What's Your Story?

Hello Everyone,

For all you followers, sorry for not blogging. Grad classes and work takes me away from the blog at times.

I'll be back in a few days to blog on a project I've started at work.

Stay tuned.

Stuff Kids Say to me: Part 1.

Happy New Year everyone,

In reflection, I probably should have started logging this a long time ago but better late than never.

Each day, as I'm spending my weekdays teaching and counseling, these adorable kids always ask and say the most insightful things to me. In no particular order, here is a short list of what these little chubs (and teens) have said:

1. Do you have a son?
2. If you have a baby, would you want a boy or girl?
3. You like brown guys? 
4. You look young. How long you've been doing this for?
5. You look like my mom. You should meet her. You'd like her.
6. That's okay. People make mistakes Miss Leigh.

That's all I have so far. Stay tuned for part 2.

Clara.

Power Words: Promoting strength and positivity in young peoples lives.

Hello visitors,

I hope everyone is having a happy holidays so far.

Many thoughts and ideas sometimes come to me through reflections and dreams. During a recent night, an idea involving "power words" came to mind. Examples of such power words include:

1. kind
2. strong
3. inspirational
4. positive
5. creative
6. brave
7. determined
8. happy
9. healthy
10. radiant

The list is endless and usually includes words that address strength and health in an individual's life. In a group counseling setting, the counselor can begin by asking each student, "What's your power word for this week?" or "I have a power word for you and it's (insert power word). How can you be ___________this week?" or What is something you did that shows you were ______________this week?

This helps to generate conversation and establish rapport with young people both on an individual or group setting. Give it a try and leave your comments below.

Happy Holidays :)

Season's Greetings from our Counselling Corner.

Dear Parents and Guardians, 

            We hope that the first term of your child’s academic year has been both academically and socially enriching. Also, thank you to everyone who has welcomed me to Mountain Meadows as this year’s practicum counsellor.

            For the December issue of our newsletter, David and I would like to focus on helping kids to foster their skills in empathic awareness. As a result, we are presenting the condensed version of the Random Acts of Kindness Advent Calendar. Here are some ideas:

1.     Feed the Birds

2.    Give a compliment to a friend

3.    Donate a book to a library

4.    Bring cookies to the police of fire station

5.    Bring supplies to the SPCA shelter

6.    Leave a happy note for someone to find

7.    And my personal favorite….make a friendship bracelet for a friend.

There are so many more ideas. We hope that you, as a parent community, will help your children foster their social and emotional growth by teaching them to think and care for others this Christmas.

                                                                        Happy Holidays!

                                                                        Counsellor David & Counsellor Clara

A Scholarship named after me.

Hi everyone,

So, I was reflecting on how challenging it is for students today to pay their way through post secondary studies. I thought of how I'd like to help those in such a position.

If possible, I'd like to create the Clara Mai Yan Wong Scholarship. Valued at ten thousand dollars, this award is presented to the student who demonstrates dedication and perseverance towards achieving their childhood goals.

:) 

Male Principal teaches sewing class, Junior Achievement Student says he wants to be happy, healthy....AND Wealthy.

Sometimes, it's hard waking up for work. Especially when two out of your five working days are dedicated towards your counseling practicum.

But today's journey at work was so rewarding. It started with me finding the last ounce of java in the kitchen's coffee pot, catching a glimpse of my puffy eyes in the microwave's reflection and meeting Linda, the art teacher.

"Hi, I'm Clara. *extends hand for handshake* "I'm Linda. I teach Art."
"Oh wow. You do pottery at all? I made this mug. *points to mug*

"What, you made that mug Clara?" Well, yeah.

I explained to Linda my mug technique and she shows me her classroom afterwards.Upon seeing her teaching area, I yelled, "OH MY GOD, you have a kiln, WHAT."

"Yes, well Clara, we're going to have to get rid of the kiln due to funding cuts". It apparently costs 250,000 to operate the kiln. I expressed sadness at the loss of yet another kinesthetic/therapeutic activity in schools, but shared with Linda that I'll ask a friend if a kiln can be donated. Linda shows me the collection of items kids have made with clay and reached towards a shelf for this item:

I SQUEALED with glee as Linda handed me the mug. According to Linda, the student who made it, graduated a long time ago and has never claimed it. I think Linda sensed what I was thinking and said that I could have it. I thanked her and off I went to see which teachers needed assistance.

A few mins prior to recess, I made a pit stop to see Faye, the home economics teacher responsible for cooking and sewing. Word from the principal has it that I was responsible for teaching some hand sewing techniques to 30 students. Checking in with her, she shows me a vintage classroom (code for classroom that has been abandoned for 10 years) where heaps of sewing projects were cluttered in one pile.

I stared at the pile thinking, "Holy shit. I gotta get this shit organized before the kids rumble in". Faye laughed at some of the sewing and said that the principal, B, is responsible for teaching this sewing class.

"WHAT?"  This is my first thought. I said, "Wait, come again. Say that again? Faye laughs and says that this sewing class is actually headed by the male principal and that he would be coming in to teach it with me. I was impressed. A man who sews. I gotta see this go down and know that this will be a GOOD teaching day all right. Faye leaves me to be saying that she'll be three classrooms down teaching a cooking class.

After organizing supplies for a good 20 minutes, the kids come through the door, clamoring to find their sewing projects. Some were confused at the organization but managed to settle in. I announced to them that there were two types of scissors, one for thread and one for fabric. Amidst their listening, Principal B arrives at the door.

I guess I was mostly impressed with a dude knowing how to sew. Faye had shared with me that B's grandma taught him how to sew. The class got down to business with B and I helping various individuals with threading needles, tying knots and demonstrating a whip stitch.

In conversation, it turns out Principal B was a former police officer, corrections officer and is also a school counsellor. YAY, I thought! Another jack of all trades. We exchanged high fives for all our successes in various professions.

The day proceeded with a class of gifted students who were being introduced to entrepreneurship via the Junior Achievement program. Donald M, from the financial industry, was to arrive at the Library to do a presentation on merchandising, promotions and bookkeeping. The class was full of ideas. During introductions, they were asked to share with everyone what they would like to do as a career in the future. Answers include:

1. Engineer
2. Doctor
3. Surgeon
4. Happy
5. Professor of Astrophysics
6. Author, illustrator or cartoonist
7. Piano teacher
8. Baker, cook
9. Celebrity interviewer or optometrist.

The goal was for the whole group to come up with one business idea that will generate a profit. After brainstorming in small groups, the ideas that came up were:

1. Bake sale
2. DIY t shirts
3. Hug Elmo (this is where a student dresses up as Elmo and charges everyone 1.00 per hug).

After a tie breaker, it was decided that the group would pursue the DIY t shirts. Donald assigns groups responsible for merchandising, promotions and bookkeeping. A buzz of excitement ensues. Questions regarding, "Where are we going to get the t-shirts?" to "What does promotions mean?" are blurted out.

Promotions. I share with that group to create a design prototype and to perhaps show it off to the school via a runway show. They can lay down bricks to resemble a 'runway' for all I care.

Then I hear a student's voice in the background..."Miss Leigh? How about laying down a red carpet for the show?"

I love it when kids think out of the box.

Keep it authentic and genuine everyone.

Activities that make kids happy...

It's been two months since I've started my counselling practicum. So far racking up a total of 110 hours with both mentors. David has accepted my eager beaver, keen nature, so much so that he's made a name sign for me outside our office.

We started off the school year with addressing the social and emotional aspects of counselling through reaching out to students by visiting all classes. One of our interactive school community activities was inspired through our classroom visits where we introduced a book called "The Bad Mood" to students.

In the book, the character, 'Badger' was depicted as having a bad mood since the morning, upon awaking from his bed. Later in the story, he is seen working in his garden, one of his favorite activities. Slowly, his bad mood is lifted, presumably because Badger was doing something that he enjoys.

As a result, one of the messages to our target audience was, "What activities make you happy?" or "What do you do to extract yourself from a bad mood?" David and I wanted LOTS of responses and hoped that every student from the entire school would contribute. Here's how we got started:

There were a few responses from teachers....After one week, this is what the board looked like:

We hope that this activity has been a cathartic experience for the kids, teachers and any parent who contributed to this wall. :)