What's Up Wednesday: 1/11

What I'm Working On

College Week

Well, I guess I am technically done working on college week since it is happening right now. We are having so much fun over here with theme days, lessons about college, and career exploration. Here is a glimpse at our week of dress up fun and the connections to support college readiness!

Monday- The Road to College: Wear a spirit shirt from any of the schools that will lead you down the path to college. (Beverly, Hendrick, Clark, Plano Senior High School).

Tuesday- College Makes Dreams Come True: Wear pajamas!

Wednesday- A College Degree Lasts for Decades: Dress in your favorite decade attire (60's, 70's, 80's  etc.)

Thursday- College Spirit Day: Wear your favorite college shirt!
Friday- College Can Lead Me to My Future Career: Dress up as the career you would like to have when you are older! 

Heard Around the Halls

Back in October at an assembly, Mr. Porter (our music teacher) was on the mic and said, "I wonder where...". I know you're wondering why I didn't write his entire sentence. It's because I didn't hear it. A Kindergartener sitting in the front row screamed out, "UNDERWEAR?" and doubled over with laughter. It was so cute and I couldn't stop laughing because he couldn't stop laughing. I love working with kids.

A Counselor's Life

I am getting so excited to attend the LSSSCA (Lone Star State School Counselor's Association) conference in 2 weeks. There are a ton of amazing breakout sessions being offered and one of my favorite authors is presenting at the pre-conference learning sessions. Julia Cook is a masterful writer who writes stories that connect with students. They are hilarious and the kids always remember them from year to year.

Technology Tip

One of my sweet coworkers asked me to come help her with some tricky formatting the other day. She was putting a super cute border from Creative Clips around some text and it was distorted and wouldn't fit on the page properly. I walked down to her room and discovered the problem... the evil formatting monsters of Microsoft Word.

Dear Word, 

     I love you. I really do. You helped me get through college and grad school. You made writing 30 page papers a breeze and I appreciate you for that. But really, it's time to break up. You do nothing for me and my creative outlets anymore. 

Sincerely,

All the Teachers Who Like to Make All the Things

Ok so that's really silly, but I told her that I really only use PowerPoint to create things for counseling lessons and Teachers Pay Teachers. It is SO. MUCH. EASIER to work in powerpoint. This teacher has so many cute ideas and I keep telling her she needs to make a TPT store. Maybe she will now that she doesn't have to wrestle with the Word Monster anymore. 

Something I Am Listening To

Malcolm Gladwell: Choice, Happiness, & Spaghetti Sauce

I love Malcolm Gladwell's books and have read them all. I stumbled upon this Ted Talk that was filmed in 2004.

You can watch the entire thing. It's 17 minutes, but I'm not going to lie I was a little "lost in the sauce" for the first 5 minutes. Around minute 10, it all starts to come together with the realization that, "People don't know what they want." Then society begins to tell them what they want and they take it for face value without evaluating what would fulfill their own happiness.

Marketers realized that to make people think they are happy, you must make them turn their backs on what they currently like and give them something to aspire to...remember Grey Poupon. I think this is most evident through Social Media. You can't help but "want more" when you see what someone else has. Of course, we are only posting the best of times on our accounts, so I try to remember to look through social media sites with that filter.

The end message here is that we are all different. We cannot be forced into little boxes (or spaghetti sauce jars).  We shouldn't want something because someone says it is "special" or "the best". We should want it because we feel it in our hearts.

"In embracing the diversity of human beings, you will find a sure way to happiness."

UPlifting Inspiration