You Are Ready for This

School counselors have always been poised to help during a crisis. There are people who feel anxious during these times and need to know that someone is there for them when there are so many unknowns. This is a great opportunity to demonstrate how school counselors are leaders in Kentucky!

You have the training, experience and skill to provide this for your students, families, faculties and community. You are not alone! Please feel free to reach out to me or other school counselors during this time. We can get through this together!

Webinar Opportunity for KY School Counselors

There will be a webinar opportunity 1 p.m. ET March 18 titled "Virtual School Counseling During Emergency School Shutdowns" with Damien Sweeney.

Sign up using this Google form.

Guidance from the American School Counseling Association

Click here to view the information below in a pdf form.

What School Counselors Can Do Right Now to Prepare for Virtual Counseling in Kentucky

I had discussions with the Kentucky School Counseling Association and Dr. Michelle Sircy, who is the counseling specialist for Jefferson County Public Schools to share ways for school counselors to offer services during these times. Here are some ways you can approach this for your students and their families if your district policies allow:

• Change contact information on your school website or school counseling page so families can get in touch with you.
• Use Google Forms: Have students sign up for calls through Google Phone Numbers, which is anonymous. Use Google Hangout if you'd like to see one another as you speak. You also can use Doxy.me, which is a free, HIPPA-compliant service for telehealth and no accounts needed for students/families.
• Video school counseling curriculum lessons to help students better understand major themes within the three pillars of school counseling (Academic, College/Career and Social/Emotional) and ask them to respond to these lessons. Email these videos, post them on your school's social media, add them to your Google Classroom, etc. Need help with lessons? We've got you covered! Take a look at the following lessons provided by the Kentucky Department of Education: 
  
  • Elementary Bullying and Resilience Lessons
  • Elementary Career Exploration, Academic Advising, Social/Emotional Lessons
  • Middle/High School Career Exploration, Academic Advising, Social/Emotional Themes
  • Google Classroom with Lessons Exploring Social/Emotional Health, Career Exploration and Academic Advising (JOIN CODE: 7izff3c)
• Use Your Data: What interventions can you follow-up on during this time based on your attendance, behavior and course-passing data? Can you call your families of students with chronic absenteeism, multiple discipline referrals or students who are on the verge of failing courses or being retained?

March 13, 2020

Coronavirus Resources from the American School Counseling Assocation

Colorín Colorado: "Coronavirus: Multilingual Resources for Schools"

National Association of School Psychologists: "Talking to Children About the Coronavirus: A Parent Resource"

Teaching Tolerance: "Speaking Up Against Racism Around the New Coronavirus"

KDE: "Teaching Students about Health Promotion and Disease Prevention"

KET: The PBS LearningMedia repository is a powerful, free tool when planning Non-Traditional Instruction (NTI) lessons for students in all grade levels, including thousands of classroom-ready resources aligned to state standards.

Videos, games, lesson plans and supplemental materials can be searched by grade level, subject area, keyword and standard. And PBS LearningMedia's Google Classroom integration makes it easy to share resources with your entire class. Content contributors include KET, PBS, PBS Kids, NASA, the National Archives, the Library of Congress and many more.

When reliable internet access may be an issue, PBS KIDS broadcast programming on KET is also a great option for younger students. Free apps available at pbskids.org/apps also can be downloaded ahead of time and then students can work without internet access. PBS KIDS series and apps are aligned to curriculum areas and specific learning goals. You can find the broadcast schedule for all of KET's channels including the 24/7 PBS KIDS channel online.

If you need further or ideas for incorporating PBS LearningMedia and PBS KIDS content into your NTI day planning, email the KET Education team.