Welcome to our 3rd edition of Unusual Professional Development! Loni and Jake share some recommendations for our listeners regarding some reads and listens that could benefit school counselors during the summer months. We hope everyone is enjoying their summer and we will see you in July with episodes over our upcoming book club: The Anxious Generation.

We see your questions on the email listerv, and are ready to talk class rank! Are you ready to pitch to your local school board, have you read the research behind reporting class rank?

Listen as Loni tells the story of moving Chadron High School from a traditional class rank/valedictorian system to a cum laude system and the benefits.

Why Stop Reporting Class Rank?

1. Reduction in kids avoiding challenging classes in order to maintain a class ranking

2. Force colleges and scholarship providers to consider the student's body of work as opposed to rank

3. Excessive competition with classmates

Listen and learn how you can challenge the status quo in your own district if needed.

Join Jake and Loni as they wrap up the first ever @NSCApod Book Club with the final chapters of Hope Rising. Listen as they go through 15 tips and tricks to incorporate hope and increase hope scores in students and colleagues for educators everywhere.

Don't forget to join us Thursday, May 23rd LIVE Zoom NSCA discussion happy hour! Time TBD

This week Jake welcomes guest Rachel Catlett - former NSCA School Counselor of the Year, current NSCA Governing Board President, and current Director of School Counseling at Doane University.

Listen to Rachel and Jake talk about why school counselors should be using the ASCA Position Statements, where to find them, and how they are created.

Join in for the third episode of the mini-series @NSCApod Book Club studying the book Hope Rising by Casey Gwinn and Chan Hellman. “Hope is measurable. Hope is malleable. Hope changes lives. Hope Rising provides a roadmap to measure hope in your life, assess what may have robbed you of the power of hope, and then provides strategies to increase hope.“

To join the club grab your copy of Hope Rising wherever you buy your books and get ready for some great conversations led by @NSCApod School Counseling in Nebraska hosts. Each month an episode will drop discussing chapters and how we can apply them to our daily lives and our role as school counselors and educational leaders.

This month we discuss chapters 9-16, we talk all things covered in these chapters including the stories and quotes that caught our attention, ACE scores, our interpretation of hard data given from Gwinn and Hellman on domestic violence, obesity, and childhood abuse and how we can use the science of hope to help students find their hopeful future by increasing waypower and willpower.

At the beginning of each month, we will dedicate an episode to the book study, and on Thursday, May 23rd get your favorite beverage ready as we will host a live Zoom to have a social hour, discuss the book, and collaborate to celebrate another successful year of school! ALL ARE WELCOME HERE! You belong, whether you read the whole book, part of the book, or just want to collaborate with great professionals and make connections with other school counselors and educators.

Follow, like and subscribe wherever you get your podcasts and make sure you get on our new Instagram Page @NSCApod for book updates and a School Counselors in Nebraska

The ACT has been the standard in the Midwest for many years as the nesessary admission assessment that students need to take to get into a 4-year college. Join Jake and Loni as they discuss the pros and cons of navigating the ACT as school counselors with students, families, and post-secondary institutions. The ACT: The quintessential love/hate relationship? Join us to dive in!

Let's talk about Breaking The Cycle of Reactive School Counseling Practices: Hatching Results. Mindi and Angie join us on School Counseling in Nebraska to prep for their Keynote presentation at the Nebraska School Counselors Elementary Conference coming up!

The NSCA Elementary School Counselor Conference is just over a week away. It will be held on Friday, March 22nd at the Lied Lodge and Conference Center in Nebraska City. Come enjoy a relaxing day full of networking, learning and shopping for Elementary specific books, fidgets, brain tools, puppets and more. REGISTRATION CLOSES AT MIDNIGHT today so register now so you don't miss out. The $130 registration (NSCA member rate) includes a copy of the book "Hatching Results for Elementary School Counseling."

This 270 page book is full of TIer 1 lessons and activities that you can take back and immediately implement in your school counseling program.
Objectives:

• Identify priority lesson topics that ALL students need and deserve in all three domains
• Create lesson plans that are focused on "teaching" and not "presenting"
• Assess students' attitudes, skills and knowledge to support behavior change
• Draft pre/post test questions that align to measurable objectives and ASCA Mindsets & Behaviors
• Explain the importance of sharing school counseling program results with key partners
• Create a Flashlight, 1-Pager or Highlight Reel to showcase results of Tier 1 interventions
• Create charts/graphs that highlight student success and outcomes
• Identify things that keep school counselors locked into a cycle of reactive and inefficient school counseling practice

Hope Rising by Casey Gwinn and Chan Hellman. “Hope is measurable. Hope is malleable. Hope changes lives. Hope Rising provides a roadmap to measure hope in your life, assess what may have robbed you of the power of hope, and then provides strategies to increase hope.“
To join the club grab your copy of Hope Rising and get ready for some great conversations led by @NSCApod School Counseling in Nebraska hosts Jake Wilems and Loni Watson.

Each month an episode will drop discussing chapters and how we can apply them to our daily lives and our role as school counselors and educational leaders.

Follow, like, and subscribe wherever you get your podcasts, and make sure you get on our new Instagram Page @NSCApod for book club updates and a School Counselors in Nebraska 👀 GIVEAWAY👀.

Today we will discuss Chapters 1-8 on the March 1st episode. At the beginning of each month, we will dedicate an episode to the book study, and on Thursday, May 23rd get your favorite beverage ready as we will host a live Zoom to have a social hour, discuss the book, and collaborate to celebrate another successful year of school!

ALL ARE WELCOME HERE! You belong, whether you read the whole book, part of the book, or just want to collaborate with great professionals and make connections with other school counselors and educators.

Don't forget to follow us on Instagram and join the giveaway!

GIVEAWAY

To enter the $25 Amazon card giveaway

1) Follow @NSCApod on Instagram

2) Comment on our book club post to let us know you are IN!

3) Like and share the post so other great counselors and educators can join us in learning more about HOPE

4) Follow School Counseling in Nebraska wherever you get your podcasts!

Book Club Schedule:

Listen to the School Counseling in Nebraska podcast to get all the details on the upcoming @NSCApod Book Club and snag your copy of HOPE RISING.

March 3rd - Chapter 1-8 podcast/social media discussion

April 7 - Chapter 9-16 podcast/social media discussion

May 5 - Chapter 17-22 podcast/social media discussion

Thursday, May 23rd LIVE Zoom NSCA discussion happy hour! Time TBD