A Paper Plate And An Invitation

Happy February. Today I'm thinking about this time last year, when I was gearing up to go to Wisconsin for their annual Counselors' Conference, when we could still connect physically in a pre-conference workshop, just before the pandemic caused us to press pause and stop shaking hands. {Sigh}. Cue the 🎶: I wanna go back.

Just last week, I was reminded of that conference

when I saw this sweet social-media post.

It made my heart so happy that I just had to reach out and invite Sarah to share with you what she's up to and how she adapted our paper plate activity to her heart work with her students.

In a return email, she said yes with this kind message to me:

Thank you for such an amazing opportunity to share this and for inspiring me - look at the ripple effect you have! Not only those educators in that sectional (which I know you do MANY of) but my 4th grade students and now MORE students whose counselors/teachers may see this and try the same activity. Hands down one of my favorite things about education is how we all share in the interest of making kids more successful!

All because of a paper plate and an invitation.

Here now, Sarah Flier, school counselor of the Willow River Elementary school family and a 2021 School Counselor of the Year Finalist.

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I had the great privilege of hearing Barbara Gruener speak to a group of counselors at a pre conference sectional at the Wisconsin School Counseling Association Conference in February of 2020. Here she had a room full of empaths who are changing the lives of children each day and who rarely take the time to care for themselves. Self-care seems like a luxury no educator can afford, but Barbara showed us the little things we can do to care for each other and fun ways to connect with our staff as well as our students.

My favorite activity by far was the paper plate activity she had us do. She asked us to divide the plate into six “slices'' and to label each slice with one area of self care: physical, psychological, emotional, spiritual, personal, professional. While adults are used to juggling multiple outlets throughout their weeks, it was visually startling to realize the areas where I’ve been neglecting myself. The team I was there with all looked at each other and said “we need to do this with our staff!”

I took that plate home with me and put it on my bulletin board at school.

I've looked at it often and it has been a reminder for me to check where I am

"out of balance" during those weeks that feel overwhelming. It was on my "list of things

to suggest at a staff meeting" but as we've all experienced,

staff meetings looked very different this Fall.

While I've taught The 7 Habits of Happy Kids by Sean Covey for the past few years, I have been pulling out just a few of the lessongs that I had activities for: Teamwork, setting priorities, and understanding another's perspective were the main 3 I taught my 4th graders, but this year, I decided to go "all in" with the 7 Habits and teach each one with Sean Covey's book. When I was planning on "Sharpening the Saw" and I re-read Sophie Squirrel's mom telling her about balancing the heart, mind, soul, and body, the lightbulb went off -

Barbara had been teaching us to "Sharpen the Saw!"

I read Sophie Squirrel's story and how she learned about making sure we are doing things for our mind, heart, soul and body that can help us feel balanced and happy. For those nervous about using the word "soul" in public school, Mrs. Squirrel describes it as "when you find something quiet to do that makes you feel fresh inside." - Thank you, Mr. Covey! Afterward, I gave each student a paper plate and asked them to divide it into four even slides and label each with soul, heart, mind and body. Then they listened the different things that they do for each of those areas - soccer, piano, reading, hiking, FaceTime with grandparents, and playing games with siblings. We had great conversations about what parts of our plates were a little empty compared to other parts and what that could mean for us.