Tennessee School Counselor & Administrator Leadership Institute

Chattanooga is the place to be this week!

I was fortunate enough to lead one of the pre-conference sessions today for counselors and administrators to incorporate fun ways to use data to create goals, track progress and monitor success. The session was very well received--probably because I had the cream of the crop counselors!

The National Center for Youth Issues does an exceptional job planning, coordinating, and facilitating all of the logistics to make this conference run like a well-oiled machine. This definitely isn't their first rodeo. Robert Rabon is truly a master conference planner.

Julia Cook is the keynote speaker tomorrow for the luncheon--she is just the best! Not only is she a prolific writer of over 50 children's books, she's an amazing speaker who inspires and empowers all of us to shine our light a little brighter. I can't wait to hear her talk tomorrow, "Unlearning Helplessness -- Motivating the Underachiever!"

I have 2 break-out sessions tomorrow myself, one is a new topic for me: "Learn and Share Powerful Ways to Use Technology in Your Counseling World!" and the other session is "Use Kinesthetic, Creative & Cooperative Techniques to Promote Academic & Social Development for Students (And Have Fun Too!)"

I look forward to sharing this information with the Tennessee educators again. I was here last year and was thrilled to be invited back again. I love being able to share and learn more and more at these conferences. I also appreciate being able to network with other counselors (and speakers) to refine my counseling skills to be more effective and skilled in my work. 

Every counselor has so many nuggets that they could share with others. I sometimes feel under-qualified to be the speaker, so I remind myself that I am just the "facilitator" and I'm perfectly willing at every session to let others share their nuggets with others. :)

So, I encourage you to step beyond your comfort zone and share more. If you haven't shared a favorite lesson with your counselor colleagues within your school system, do so. Submit a program proposal to your local state counselor conference--or even the national ASCA conference. Planners are always looking for new speakers and you can share valuable content that can impact more students than just the ones at your school. 

As Jana Stanfield sings:

"I cannot do all the good that the world needs, 

but the world needs all the good that I can do."