Last Day

It is always bitter-sweet to finally arrive at the last staff day of the school year ... a time to say goodbye... a time to celebrate another successful year ... tearful goodbyes .... expressions of undying friendship ... the last glimpses of those who are leaving the profession ....and of course, the mostly funny, sometimes awkward, shenanigans that go on at the year end staff meeting ..... are all proof  that many of us in the education profession enjoy an extended adolesence ....  this annual event is reassurance that "community" still exists and is valued .... it brings back memories of life as it was decades ago .... when communities were smaller ... aunts and uncles lived just down the street ... everyone knew everyone else ... and looked out for them.

End of Year Bottle Neck

The end of June is a dance of increasing complexity as the Counselling Department tries to meet the needs and wishes (rational and emotional) of many diverse groups including first and foremost students who are trying to coordinate their courses with highschool grad requirements, university entrance requirements, parents hopes, student hopes  and so forth.  Also included is the ELL department, the LST department, the math department, the English department and administrative needs and wishes.  All these needs and requests need to be coodinated with the "failure" lists, recommendation lists, summer school registration lists, online school registration lists. When dealing with 1500 students (and 3.0 FTE counsellors) this task of timetabling for the upcoming school year becomes in intense process requiring careful coordination and open communication well ahead of the end of June.

On Counsellors and Being Human

Why is it that counsellors sometimes forget to apply the skills and knowledge they encourage in others' lives - into their own?  A counselling department is similar to a family.  Other departments within the school are similar to families in the neighbourhood that we interact with and, with whom, to varying degrees, we are locked in mutual interdependence. Norms around decision making, communication and power sharing need to be clearly established (but often are not) in order for harmony to exist.   One to the most common difficulties that can arise is failing to apply basic concepts from group dynamics research.  We are all familiar with the stages groups go through: forming, norming, storming, performing and adjourning.  What is often overlooked is that whenever  a member leaves or a new member joins the department (especially an influential member), or outside forces impose change .... the group is forced to go through the initial stages of development again ... back to forming and norming and potentially quite dramatic -- storming.  The trick is to recognize that this is normal for all groups - counselling departments are not immune.  Indeed, counsellors more than anyone need to recognize what is happening and facilitate their own group process and take responsibility for a healthy new group to emerge complete with new (or at least tweaked) norms, new decision making methods, new leadership styles, well established communication protocols and so on.  The group's newcomers can assist by recognizing established group norms, while not being imprisoned by them, and working gently toward change, if needed.  Well educated and skillful counsellors can utilize their group dynamics training to facilitate a peaceful transition leading to order, productivity and harmony while allowing  individuals the maximum possible professional autonomy.   Otherwise, counsellors will experience the same intense disruption that a blended family may experience upon the arrival of a new parent.  Counsellors are human too.

Year End Interviews

I've been spending my days having year end meetings with students I have identified as needing additional counselling support this year.  It is amazing how difficult some teens'  lives are and how well they (seem) to cope.

Yearbook Distribution Day

One of the time honoured traditions in any highschool, anywhere, is the annual distribution and signing of yearbooks in June.  Our 1492 students took part in this ritual with maximum energy and enthusiasm  today.
Each request to sign a yearbook ... a confirmation of undying friendship .... and then the intense reflection ... searching for just the right words to convey the importance of  the relationship ... how to summarize so much in a few sentences? .... and then, a moment of inspiration and the golden words are conveyed to the page, returned to the yearbook owner ... and the cycle repeats.... sometimes for hours until all yearbooks are full of glowing words of praise and encouragement ... all to be eagerly read and re-read later on ....

One of the Joys of Counselling

Today, after many months of worry and hard work and while overcoming a language barrier, one of my quieter Asian International students let me know she had been offered admission to the prestigious University of Toronto.  When I offered my congratulations on her becoming a "university" student ... she could not quite contain her shy but definite expression of joy.  I watched her face open up as if the clouds which had been present for months  suddenly parted and for a brief moment her self-conscious but radiant smile filled the room.... and then just as quickly the clouds returned ... it was an honour to share her moment of triumph.

Fix Then Fix Again ...

A great deal of today was spent fixing next year's student timetables .... some for the second time ... it is always a challenge factoring in which students will go to summer school or the online school in July as they say they will and which won't ... all of which impacts on the timetables that need to be fixed in the Aug/Sept startup ... with close to 1500 students all of whom have eight courses and a variety of needs and hopes ... timetabling can end up keeping a highschool counsellor busy for a large part of the day.

Personality Testing

Spent some time discussing the results of a fairly reliable personality/career inventory with a student.  It is always difficult to be 17 years old and feel the pressure to "choose a career".  Things have come a long way since I was in highschool many decades ago but this process remains a real challenge for senior students and those that seek to help them. 

Elementary Counsellor Collaboration

We spent the morning sharing muffins and coffee with our colleagues from our elementary associate schools.  It was a great opportunity to get to know one another better, discuss common concerns and plan ways to support students transitioning from elementary school to highschool. Research shows the transitions are key to either retaining or losing at risk students. 

Japanese Students

Today we had about 30 Japanese highschool students and their teachers drop by for an afternoon.  The students taught our students several games and visited classrooms.  I ended up with a folded paper swan to keep as souvenir.  It is amazing how similar adolescents are even though they are from opposite sides of the planet.  Working in the multi-cultural and international environment here for the past decade has been a pleasant education in human nature.

Big Night

The Grad Commencement ceremony went very well.  We are tired today as we had well over 300 students and it took several hours but it was a great time and a big moment in these students' lives.