School Counseling E-Learning & Talking to Students about COVID-19

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Hard times don’t create heroes. It is during the hard times when the “hero” within us is revealed. – Bob Riley So much is going on in the world right now. It’s really hard not to get discouraged when we’re not sure what to do. We are stepping into unmarked territory and have little to no path to follow. Schools all across the world are shutting down and moving to e-learning for the time being. That puts counselors in a tight spot!

What can we do?

There are several things you can do to keep your students actively participating in Social-Emotional e-Learning via the internet and some counselors are finding ways to meet with their students virtually. Everyone has their own level of expertise when it comes to technology. So, take this time to try something new, learn from a colleague and give yourself grace. We are all in this together and no one is going to do things perfectly!

Four Areas to Counseling – How can we do them online?

Individual Student Services

This may hit harder for counselors in Middle School and High School since they are in the midst of planning and scheduling classes for next year. If you are in the midst of schedules and planning for next year, you could send out a video of you showing students how to fill out their schedule planning paperwork (in MO it’s Personal Plan of Study or ICAP). Then you could have a link for them to click on and fill it out. If students are needing extra help before they submit it to you, having a virtual office time with sites like ZOOM, might be beneficial. For those of us gearing up for state-wide testing, since we are in uncharted waters and not sure what the future holds, treat it as if they still need tips and testing needs to go on as usual. If you are in charge of testing itself, use some of this time to finish up paperwork and gearing your teachers up for the exam. Go ahead and send out information like usual using email (I like to make a Google Folder for teachers). That way all staff involved is on the same page and ready for anything. For students, go ahead and link some fun test taking tips and videos online for them to watch while they are at home. Get some teacher friends together, even if it’s virtual, have them send you some snippets motivating students for the big test, put it together in a video and send it out to students.

Responsive Services

This part can be very tricky when it comes to everyone’s state laws and requirements. If you’re unsure what to do, I suggest you reach out to your state board officials and see what the best options are for counseling students over the internet during these hard times. We will face confidentiality struggles and equity issues with students not having internet. However, one thing that will help no matter what, is getting together a School Counseling Referral Packet. This has the numbers of local and state companies that can help serve your families. In our district, we include local city numbers… Emergency, Local Family Services, Transportation, Food Assistance, Counseling Services in the Area, Community Companies Willing to Help, Hotline Numbers, etc. We have this posted on our website and in the event of a closure would distribute this via a link in our Counseling Letter for families to seek help if needed.

System Support

This area of counseling is, in my opinion, probably the easiest to do online. This involves supporting your program and collaborating with other counselors and staff to carry out your program. In this section, you can use email, video conferencing, google collaborative docs, phone conversations, etc.

Classroom Counseling

This is the fun part! So many things that you can do with online learning. I know not everyone has the comfort level I do when it comes to working online. However, there are tons of sites that make it easy for educators! Here are a few of my favorite learning platforms…

Seesaw.com
Google Classroom
GoNoodle.com
edgenuity.com
everfi.com
GoStrengths.com
Nearpod.com (SEL)

If you decide to put together online lessons, remember to keep them kid-friendly and simple. Maybe start with a letter to parents explaining where to find the lessons and how they are designed to be completed. I personally like Seesaw.com because I can keep students in their classrooms and assign lessons to them from their. There are tons of already made SEL resources to assign. I only do seesaw with 2nd -4th graders. However, I’m sure with parents help younger students could benefit just as much! I also really like how counselors are putting together paper packets for students who may not have internet access. I have seen several like this… 30 Days of Social Emotional Learning at Home