Weekly Wisdom

It does no good to teach a child to FIX errors if they don't know how to FIND them. Fountas and Pinnell

Weekly Wisdom

The objective of education is not to fill a man's mind with facts; it is to teach him how to use his mind in thinking. Henry Ford

Weekly Wisdom

Weekly Wisdom

Teacher Talk: School Tools TV

Teacher Talk: School Tools TV

Life Without A Guidance Counselor

A few years ago I was teaching and there was no guidance counselor… well there was but she had many many other duties at my school and guidance, it just didn’t happen. I was used to weekly classes taught by the guidance counselor where my students learned about how to get along, how to deal with problems, how to stay healthy, how to study, and so much more. To say I was dying without a guidance counselor would be an understatement. I knew that I had to reach my students with these topics but I just wasn’t trained and didn’t have the language and knowledge to do so. My talks were falling flat and I didn’t know how to become a more effective makeshift guidance counselor. Then I remembered a resource another teacher shared with me the year before- School Tools TV. This is in no way a sponsored post. I just love School Tools TV and wanted to share it will all of my lovely followers. 

Ok, So What is It?

School Tools TV is a website run by a man, who I swear is a genius, named Rusty. I believe Rusty is a former guidance counselor and is our virtual guidance counselor. He has a subscription website with quick little videos teaching social-emotional skills. He is the virtual guidance counselor we all need. Rusty is a real cool guy and the kids buy into him right away. He connects with them and speaks their language. Rusty has become another member of our classroom.  

There are three levels of subscription. My school pays for level 1 for me- it costs $75 per teacher and it wasn’t that hard of a sell to my administrator. I did work at a school where everyone used it and it was pretty cool. With my level 1 subscription, I get access to daily videos. These videos are so cool! Since using Rusty’s videos I’ve seen a decrease in conflict in the classroom and an increase in effective communication skills. Since I currently teach grade 1 I watch the K-2 videos but I started out watching the 3- 7 videos and they are just as great. 

How it Works in My Classroom

I decided to incorporate Rusty’s videos into my morning meeting. We start with a greeting, then we watch Rusty and for share, we discuss the prompt that Rusty has given us. Then we complete a class challenge and that’s our morning meeting! 

Here’s how one of his videos goes! It only lasts about a minute but that minute is one of the most valuable ones of my day! 

“Hi and welcome back little diamonds!” Oh yeah… he calls the K-2 kids little diamonds and I just find it so adorable. My kids identify as diamonds. This year they declared that they are not little, just diamonds. Last year one of my students shaved a diamond into his hair for Rusty. I mean that is how much the kids love him!

After greeting the little diamonds he gives a shout out to one of his classes. My classes have died when we’ve gotten a shout out. Once they tried to get me to email it to all teachers so everyone would know. One year I had to play it during an assembly so the whole elementary could know about Rusty and our shout out. 

After the shout out Rusty shares the feeling word of the week. We made the feeling word part of our calendar and it is listed there along with a picture of the feeling. This has not only helped kids identify their feelings but it helped them as readers identifying character feelings.

Then Rusty gets down to business teaching a new skill. He might teach about not giving up when you’re frustrated, or why we walk in the halls at school, or how to notice when a friend is feeling sad. Then he gives a small piece of advice that kids can try out that day and he asks a question to push their thinking further. 

His videos then end with a poem. A poem that is the first poem we glue into our poetry notebooks and one that my diamonds recite with him each and every morning. 

After the poem, the question pops up on the screen and we move into a circle to share. Sometimes we make a quick anchor chart to remind us of Rusty’s words. Sometimes we set up a little challenge for ourselves based on what was said. We might even try to do something new depending on the topic of the video.  

Try it Out

If you want to try it out or you want more information head on over to School Tools TV to learn more. There is a set of free videos if you want to try it out before diving it. I also just saw that there is a free 30-day trial. 

I know that you’ll enjoy your subscription as much as I have! 

Weekly Wisdom

Weekly Wisdom