Van Andel Institute Donation

Five proud authors donate to cancer research.  “Kid’s Cancer Storys” was written to help other students facing cancer in their families.  After being encouraged to publish, the book sales are donated to Van Andel Instute in the name of cancer research.

Because of the broad nature of school counseling, I find the basic Eric search to be the most useful.  www.eric.ed.gov

5 Current sites:

Tempting Tables We have 25 students working on a Tablescape to raise awareness and funds for breast cancer.

Van Andel Institute. A group of students are planning a Purple game for January 22, 2010.

Reeths-Puffer offers sale of the book on their home page.

Endurance Adventure is a leadership program for middle school boys. The program initiated at RP and is now a non-profit program offered all over West Michigan.

Girls on the Run is a national program.  Reeths-Puffer and Every Woman’s Place coordinate the Muskegon County 5K.

I had trouble with the excerpt for the picture.  I felt like wrote it several times in the “excerpt” box only to discover that it needed to go directly under the picture.

Kindergarten Blog
As I watched Kindergarten Tales, I was amazed at what some teachers are doing with students. The amount of videos that were so kid-friendly was amazing. The blog had a variety of inviting components. I am wondering if I could put some of the Girls on the Run & Endurance Adventure lessons and event footage on a blog. I think the kids would love to see themselves in action. I am also thinking I could attached the goals and objectives for all the lessons. Hmm….

25 Ways to Make a Difference
This site by a student was very interesting to me. A student was directing impact on others. We all know that when a student is organizing and guiding they are deep into Bloom’s Taxonomy. I work very hard at empowering kids to make a difference. I am wondering about having kids voice their ideas on my blog.

I appreciated the easy organization of the article. Dividing the uses of blogs into four categories was insightful for me, as I had only considered the Teacher Communication for me as a counselor. I can see where dialoguing with parents, students, and other counselors would be interesting. After the publication of Kid’s Cancer Storys, I had communication from counselors around the country. We decided that we would collaborate with others on what were doing and share ideas. This articled allowed me to understand why we quit communicating. I never thought of email as cumbersome, but it was for that use. Some people wouldn’t reply to all, so others were forwarding and we had too many scattered emails to make it worthwhile.

I also appreciated the categorization of how kids benefit from blogs. The empowerment piece is just so huge for all kids. Kids that feel empowered cause less trouble in classroom instruction. The eclectic nature of how students learn was also acknowledged. I have always appreciated the idea that there are several pieces to the puzzle. I feel the note that some administrators may be concerned helps us all be on alert that the emotional safety of kids needs to be guarded as we move forward into this next phase of education. And finally, bridging the gap between people whose pre-frontal cortex is developed to people who are still in their imagination-development stage with, shall I say, underdeveloped pre-frontal cortex was interesting. I like the idea of meeting the students where they are rather than lamenting that they aren’t where we are comfortable.

As I read the articles and watched the video, I was simultaneously excited by the possibilities and nervous by the gap between what is available and what I know.  I organize quit a few activities involving many kids from different buildings and realize that my learning more will assist in better communication.  Working with middle school students is always a challenge as they struggle to take hard copies to their parents and seldom remember the announcements.  Parents call me repeatedly to lament.

I imagine the Girls on the Run, Endurance Adventure, and Love & Logic material to be easily accessible for all.  I also imagine using the Wiki for organizing the Purple Game in January.  I know the material learned with be invaluable – once learned.

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