Category: For School Social Workers

Matching the right tool to the right goal is a major focus of my work as a tech coach.  When I began in this role, I focused energy on ways to improve instruction and learning across content areas. Now I’m expanding to professionals that support students outside of the classroom. School social workers play a pivotal – and rapidly growing – role in the success of our students.

By writing clear, specific, and effective measurable goals, school social workers will be able to make data driven decisions regarding students’ needs. In addition, school social workers can monitor their effectiveness to determine if the social worker’s interventions are effective. 

Ice Breakers are a great tool for social workers to use when developing rapport with students. These activities can be used in either individual sessions or for groups. Ice Breakers are used in a variety of settings and can be changed to fit the context they’re being used in. Using these activities during the pre-affiliation stages of therapy, there’s more of a likelihood that students will loosen up, build rapport, and show up more authentically in sessions.

This academic school year, my district is starting by doing remote learning. The day that I received the news from my school district, I tried to figure out ways to connect with students. In my search, I came across a post by Bridget Hills-Yoder. She shared on a Facebook Page by the Illinois Association of School Social Workers how to create your own digital office. After I read this post, I began to work on my own digital office and I received lots of positive feedback from colleagues. Therefore, I asked Bridget if she could kindly share further details. The interview is below: