In the act of blogging, students are crafting and creating texts, sharing meaningful messages, and engaging in powerful literacy experiences. But, most students don’t see these activities as being literate because they are not school sanctioned.

Today I received a text message from the daughter of a family friend that I think deserves a wider read. To demonstrate a trend in education, sometimes anecdotal evidence can shed light on an issue in ways that thousands of pages of hard evidence can't. Although I read tons of articles on service learning, it's a conversation with a student that really gets my attention.

It is commonly known that some professions - like those in STEM (science, technology, engineering, mathematics) fields - have traditionally been typecast as 'masculine,' with women often being socialized away from these areas in our patriarchic, male-dominated society. Likewise, some careers - like nursing and K-12 education - have been viewed as traditonally 'female' work.

Since the profession of school counseling has opened up to include non-teachers being trained as school counselors, there has been much debate surrounding the following question:  Does one need to be trained as a teacher to be an effective professional school counselor?