Resources: CollegeWeek Live Presentation on College Readiness in the Facebook Era

Here are the resources that I shared through Twitter and Facebook during my presentation on College Readiness in the Facebook Era for CollegeWeek Live's Professional Development Series:

Research

Pew Internet--Research on Adult Social Media Use
Pew Internet--Research on Teen Social Media Use
Pew Internet--Breakdown of Social Media Use

Southern Methodist University--Study about Social Media and First Generation Students
University of Michigan/Michigan State University--Study about Social Media and First Generation Students

Facebook

Starting to Create Your Facebook Page
Woodson High School Student Services Facebook Page
Tutorial to Create a Facebook Page from SocialMediaExaminer.com

Twitter

Starting to Create Your Twitter Account
Tutorial to Create a Twitter Account from WikiHow
Pikesville High School Counseling Twitter Account

Blogging

White Bear Lake Area High School Counseling Department Blog
Blogger
Word Press
Weebly

Thanks to CollegeWeekLive for the invitation to present! Make sure to check them out at www.collegeweeklive.com for great resources to support your students through the college advising process!

Follow-Up: Eating Disorders in Boys

Last February, I wrote about the rise in eating disorders amongst boys, and how they can often go undiagnosed and untreated because they are most often associated with girls.

This past week, a story aired on NPR that shared the story of a boy struggling with bulimia.  Take a look at the video below:



The story goes on to highlight the differences in eating disorders between boys and girls:

• Boys and men tend to be more focused on getting lean and muscular versus girls who are often focused on becoming "skinny"
• Boys and men with eating disorders tend to have a history of being overweight versus girls who are typically thin to begin with

The similarities in both boys and girls are:

• There can be a history of perfectionism, obsessive and compulsive behaviors, and or other mental health disorders such as depression
• Very often there are some environmental stressors that trigger the eating disorder

Most treatment programs are geared towards women and girls, and so boys who enter them often feel isolated.  That is changing as more and more clinicians and medical professionals are recognizing that eating disorders are effecting boys and men in addition to girls and women.  It is important that as you share information and education about eating disorders with students and families that you make sure to include boys in your programming.  It is possible that large amounts of food being consumed by a teenage boy is simply indicative of a growth spurt, but if combined with some other risk factors, there may be some reason for concern.

For the full NPR story, click on this link.

College Readiness in the Facebook Era

We know that our students (and their families) are actively using social-media in their everyday lives.  They use it to connect with friends and family, but they also use websites such as Facebook, Twitter, Tumblr, Instagram, etc. to gain information that helps them make decisions about both the here-and-now as well as their futures.  As school counselors, how do we use that technology to enhance and better communicate with our students and families about college planning, financial aid, and career development?

Please join me, courtesy of College Week Live, on Thursday, October 17th from 3-4 p.m. Eastern Time as I share some thoughts and ideas about harnessing technology to support our work as school counselors with regards to College and Career Readiness.  I will discuss:

• Developing a framework for using social-media to enhance and support your work
• The basics of setting up a school counseling department Facebook page and/or Twitter account
• Survey results about how high-school counselors currently use Facebook, Twitter, and blogs
• Blogging for your department or exploring blogs for your own professional development

You can sign up here for this free webinar.  CEU's will be awarded at the end of the presentation.  We will be using the hashtag #CWLCEU for those of you on Twitter and Facebook if you want to follow along with the conversation threads.  I will also be tweeting out information using that hashtag during the presentation.  How, you might ask?  Magic, and maybe some information I'll share with you during the presentation.

"Thank you" to those of you that took the time to complete the survey.  The survey is now closed.  Your responses directly support the content of this professional development opportunity.

Hope to see you all on the 17th!

Editors note:  This post was edited on October 14th to reflect that the social-media survey was now closed.  The survey that was originally posted here was also removed.