School starts when??

Since school is out for summer, I feel at an impasse. I am SO energized after ASCA to blog and talk about some of my ideas... but right now I'm not actively doing stuff (well, Pinterest counts as Professional Development, right?). I have some really good ideas from ASCA that I will be writing about as the year progresses, but for right now, they're only ideas...

So, some more about me. For the first time ever, I have had the opportunity to be a "stay-at-home" dad this summer. My wonderful wife works in community mental health so she does not get the summers off. So it has been me, our (just turned) 3 year old son and our 4 (almost 5) year old daughter. Anyone with kids has probably watched at least one episode of Phineas and Ferb (heck, even without kids you may have watched it)... The theme song states:

There's 104 days of summer vacation, then school comes along just to end it...

There's 104 days of summer vacation??

Wrong! I had 74 days of summer vacation and as of today I am down to 28 :(

SO what's on my to-do list? Well, last year my office was very random looking. I set it up best I could at the beginning of the year, but since it was my first year, I wasn't sure what I wanted where or what I would need when. So I just kept adding stuff and at the end I was just staring at stuff everywhere. So I've been planning and thinking and Pinning... and I hope my ideas come together to be the most peaceful place for students to come in to.

Pictures to come!

-JW

Do I really want my first post to be titled "Welcome"?...

I guess it's true... the first post IS the hardest!

Since you're here, let me start by telling you about myself. My name is Johnathon Allen and I am an Elementary School Counselor. In 2007 I graduated with my Undergraduate Degree in Psychology and Criminology and I worked in Community Mental Health for about six years. In 2010 I began my Graduate Degree in School Counseling at Indiana State University and graduated in 2012. After graduating, my wife and I (along with our two kiddos) moved across the state for my career in School Counseling.

In our District, we have six Elementary Schools and three Elementary School Counselors. So, as your "Everyday Math" would leave you to deduce, I service two schools. Both schools have just over 350 between the seven grade levels. Once school is the Falcons  and one school is the Wildcats, and that is how I will address each school in these posts...

Oh yea, your probably wondering why I'm blogging to begin with. Well, I got to spend four AMAZING days at ASCA's Conference in Philadelphia, PA. While there I was lucky enough to meet Danielle Schultz and Andrea Burston, who lead a Meet & Greet and a Breakout Session all related to Blogging. I also found out why I couldn't find any blogs featuring male Elementary School Counselors... because there aren't any! And I also knew that if I was searching, I probably wasn't the only one... so, instead of just sitting and waiting for someone to blog about what I need... here I am!

Coming up: I'll be posting about coming into a new town, having a new career, and my journey this past year in finding my self, finding my place, and finding ANYTHING in my new offices :) So add me to your RSS feed and hopefully you will be pleased with what you find!

-JW