MASSACHUSETTS SCHOOL COUNSELORS ASSOCIATION APRIL 2015VOL. 50, NO. 8

MASCA

MASCA Spring Conference 2015Holiday Inn, Boxborough

Tuesday, April 7, 2015

Registration/Breakfast/Exhibits7:00 a.m. – 7:50 a.m.

Morning Learning Sessions8:00 a.m. – 9:50 a.m.

Keynote Session10:20 a.m. – 11:30 a.m.

Dr. David L. Blustein“College & Career Readiness:

Preparing for Work in the Second Machine Age”

Luncheon11:30 a.m. – 12:30 p.m.

Graduate Student Poster Presentation Session12:40 p.m. – 1:35 p.m.

Afternoon Learning Sessions1:45 p.m. – 4:15 p.m.

MASCA General Session4:30 p.m. – 5:30 p.m.

Keeping Our CoolWhile Keeping Warm

By THERESA COOGANMASCA Past President

(continued on page 3)

The winter weather has been harshfor everyone across Massachusetts

and New England. Several school dis-tricts have already met their quota ofdays planned for snow days, and every-one has felt the challenge and inconve-nience this winter has already brought.I want to offer a perspective for schoolcounselors to consider as a way to show -case our role and unique skill sets.

Counselors are usually one of the onlypersons in the school who have beentrained from a prevention model. Wecan highlight this skill set and apply theMA Model for Comprehensive SchoolCounseling Programs, which advocatesfor prevention programming throughseveral delivery methods. This effortapplies to the entire school community,and it demonstrates to other stakehold-ers how we address challenges.

Here are some topics for you to con-sider when building a one-unit or multi-unit curriculum that supports and fos-ters adaptive growth and development:

• time management and organiza-tional skills

• healthy and adaptive coping skills• constructive communication during

stressful and challenging situations• self-advocacy for needs• online communication skills (for

2 COUNSELOR’S NOTEBOOK

Resources at Your FingertipsBy DONNA BROWN

MASCA Executive Director

H ave you taken a look at the web-site www.Kids.gov yet? It’s a great

site for counselors, teachers, and parentsof elementary and middle school students.Sponsored by the federal government,this site provides information, activities,lesson plans, and more in a clean, easy-to-read format. If you sign up for thenewsletter, you will receive updates everyfew days.

Some of the information is orientedtowards classroom teachers. I often down -load it, print it out, and share it with mycolleagues. For example, today’s update

features an announcement from the Officeof the President:

“Starting this fall, every 4th-grader

across the country will receive a familypass for one year’s free admission to allof our national parks, monuments, forests,wildlife refuges, and waterways. It’s partof the President’s initiative to help kidstake a break from their screens and go outand explore our amazing public lands.”

One of the best sections on the web-site is “Jobs.” This section is full of videointerviews with everyone from a marinepilot to a chef to an FBI agent. These arereally useful when addressing collegeand career readiness and can serve as asubstitute for a career fair or classroomcareer visits. Most of the interviews arein the three to four minute range.

Additional references are made to siteslike the Smithsonian’s “Q?rius,” whichdeals with Natural Science and History.Here I found a very well-done video,Earth Science Careers: Not Just Rocks,by the U.S. Geological Survey. Severalcareer games are also presented. I’ve usedseveral of these resources very successfullywith both upper elementary and lowermiddle school.

An entire section is dedicated to “On -line Safety.” Here, counselors can find awealth of materials on bullying, cyber-bullying, the FCC, and games to helpstudents understand the concepts of bul-lying and harassment and how to staysafe while using the internet. Articles,videos, and games help explain the prob-lems and reinforce safety issues. All ofthese can enhance lessons on bullyingand safety.

Other sections that can supportMASCA standards include “Exerciseand Eating Healthy” and “Health andSafety.” Lessons can also be developedfrom the “Money” section, which pro-vides games and videos.

Additionally, if counselors are teamteaching or if they are using subject spe-cific materials to teach study skills, Irecommend taking a look at the teacherresources in the sections: Math, SocialStudies, Government, History, Art andMusic, Reading and Writing, and Sci-ence. Included are lesson plans, videos,worksheets, and more. This is your taxdollar at work! Take advantage of thissplendid opportunity. ■

SHARING RESOURCESCurriculum templates and MA Model research can be found on

MASCA’s website. To share your own materials, go to:MAmodel@masca.org

COOGAN (continued from page 1)

2014 – 2015 OFFICERS

PRESIDENTTINA KARIDOYANESMansfield High School250 East Street, Mansfield, MA 02048E-mail: president@masca.org

PAST PRESIDENTTHERESA A. COOGAN, Ph.D.Bridgewater State UniversityBridgewater, MA 02325Tel. 508-531-2640E-mail: theresa.coogan@bridgew.edu

PRESIDENT-ELECTRUTH CARRIGANWhitman-Hanson Regional High School600 Franklin Street, Whitman, MA 02382Tel. 781-618-7434 • Fax 781-618-7098E-mail: Ruth.Carrigan@whrsd.org

VICE PRESIDENT ELEMENTARYVERONICA KNIGHTLowell Elementary School175 Orchard Street, Watertown, MA 02472Tel. 617-926-2666E-mail: veronica.knight@watertown.k12.ma.us

VICE PRESIDENT MIDDLE / JUNIOR HIGHKATHLEEN SCOTTE-mail: scottk@amesburyma.gov

VICE PRESIDENT SECONDARYJOHN S. STEEREWellesley High School50 Rice Street, Wellesley, MA 02481Tel. 781-446-6290 x4653 • Fax 781-446-6308E-mail: john_steere@wellesley.k12.ma.us

VICE PRESIDENT ADMINISTRATORSTBA

VICE PRESIDENT POSTSECONDARYJOHN MARCUSDean College99 Main Street, Franklin, MA 02038Tel. 508-541-1509 • Fax 508-541-8726E-mail: jmarcus@dean.edu

VICE PRESIDENT COUNSELOR EDUCATORSMEGAN KRELL, Ph.D.; AMY L. COOK, Ph.D.E-mail: vpcounselored@masca.org

VICE PRESIDENT RETIREESJOSEPH D. FITZGERALD, Ed.D.5 Progress Street, Weymouth, MA 02188Tel. 781-264-3426E-mail: jdfitz1831@gmail.com

EXECUTIVE DIRECTORDONNA M. BROWNAdjunct Professor, UMass BostonP.O. Box 366, 779 Center StreetBryantville, MA 02327Tel. 781-293-2835E-mail: executivedirector@masca.org

TREASURERASHLEY CARON25 Belmont Ave., Stoughton, MA 02072Tel. 508-212-0676E-mail: ashcicero@hotmail.com

SECRETARYKATIE KOZAKE-mail: secretary@masca.org

MEMBERSHIP COORDINATORDONNA BROWNE-mail: membership@masca.org

WEBMASTER/TECHNOLOGY COORDINATORROSS WOLFSONE-mail: webmaster@masca.org; info@masca.org

COORDINATOR OFPROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENTHELEN O’DONNELL, Ed.D.E-mail: pdchair@masca.org

COUNSELOR’S NOTEBOOK EDITORSALLY ANN CONNOLLY19 Bayberry Road, Danvers, MA 01923Tel. 978-774-8158 • Fax 978-750-8154E-mail: sallyconnolly@att.net

APRIL 2015 3

when students have extra time to be oncomputers/tablets/other electronic devices)

• making new friends• strategies for staying active and

healthy when indoors• healthy eating habits and ideas for

cooking/baking when kept indoors• exploring apps recommended for re -

inforcing age-appropriate developmentalskills

• suggestions for parents about howto keep children engaged in learning dur-ing weather-related school closures

While all of these topics can be helpfulin our immediate winter months, they areall broader skill sets that will informstudents as citizens in the twenty-firstcentury. And these skill sets are integralparts of the MA Model and the ASCANational Model.

Remember: Know your audience. Areyou targeting students, parents, or teach-ers /staff at the school? Secondly, iden-tify your topic area and create learningobjectives so that you will be most effec-tive. As you create learning objectives, usethe S.M.A.R.T. Goal approach, makingeach goal specific, measurable, attain-able, realistic, and time-oriented. For in -formation on the S.M.A.R.T Goals, refer

to the MASCA or ASCA websites. Havingthese learning objectives will also help youidentify an evaluation method in order toensure that your curriculum was effective.

Delivery options include, but are notlimited to: individual meetings, small-group meetings, large-group meetings,newsletters that are made in hard copyor electronically available, e-mail com-munications, letters mailed home tofamilies, and assemblies with the entireschool.

Collaborating and sharing strategiesfor how other schools are managing theobstacles of this winter can also be help-ful. Many MASCA affiliates have beenable to hold their scheduled meetings.And, the beginning of April will show-case the Annual Spring MASCA Con-ference as a platform to encourage part-nership, networking, and sharing ofgreat ideas.

School counselors are among the besttrained personnel in the school to helpthe entire school community navigatethrough the challenges of this winter. Byusing our training, we can guide the schoolcommunity forward, and by showcasingsome of our training and skill sets, wecan indirectly advocate for our role.

Stay warm, Massachusetts! ■

4 COUNSELOR’S NOTEBOOK

S pring is finally arriving! It is not toolate to consider participating in pro-

fessional development offered by yourlocal affiliates or MASCA. Keep an eye onthe MASCA website (www.masca.org)for current news and updates.

Registration is now open for 2015 MA

Model Institutes. Dates and sites are beingconfirmed soon. E-mail me at helenod@att.net or MAmodel@masca.org for in for -mation about Institute training duringthe summer and fall.

Can you believe the MA Model forComprehensive School Counseling Pro-

grams is approaching its 10th birthday?Congratulations to the original writingteam for making this MA initiative possi-ble. And thanks to former Commissionerof Education, Dr. David Driscoll, for facil-itating the endorsement of the MA Model.

Watch for information about threenew graduate course opportunities of fer -ing PDPs or three graduate credits andfor recorded PD webinars. You will bekept current via MASCA e-blasts andwebsite postings. The courses being de -signed are:

• College Advising • Financing Postsecondary Education

(online), fall offering• Building School Counseling Cur-

riculum As you organize your materials from

the MASCA Spring Conference and pastMASCA PD workshops, gather your Cer-tificates of Attendance/Evidence of Learn-ing Forms. You must have a minimum of10 documented hours of PD to earn a PDPcertificate. You can yoke together certifi-cates to meet the minimum of 10 hours.

If you have paid the $25 PDP fee andhave not submitted your paperwork fora PDP certificate, send your paperwork tome at 10 Maplewood Terrace, Hadley,MA 01035. If you have not paid for yourPDPs, mail a $25 check made out toMASCA. Don’t forget to submit the orig-inal and a copy of your Certificates ofAttendance PLUS a self-addressed,stamped envelope. (PDP protocol isavailable on MASCA’s website.)

I am taking this opportunity to an -nounce that my tenure as MASCA’s Pro-fessional Development Chair has ended.MASCA by-laws state that the positionis a three-year appointment with a limitof three consecutive terms.

The other position that I have servedin has been as Coordinator of ProfessionalDevelopment, an appointment made byeach MASCA president when his /herterm of office begins. I will also not becontinuing in this position.

It has been a pleasure to plan and workwith wonderful colleagues to bring youcurrent and relevant professional devel-opment opportunities.

Have a wonderful spring. ■

Professional Development UpdatesBy HELEN C. O’DONNELL, Ed.D.

MASCA Professional Development Coordinator

APRIL 2015 5

A STATEWIDE COLLABORATIVE HELPING ALL STUDENTS BECOME COLLEGE AND CAREER READY

If you have implemented a new or different counseling activityto help your students “reach higher,” please let us know by following

the link below. We are excited to hear about the impact you aremaking on the lives of your students.

Reach Higher Pledge Link: http://goo.gl/forms/lJ6GnmxzLLTo learn more about the initiative, e-mail Ruth.Carrigan@whsrd.org.

NEWS FROM DESE

College and Career Readiness:Tools and Resources

DESE has created materials for schools,districts, and their partners to assist inplanning for college and career readiness.

The Early Warning ImplementationGuide is designed for districts and schoolsin Massachusetts that are using EWISand other sources of local data to iden-tify, diagnose, support, and monitor stu-dents in grades 1-12. Tools and check-lists are given for each step in the process.It is available online and, by request, inprinted form.

The Career Development EducationGuide provides a variety of career dev -elopment education (CDE) activities of -fered by many schools and communitiesin Massachusetts, along with definitionsand frameworks to assist with efforts tocreate, expand and/or improve CDE.

The Massachusetts Work-BasedLearning Plan is a diagnostic, goal-set-ting, and assessment tool designed to drivelearning and productivity on the job.

The Massachusetts Guide for Imple-menting Individual Learning Plans(ILP) provides guidance for the implemen-tation and use of the Individual LearningPlan (ILP) as a student-directed collegeand career planning tool. The MassGradMinute, which gives a synopsis of theguide, is a student-directed, multi-yearplanning tool designed to increase studentunderstanding of the relevance of whatthey do now to their future success.

Massachusetts Early College Designsprovides an overview of early collegemodels in the Commonwealth and des -cribes a spectrum of programming, adashboard of information, and high-lights of local implementation.

Operation AmeriCorps: FundingOpportunity: This is a new opportunityfrom AmeriCorps members, with a focuson two areas, one specifically around highschool graduation and postsecondary out -comes. For information, contact Massachu-setts Service Alliance, 617-542-2544. ■

6 COUNSELOR’S NOTEBOOK

MASCA Spring Pre-ConferenceHoliday Inn, Boxborough

Monday, April 6, 2015

Registration2:00 p.m. – 6:30 p.m.

For both pre-conference workshops and general conference attendees and exhibitors

Preconference Workshop*3:00 p.m. – 6:00 p.m.

Speaker: Dr. Seda Ebrahimi“Eating Disorders in Adolescence”

The workshop will discuss eating disorders in both girls and boysand recommended interventions and strategies.

MASCA President’s Opening Reception & Awards Ceremony6:30 p.m. – 8:30 p.m.

Sponsor: Bentley University

*No extra fee for workshop attendance. A small fee will be charged forearning Workshop PDPs. The Professional Development Coordinator

will provide information upon check-in.

RESEARCH NOTES

“Americans buy more soft drinks percapita than people in any other country.These drinks are consumed by individ-uals of all ages.”

— The Journal of Pediatrics, Cincinnati, OH,August 16, 2013.

Young people change theirsources of caffeine “Children and teens are increasingly get-ting their caffeine from coffee and energydrinks, according to a Pediatrics study.Using dietary recall data from the 1999-2010 National Health and NutritionExamination Surveys (NHANES), re -search ers assessed caffeine intake ofchildren and young adults aged 2 to 22years. They found that nearly three quar-ters drank caffeine on a given day, a pro-portion that held relatively stable overthe decade. Soda accounted for 62% ofcaffeine intake in 1999, dropping to 38%in 2010. Coffee’s influence increased from10% to 24%, and energy drinks, whichwere not a category in 1999, accounted for6% of caffeine consumption in 2010.”

— Kelly Young, “More Children Getting TheirCaffeine from Coffee and Energy Drinks,” NEJMJournal Watch, February 11, 2014.

Energy drinks linked tohyperactivity “A study of middle school children whoconsume energy drinks are at a 66 percenthigher risk for inattention and hyperac-tivity symptoms, says a study by the YaleSchool of Public Health. The researchwas announced on Feb. 9, 2015, and waspublished in the journal Academic Pedi-atrics. Researchers say that this findingsupports current recommendations thatlimit or ban the consumption of energydrinks by children….

Researchers say that more research isrequired to improve their understandingof the association between sweetenedbeverages and hyperactivity. Previousresearch shows a strong link betweenattention deficit hyperactivity disorder(ADHD) in children and increased sus-ceptibility to injuries, poor academicoutcomes, and more problems with peerrelationships.”

— Carola Finch, “Energy drinks increase kids’risk for developing hyperactivity and inattention,”http://www.examiner.com/article/energy-drinks-increase-kids-risk-for-developing-hyperactivity-and-inattention, February 9, 2015. ■

APRIL 2015 7

G rief affects everyone in a differentmanner and can take years to

resolve, so it is imperative that we haveappropriate strategies to help our stu-dents cope after they have experienced atraumatic loss. Working with studentswho have suffered the loss of a loved oneor who are, in some way, grieving canbe a challenge for those of us who haveminimal experience in this situation.

I first worked with a student who wasgrieving the sudden loss of one of herparents during my practicum experienceas a graduate student. Needless to say, thiswas a unique experience as I scrambledto think what I could say to this younggirl to try and console her. I quickly real-ized that there wasn’t anything specificthat I could say. I could not take awayor reduce her emotional pain with words,as many of us might feel compelled to do.So how could I help her?

Each counselor has his or her own

strategies to use when working withgrieving students, and it’s important todetermine which strategy works best forourselves. The strategy that I found tobe most effective is to allow students toexpress themselves in an artistic manner.

Because children and adolescents arestill in the process of cognitive develop-ment, simply talking about their feelingsmay not be the most effective way to helpthem process their grief. It may not nec-essarily be the case that students do notwish to talk, but rather they do not knowhow to verbalize their thoughts and feel-ings. It may also be the first time the stu-dent is going through grief or loss, thuscompounding the experience for them.

When using an artistic approach, thecounselor can provide materials such asmarkers and paper and allow the studentto visually express his/her thoughts. Thismethod provides students with an outletfor their emotional energy or even ex -

haustion from having an endless arrayof thoughts that accompany grief. Stu-dents may find it easier to talk to thecounselor when their energy is directedtoward a drawing.

Some students may not speak at all.In that case, the student could writedown their thoughts for their counselorto read.

What is important is that you are pro-viding your student with a safe space toprocess his or her grief. Even if there isonly minimal communication, the studentwill leave your office with some relief,knowing that you were there to providea quiet space to grieve and process.

There are many more strategies coun-selors can consider when working withgrieving students. Most importantly, forthose students who need in-depth, outsidecounseling assistance, we should keep anupdated list of local professionals whospecialize in grief counseling. ■

Helping Students Handle Grief and LossBy KIMBERLY LEFEBVRE

M.Ed. Student in School Counseling at Bridgewater State University

PRSRT STDU.S. POSTAGE PAIDNEWBURYPORT, MA

PERMIT NO. 96

Massachusetts School Counselors Association, Inc.COUNSELOR’S NOTEBOOK

Sally Ann Connolly, Editor

IN CASE OF NON-DELIVERY, RETURN TO:Donna M. BrownP.O. Box 366Bryantville, MA 02327

DESE MonthlyWebinars

4/14/15Summer Transition Programs

5/12/15Individual Learning Plans

6/09/15MA Model for Comprehensive

School Counseling Programs

MassGrad ShowcaseMay 6, 2015

An opportunity to celebrateand share the great work

happening across the state inincreasing graduation rates and

reducing dropout rates.

Register online atwww.surveymonkey.com/

MassGradShowcase

MASCA Pre-ConferenceMonday, April 6

&

MASCA SpringConference

Tuesday, April 7

Holiday Inn, Boxborough

Your membership renewal date is indicated by year and month on your address label above.To renew your membership, go to MASCA’s website, www.masca.org.