High School Guidance

Counselors take a whole child approach to our academic counseling with the understanding that intellectual health and success look different for every student. Counselors work with students individually and in small groups to support  academic progress, advise on course selection, and provide suggestions on making the most of the CESJDS experience. With the goal of identifying effective strategies for the development of life-long skills, counselors provide specific support in the areas of organizational and executive functioning, study strategies, self-advocacy and time management. Counselors take a holistic approach to academic counseling and course selection, keeping overall health and balance as top priorities.

Recommended Resources:

• Mind in the Making: the Seven Essential Life Skills Every Child Needs (2010), by Ellen Galinsky

• Overloaded and Underprepared: Strategies for stronger School and Healthy, Successful Kids (2015), by Denise Pope, Maureen Brown, and Sara Miles

• Research-Based Strategies to Ignite Student Learning: Insights from a Neurologist and Classroom Teacher (2006), by Judy Willi

• Learning & Attention Issues: https://www.understood.org/

Students need to be physically healthy in order to be educated and educated about how to be physically healthy. Adolescent students are still developing and in this time of physical growth, it is essential that they meet their body’s needs while they balance all of life’s challenges. This includes  learning about good nutrition, healthy sleep habits, regular exercise and avoiding drugs and alcohol. As part of a multidisciplinary team that includes the school nurse and outside professionals, we advise individual students and provide grade wide programming.

Recommended Resources:

• Sex and Sensibility: The Thinking Parent’s guide to talking Sense About Sex (2000), by Deborah Roffman

• Alcohol/Drug Misuse: 

  • https://www.getsmartaboutdrugs.gov/

  • https://www.samhsa.gov/underage-drinking/parent-resources

• Healthy Eating:

  • https://www.choosemyplate.gov

• Sexual Assault:

  • National Sexual Assault Hotline 1-800-656- HOPE (4673)

  • https://www.cdc.gov/violenceprevention/sexualviolence/fastfact.html

• Sleep:

  • https://sleepfoundation.org

  • http://sleepeducation.org/healthysleep/public-awareness-campaignsleep

• Vaping

  • https://e-cigarettes.surgeongeneral.gov/

  • https://www.cdc.gov/tobacco/basic_information/e-cigarettes/index.htm

  • https://med.stanford.edu/tobaccopreventiontoolkit/E-Cigs.html

The CESJDS guidance suite is an open, welcoming and safe space where students seek support, share joy, learn helpful coping strategies, and manage challenges with help. Counselors champion individuality, celebrate student achievements, and always prioritize the personal health and growth of the whole child.

The CESJDS guidance team works on a number of levels to promote wellness and support students. Counselors make personal connections with students in individual meetings and help them to articulate their academic, extra-curricular and personal goals, placing an emphasis on a healthy life balance, the use of positive coping strategies and self-advocacy skills. Counselors also meet with small groups of students for affective education and bring in specialists on topics such as healthy relationships, mental health awareness, managing stress, digital safety, and healthy decision making.  For families, counselors offer partnership, support and resources and consult with outside providers and treatment professionals. On a school-wide scale, the guidance department leads monthly wellness workshops, which include gratitude projects, art therapy, yoga, mindfulness, and therapy dogs.

Recommended Resources:

• How Children Succeed: grit, Curiosity, and the Hidden Power of Character (2013), by Paul Tough

• Anxiety Free Kids: an Interactive Guide for Parents and Children (2016),  by Bonnie Zucker

• How to Raise an Adult: Break Free of the Overparenting Trap and Prepare Your Kid for Success (2015), by Julie Lythcott-Haims

• Mindset: The New Psychology of Success (2006), by Carol Dweck

• The Blessing of a Skinned Knee: Using Jewish Teachings to Raise Self-Reliant Children (2001), by Wendy Mogel

• The Gift of Failure: How the Best Parents Learn to Let Go So their Children Can Succeed (2015),  by Jessica Lahey

• The Self-Driven Child: The Science and Sense of Giving Your Kids More Control Over Their Lives (2018), by William Stixrud and Ned Johnson

• Mental Health:

  • http://www.every-mind.org/community-education/

• Mindfulness:

  • http://www.mindfulschools.org/

  • http://greatergood.berkeley.edu/mindfulness

  • http://www.mindful.org/how-to-practice-mindfulness/

• Conversation Starters about Consent and Sexual Assault (please preview before viewing with your teen)

  • Decisions that Matter: http://www.andrew.cmu.edu/course/53-610

  • Tea and Consent: https://www.vimeo.com/128105683

One of the core values of the Charles E. Smith Jewish Day School is tikkun olam, a commitment to repairing the world and making it a more compassionate, just and peaceful place. It is our belief that there are as many ways to serve others as there are individual students.   Community Service demonstrates our values-in-action, is integral to the development of a CESJDS student and offers an opportunity to promote personal growth, broaden experience, practice leadership, and assist those in need. Counselors encourage and guide students to discover  passion and purpose through meaningful service opportunities that can include volunteering for non-profit organizations or initiating creative projects of their own. Through community engagement, and co curricular activities like clubs counselors encourage students to develop their leadership skills. Counselors also discuss  summer enrichment opportunities with students related to service, learning, and leadership, including employment and internships. 

Recommended Resources:

• Creating Innovators: the Making of Young People Who Will Change the World (2012), by Tony Wagner

• Volunteer Opportunities:

  • https://www.montgomerycountymd.gov/volunteercenter/?

• CESJDS website:

  • https://www.cesjds.org/portals/upper-school/community-service

As a school that works to incorporate technology use into many facets of learning, our  high school guidance, college guidance, and instructional technology departments partner to help students use technology wisely and well. We work as a school to develop student awareness of their digital footprints, help them learn to take charge of their online presence, and to be safe and kind citizens of their online communities.

Recommended Resources:

• American Girls: Social Media and the Secret Lives of Teenage Girls (2016), by Nancy Jo Sales

• iRules: what Every Tech-Healthy Family Needs to Know about Selfies, Sexting, Gaming, and Growing-Up, by Janell Burley Hoffman

• Social Media Wellness: Helping Tweens and Teens Thrive in an Unbalanced Digital World (2017), by Ana Homayoun