing meaningful activities to expand our learning.

Things my students love to do are:

• SCOOT Games
• Foldables
• Crafts
• Acting Out Games (Feelings/Emotions)
• Mindful Breaks (GoNoodle)
• Team Games

Do you know how much I heart TpT? Seriously, the BEST thing ever! I can always find an activity that is fun, engaging and meaningful! The best part is, it takes barely any prep time for me to get ready. If you’re looking for fast and easy lesson ideas, you can take a peek at the products I have made here in my TpT Store!

Post-Assess Topic

Post Assessments come next! Whoo-hoo… I know you’re excited! Wink-Wink! Let’s make sure your students actually learned what they were supposed to. Remember, quick and easy. It does NOT have to be hard or a big deal. Try to work it into your regular routine and it will become a piece of cake! Kids will learn to expect it… such as an exit ticket, and it will begin to take no time.

Closure & Recap

This is the part where you recap all of your focus points and discuss how they can start applying it to their lives. Sometimes, I restate the objectives or topics in the form of a question… and this becomes my informal post-assessment.

I hope this article sheds light on some new tricks you can use in your counseling lessons. If you need a way to organize your lessons and use this plan, check out the Simply Perfect Planner for School Counselors… I promise this will be your best friend! 🙂