School Counselors NM

2021-22 Professional Learning Communities

These virtual, yet interactive, learning opportunities are FREE.  Please register for each individually.  It is our hope you will find one or more that interests you.  Recorded sessions and related materials can be found under Event Archives.  Questions?  Click Contact Us at the top of the screen.

Bringing Careers into Focus

Lead: Various Speakers
Session Timeframe: Three to Four 1-hour sessions
March 9, March 30 (April dates TBD)

All students can benefit from a clear career goal that serves as a guide for their educational journey.  With a destination in mind, students can discover purpose in their learning and experience enhanced motivation to embrace learning opportunities.  This professional learning community will consist of sessions from various speakers on topics related to career exploration and career readiness.  Information will be presented on career tools and resources, as well as programs that can support career exposure and skill-building.  When students see what tomorrow can bring, they can understand the purpose and significance of today.  We’ll show you how to bring careers into focus and assist students in maintaining engagement in their current educational activities.  Please join us!  

Engaging Students through Careers

Lead: Dr. Danielle Tallent
Session Timeframe: Three 1-hour sessions
February 2, 9, and 16 from 9:00-10:00 a.m.

How can we keep students motivated and engaged in the educational process?  For many students, the passion to learn and desire to participate in educational activities fades over time.  As result, educators and parents face increasing challenges in keeping students focused and engaged in learning the critical skills needed for postsecondary success.  One solution to the complex problem of declining motivation is to help students maintain a sense of purpose in their learning.  Join us in these three sessions as we discuss methods for exploring high-value careers with students and strategies for helping students connect their learning to career opportunities in their local communities. 

Career and Technical Education

Lead: Dr. Joseph Goins
Session Timeframe: second Tuesday of each month at 9:00 a.m.
beginning October 13 and ending April 13

This will be an open cohort discussion on Career and Technical Education.  Topics will include:  certifications, assessment of program, online CTE programs, how does CTE fit within the framework of an ECHS, what supports are unique, how to determine high-value careers and pathway programs, understanding and developing pathways, and effective resources & materials that can sustain progress on the pathway to career readiness.

Social and Emotional Learning

Lead: R. Keeth Matheny
Session Timeframe: 3 90-minute sessions -
September 29, October 6 and October 13 from 3:30-5:00 p.m.

Teaching and learning are all about relationships, and yet health concerns are challenging our normal systems for building positive climates and supporting students and staff. Trauma informed re-entry as well as Social and Emotional Learning will play critical roles this year as we engage in various remote, in-person, and hybrid models during COVID. Join us for this engaging look at the challenges, strategies, and levers for positive change. These are moving, interactive and highly engaging workshops that give everyone an inspiring vision for what a powerful SEL program can and should be. It covers the basics, the data, the components and best practices of SEL. There are actionable strategies to move student supports to a more proactive rather than reactive model and tie in Social and Emotional Learning as foundational to that work. Most of all, it is a collaborative experience of what SEL feels like when done well. (Each session requires a separate registration.)

Leadership in COVID

Lead: Dr. William Hayes
Session Timeframe: Three 1-hour sessions
October 22, October 29, and November 5 from 2:00-3:00 p.m.

William will discuss the wide array of challenges facing leaders during the Covid-19 pandemic and provide practical strategies to lead teachers, students, families, and the school community. This series will look at how leaders can develop routine systems and practices school wide that support increased access, opportunity, and success for diverse learners.   The sessions will identify specific measures that leaders can take to build adult capacity, leverage distributed leadership, and decrease disproportionality across a variety of domains.

Soft Skills - Employability

Lead: Trevor Stokes
Session Timeframe: Three 1-hour sessions
November 10, 17, and 24 from 9:00-10:00 a.m.

Trevor will look at crucial employability skills required for career success. He will provide strategies for helping students develop these skills using Labor Market Data and trends due to Covid-19.