…ove my dual monitor setup for productivity and ease of use. I will post an update of why dual monitors rock soon but check out this flashback post to learn more. Up until Christmas break – I had been using my laptop as one of my two monitors, but I recently moved another monitor from home to work and had two (closely) matching monitors to use at work. This let me do one important thing. Move my laptop into a vertical stand. This is a stand that le…
…e BTS sales, remembering what you did this time last year, and the time to update, create, and change all of you school documents. I spent some time this week (between my million scheduling meetings) to update my course flowchart that compares HS grad requirements to our different college requirements. It also reminded me why I like LucidChart so much. I went from an ugly spreadsheet looking version of our grad reqs (which I didn’t create) to this…
…ce. This document is shared with our staff and the teachers go through and update their own students throughout the year. Overall – a great system and it makes the system much easier on everyone. So what’s the problem, you ask? The problem with some of these cloud storage and documenting tools is two-fold: one is that it is only as strong as its weakest link and two is that the data is hosted elsewhere and you lose some control over it. I am less…
…ut together a resource for my students and parents that I will continue to update that is similar to the 4 year college handbook, but focused on the 112 CA Community Colleges and the process of enrollment. While I know many of you are from outside of CA – you can easily adjust this for your state. I primarily share this electronically with students and parents, but do bring printed copies to meetings and keep some in the office for parents. I plan…
…ngs is how student-centered everyone is. As we bring new cases forward and update on ongoing situations, people get invested in the success and wellbeing of our kids. It really is a great thing to watch happen. Now as we get close to our meeting times, my principal will pop in and ask “Hey – are we doing our meeting today? I was just checking”. People look forward to collaborating together. We have also seen great results from working together. Co…
…t or phone out into the halls and track data, Chromecast a presentation or update a spreadsheet with attendance all on the go. Then when I get back to my office – the information is all there ready to rock and roll. One change in recent past has been that you now install Drive plus Docs, Slides, Sheets, etc. I cannot tell you how much I love the Google set of apps. There are some hidden gems like Keep & Goggles that people should also check out. B…
…sands – email carries the news of pending deliveries, job openings, family updates and great inheritances from Nigerian princes. As school counselors – we have so many great ways to use email as a tool. This article will primarily be focused on using email in relation to someone’s school counseling blog – but the ideas here are expandable! Take the idea of an email list for a school based blog writing about college applications that parents and st…
…Over the next week or two – I will be making some changes to the site. The site will be up and down over that time. When it is public – it will not be in “full display mode”. I will make an announcement and update this post when the site is re-published! Happy summer!…
…ce has been good about listening to their users and I have seen some great updates in the last two years – there are still some frustrations and things that I think could be improved to make counselors’ lives easier. While the things below are not game changers and don’t change my love of Naviance – I think people should know some of the downsides to any program or tool they are considering implementing. Student Information System – Naviance Integ…
Use Google Maps Engine to display info in a new and interesting way! Update: This tool is back! Access the custom maps by going to google.com/maps and in the hamburger menu (the horizontal line menu button the the upper left of the screen) select “My Maps”. From there you can create any number of maps. Simply then search for the point of interest and add it to your map via the pop up menu and corresponding button. See the video for more details….
