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I’ve worked as a school counselor and character coach at Westwood-Bales in Friendswood for a dozen years now. Enough years so that my first class of first graders is graduating from high school this month, and that’s prompted a lot of reflective thinking.
The wisdom of German writer, artist and politician Johann Wolfgang von Goethe has been on my mind a lot lately: If we treat people as they are, we make them worse. If we treat people as they ought to be, we help them become what they are capable of becoming.
Gratitude, my one little word, is on my heart and mind a lot these days, in part because I read a book over the winter break that suggests that we give thanks in all things. But is it possible to look for something to be grateful for in every situation?
Extra, extra, read all about it! Good News Nelson by Jodi Moore will be released by Story Pie Press and heading to a bookstore near you in early December 2012, and that’s good news! Why is that good news, you ask?
International Day of Peace is just around the corner; what will you and your peacemakers be doing to celebrate September 21, 2012? At Westwood-Bales Elementary, the Art and Music teachers are working with the counselor (that’s me!) to collectively pull off Whirled Peace. Pinwheels For Peace, that is.
The pageantry and passion of the Olympics this past month got me to thinking about the upcoming school year and sparked this inquiry: How can we prepare our students to be Character Olympians in the classroom? And that question brought about this visual representation of going for the gold, because Character Always Wins.
As darkness descended upon us, we made a last-minute decision on the Fourth to take in the Sounds of Freedom Fireworks Extravaganza. So we threw our chairs into the back of the truck and headed down the road to the celebration. We parked and walked a few blocks to a prime spot on a hill »
It started with a planning meeting and an inquiry: What if we were to replace the dress-up days and collect a different item to support a local charitable organization each day?
As the tenth anniversary of 9/11 approaches, Barbara Gruener reviews Red, White and Blue by Debbie Clement.
