Guidance Lesson: Soda Pop Head

                                                                  

                                                Soda Pop Head By: Katy Koelzer

      

Overview:

Within every school, there are students who need accommodations and assistance to meet grade level expectations.  Students may not meet grade level expectations due to a decline in academic, behavioral or social/emotional areas.  As a school counselor, I intend to meet the needs of all students, no matter where they are at developmentally.  One of the best ways to reach and teach many students at once is through the use of guidance lessons.  One guidance lesson that is aimed towards students who need special services is, Soda Pop Head.  Soda Pop Head is a guidance lesson that will teach all students developmentally appropriate strategies to control their anger or frustration. Continue reading for the guidance lesson steps!

Materials:

·             Soda Pop Head by Julia Cook

·             Self-Regulation Handouts

·             Whiteboard and markers

·             Writing utensils and color crayons

Steps:

1.     The counselor will begin the lesson by asking the students, “Have you every been so angry you feel like you might explode?  What do you do when you experience anger or frustration?” 

2.     The counselor will write all responses on the whiteboard, while explaining that anger and frustration are emotions that everyone experiences.  Anger and frustration are emotional responses that we need to learn how to identify and control. 

3.     Following this introduction, the counselor will read the picture book, Soda Pop Head by Julia Cook, aloud.    

4.  Once the book is completed, the counselor will ask the students what self-regulation strategies they could use in their daily lives. 

5.  The counselor will then pass out student worksheets.  In order to meet the developmental needs of every student, the worksheet includes both writing and drawing sections.  The writing section includes three slots to list strategies one can use when angry or frustrated.  The drawing section includes space for the student to draw themselves using a self-regulation strategy. 

6.  Once the students have completed the handout, they will respond to a variety of scenarios.  The scenarios either present an individual using their self-regulation strategies or forgetting their strategies and negatively responding to their emotions. 

7. The counselor will present the scenarios and ask the class if the individual was or was not under control. In order to meet the developmental needs of every student, there are visual aids to accompany the scenarios.   

              The guidance lesson exposes self-regulation strategies to students in a non-threatening, relatable manner. The students are exposed to the self-regulation strategies in a variety of manners, which increases their knowledge and understanding.  

Helpful Hints:

·             Challenge students to think of creative and innovative self-regulation strategies.

·             Remember to always validate student responses and ideas.

·             Remind students of the school day’s schedule by posting a schedule.   

Guidance Lesson: Building Our First Resume

Title: “Building Our First Resume”

Intended Grade Level: High School; Special Education

Introduction: Students in special education often get overlooked when it comes to the career development dimension of the school counseling world. A lot of lessons focus on the social and emotional development of the student, while forgetting that they, too, hope to become productive, engaged and happy members of society after graduation. For this reason, I created a guidance lesson geared towards high school special education students who have tested lower on the cognitive scale (between 5th and 8th grade). This lesson focuses on the strengths, goals, and support systems of the students while helping them to create their first resume. This lesson can easily be incorporated into a larger group of lessons on career development.

Applicable standard(s), objective(s), competency(ies):

ASCA Standard C:A2.6 Learn how to write a resume

ASCA Standard C:B1.2 Identify personal skills, interests and abilities and relate them to current career choice

Activity:

Opening:

Introduce the lesson by gauging what students know about resumes. Use this information as a pre-test. Activate prior knowledge by having them come up with skills that might be good to have in the workplace, or asking if any of them have had jobs and what was useful to them. Create anticipation for the lesson by asking the students to think of a dream job while you pass out the resources for the activity.

Activity:

Begin the activity by having the students fill out a worksheet asking them what their dream job is. The bottom of the worksheet should have a space for students to draw a picture of what that dream job looks like on a daily basis. This will help the students get into the mind-frame of having that type of a job and what it entails. After each student has had sufficient time to complete the initial worksheet, pass out a resume template that the students will fill out together as you move through a powerpoint explaining each section. Sections include; name, contact information, skills, interests, experience, education and references. Keep in mind the strengths that each student has and what they can bring to the table for the type of dream job that they want. Make sure that it is apparent to them that they have strengths and can use them. If a student is struggling to come up with a reference, help them fill in that section with the information of a safe adult like you or a teacher. Let the students share what they are excited about as they move forward in the lesson.

Closing:

Once each of the students has completed their resume and students have shared what they wanted to, begin closing the lesson with a quick assessment of new knowledge. Ask the students what they have learned and add to the list of skills that you had created at the beginning of the session. You will know if the lesson has been successful if the students can add to their prior knowledge of their strengths, skills, and what a resume is.

Helpful Hints:

•      If a student says their dream job is to be a unicorn, validate it! Even unicorns have skills and activities that the counselor can work off of in order to create a Unicorn resume!

•      If a student is cruising through the worksheets, challenge them by coming up with more information. On the flip-side, be aware for any students who may be falling behind and help them to come up with strengths for their resumes.

•      This lesson is easily tailorable for individuals who may need special accommodations: for example, let a student complete the resume orally by asking them about each section and helping them to fill it in. This can help with students who may struggle with writing or reading prompts.