Reflection

Counselors play a key role in students' lives in school by providing resources and guidance during tumultuous times. They help all students in the areas of academic achievement, personal/social development and career development, ensuring today's students become the productive, well-adjusted adults of tomorrow. School counselors are an important part of the educational leadership team and provide valuable assistance to students regardless of whether they work in an elementary, middle school, high school or beyond. 

My thoughts…

What I have noticed so far that is truly inspiring are how school counselors are willing to go the distance. What I have experienced so far are the small gestures that make huge differences in children's lives. If a child needs shoes they find them shoes, if they are hungry the counselor puts them in a food program.  Being a school counselor is so much more than just making sure that the student is in the right class or that they will graduate on time.


My favorite part as a future school counselor is that we get to run groups on issues such as bullying I want to really help reach the students. For example, in elementary schools I may do a fun game, for middle or high school I may incorporate food into my bullying lesson along with a great team building activity. A school counselor is about looking around at the needs of the students at your school and doing whatever it takes to help meet those needs and ultimately putting your student first. 

Guidance Lesson: Taking Advantage of Opportunities (10th grade)

Every year of high school brings new challenges and different expectations than the year before, but most importantly, students are introduced to an increasingly wide range of opportunities. These opportunities are both academic and non-academic, shaping students not only as learners, but as individuals soon to be immersed into society as adults. Therefore, the role of educators very importantly includes instilling knowledge as well as teaching life skills within the classroom. Because of this, it is important that students are encouraged to challenge themselves on both an academic and personal level as they approach the conclusion of their required education and move on to the post high school stage of their life.  

Motivating students to challenge themselves entering their junior year

A shift occurs between the sophomore and junior year of high school. With two years of high school completed, a stronger emphasis is placed on preparing for the future come post-graduation. Students often begin to have an increased amount of choices within their core classes, as well as the opportunity to enroll in more rigorous courses (depending on the classes offered at each school).  However, these considerably rigorous courses and expanded involvement can be intimidating for students. Therefore it is important to encourage students to challenge themselves as learners and as individuals. Not merely from the standpoint of how they will benefit in those specific activities, but how they will contribute their growth as a whole person and to a successful future. 

Activity: Sticky Note Sharing (Overview) 

- Students will be asked to share potential barriers they see for taking advantage of the challenging opportunities of the upcoming year. Responses will then be written on the white board separate from each other so that there is space between them. 

- Students will be given an assortment of colorful sticky-notes 

- After the list of barriers has been written on the whiteboard, students will be asked to respond to these barriers using their sticky-notes. Responses can vary from agreement, to encouragement, to potential solutions to overcome these barriers. 

- Students will be asked to generate at least 3 responses to ensure that everyone is participating and multiple ideas are shared. 

- Once they have created a response they will stick it on the board next to the specific barrier they are addressing. 

- During the process of responding and posting, students will be encouraged to carry around a notebook or use their same sticky-notes to write down any ideas shared by fellow class mates to overcome barriers. This will provide them with the ability to take away strategies that they can use in the future. 

*For a complete description of the entire lesson please see the Guidance Lesson Write-up 

Helpful Hints

- In larger classes, discussion can be done with "elbow partners" by having the student pair up with a peer that is close by. This will save more time than having discussion occur at the group level. 

- It is helpful to have a list of activities and opportunities specific to YOUR school and community so that students have ideas of where they can get involved and challenge themselves. 

- Along with activities and opportunities, provide students with resources they can receive that are also specific to your school and community so that they feel supported in their endeavors. 

- Be mindful of discussing the potential benefits of rigorous courses or opportunities beyond those that are academic. For example, acknowledge personal growth benefits!

Images retrieved from: 

https://bigfuture.collegeboard.org/get-in/your-high-school-record/what-you-do-in-high-school-matters

http://thehappycouponer.com/the-skys-the-limit-when-you-list-your-coupons-in-the-happy-couponer-marketplace.html

http://www.envisionexperience.com/plan-your-future/blog-articles/even-our-best-and-brightest-students-need-more-educational-opportunities

Guidance Lesson: Financial Aid (12th grade)

 

Audience: 12^th graders. Usually present in December or January

Rationale: The purpose of this presentation is to inform seniors on how to understand financial aid. The process can be intimidating to many and the hope is that this will give them a better understanding on how to receive financial aid for postsecondary education. While I we would love to have every individual fill out a FAFSA at school, it can be extremely difficult with the amount of information they need on hand (social security number, tax information, etc). The presentation will walk them through what they need for to fill out their FAFSA, how to find scholarships, and teach them the difference between types of financial aid (grants, scholarships, loans, and work-study).

Materials Needed:

- Projector

- PowerPoint

Time Required: Roughly 30 minutes

 

Applicable Standards:

This activity satisfies many ASCA standards, key among them are:

A:B2.7 Identify post-secondary options consistent with interests, achievement, aptitude and abilities.

C:A1.1 Develop skills to locate, evaluate and interpret career information.

C:A1.7 Understand the importance of planning.

Assessment:

Pre-assessment: Before lesson begins. Students will be given a handout with 2 questions (see below) and asked to answer them. Collect them before conducting the lesson. 

1. What is financial aid?

2. How can you pay for college or technical school?

Post-assessment: After lesson concludes a new handout with the same 2 questions (see above) to will be given to the students to gage if their knowledge increased about financial aid.

Lesson: PowerPoint Presentation (Link included)

 

Talking points regarding specific slides are presented below:

Slide 1: Ask students what knowledge they have of financial aid before showing slide 2.

 

 

Slide 6: Students will most likely need their parents help to complete their FAFSA since it requires so many sensitive documents.

Slide 10: Selection criteria are listed clearly so students can determine quickly if they qualify for specific scholarships. Ensure students are not discouraged about scholarships simply because they do not have a high GPA. Some scholarships specifically select students in the GPA range of 2.0-2.99.

 

Helpful Hints:
Present around the time FAFSA applications are made available (January 1^st). Usually present in December before Winter break so students have time to get all of the documentation they need to fill out the FAFSA in January or in January after applications are available.

Ensure that students understand that you are a resource to help them find scholarships and can help students and their parents fill out FAFSA applications if they have questions.

Encourage students to send their FAFSA to colleges/universities even if they are unsure if they will apply.

A FAFSA Parent Night will be helpful. The process can be daunting and overwhelming for everyone. Access to a computer lab will allow parents and students to fill out their FAFSA on site while school counselors walk around and help answer questions they may have.

 

Picture Resources:

http://www.edlinesites.net/pages/East_Valley_High_School

http://nces.ed.gov/fastfacts/display.asp?id=31

Pinterest: College Motivation

Clip Art in Word

The Personal and Professional Qualities that Encompass a Successful School Counselor

After interviewing a High School Counselor and a second grade teacher, I had an interesting comparison of the two perspectives.  They both did not hesitate to say that the greatest issues facing today’s youth are perceived problems from their home lives.  Some of these issues that they are witnessing in our schools are: divorce, no support from parents, a lack of motivation and trauma.  It was referred as by the second grade teacher, “The breakdown of the American family”. What can we do to help our students?  To make their lives safer and more secure?  In order to assist them we need to possess certain qualities.

The three most important qualities of a school counselor, according to both a qualified school counselor herself and an experienced teacher are:

1. The ability to build a trusting, safe relationship with students and parents.  To have a trusting relationship with both students and parents may take time.  In order to attain trust, we need to be available with both our time and our listening.  A school counselor has a variety of time consuming tasks.  However, our number one priority is the direct needs of our students.  In order to listen effectively, we need to have empathy.  We also need to view every student as an individual, with unique needs.
2. Efficient communication and collaboration among administrators, teachers, parents and community in regards to students.  Communication and collaboration are important qualities for school counselors to possess, as seen by both school counselors and teachers.  They both believe that it is crucial for students’ success to have everyone working together as a team.  If everyone that is involved with the student knows exactly what is happening in their lives, it will be much easier to assist them, assess their progress, and make accommodations/changes as needed. 
3. Self-care.  The duties of a school counselor can be both mentally and physically challenging.  Self-care has been emphasized by almost everyone that I have come into contact with in regards to the counseling profession. Taking time for you to regroup and retain strength and composer is essential in this active occupation. 

In my many interactions with professionals in the field, it occurs to me that these three qualities are extremely important to attain in the school-counseling role.  I’m sure there are others, and it will be enlightening and exciting to add the list!

Photos Provided By:

Holding hands - http://birdcagewalk.tublr.com/post/35500847

Communication - http://raw.abduzeedo.com/post/20011061204/a…

Self-care - Green Mountain at Fox Run  http://fitwoman.com

Guidance Lesson: Stress Management (9th - 12th grade)

Managing Stress in the Road of Life

Adolescents have many stressors in their everyday lives: school demands and frustrations, negative self-image, body changes, problems with peers, relationship problems, tensions with family, unsafe living environments, death of a loved one, moving, parental divorce, financial struggles, participating in too many activities, and more. Unfortunately, many teenagers have not been trained on how to adequately deal with these stressors which can then lead to an overload of stress. “When it happens, inadequately managed stress can lead to anxiety, withdrawal, aggression, physical illness, or poor coping skills such as drug and/or alcohol use,” (AACAP, 2013). Therefore, adolescents need to learn how to handle their stress in a healthy way. This lesson is particularly designed for AP students who often take on heavy course and activity loads.  These students are often left under the radar in schools because they do fine academically. Because of this, these students often get forgotten when it comes to their personal/social problems, however, many of them can benefit from learning stress management techniques so they can handle their course and activity load in a healthy manner.  

The following are ASCA National Standards covered in this lesson

A:A2.3 Use communications skills to know when and how to ask for help when needed.

A:B1.4 Seek information and support from faculty, staff, family and peers

PS:A1.5 Identify and express feelings

PS:B1.4 Develop effective coping skills for dealing with problems.

PS:B1.5 Demonstrate when, where and how to seek help for solving problems and making decisions.

PS:C1.5 Differentiate between situations requiring peer support and situations requiring adult professional help.

PS:C1.6 Identify resource people in the school and community, and know how to seek their help.

PS:C1.7 Apply effective problem-solving and decision-making skills to make safe and healthy choices.

PS:C1.10 Learn techniques for managing stress and conflict.

Materials

White board

Markers             

Masking tape

1 balloon/student

Blindfold

Objectives

1. Students will identify life stressors.
2. Students will recognize that everyone has different stressors and deals with stress in different ways.
3. Students will learn techniques for managing stress.

Introduction Activity

1. Tell the story about how stress impacted your life or the life of someone you know.
        - Exp. I shared a story about how stress led a friend to attempt suicide.  
2. Have students list stressful situations in their lives. As they share, list stressors on the board.
3. Lead a discussion asking questions such as:
        - Why might that be stressful for you?
        - What differences are there in the way that students feel about this stressor?
4. Point out that everyone responds to stressful situations in different ways. One thing might cause one person a lot of stress but might not bother someone else at all. That is because it is out thoughts about situations, not the situation itself that leads to stress.
5. Find one student who found one situation very stressful and one who did not find the same situation stressful. Ask them why the same event led to different reactions in both of them.

Activity

1. Create a large rectangle out of masking tape on the floor; this rectangle represents the road of life.
2. Have students write their top stressor on a blown up balloon. Place all of the balloons (stressors), which represent potholes in the road of life, into the rectangle.
3. Blindfold a student and have them walk through the road of life alone. Point out that, without help, the potholes (stressors) get in the way frequently.
4. Next, allow the student to select a friend to help direct them through the road of life.
5. Finally, have the student go through the road of life with their supporter. In addition, split the rest of the class in half. Have half of the students yell encouraging and helpful things. Have the other half of the class shout distracting things. 

Ask students to relate this experience to real life.

            -Who are the supports?

            -Who are the distractors?

            -Who can you go to for help to avoid stress?
 

Video

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hnpQrMqDoqE

Discussion

Facilitate a discussion with students which may ask questions such as:

What are unhealthy ways you or other teens deal with stress?
- Examples: Unhealthy eating (irregular eating, over-eating, under-eating), drugs, alcohol, anger, procrastination, seclusion, spending too much time watching TV or planning video games.

What are healthy ways you know how to deal with stress? Provide any answers students do not come up with.

-Ask for help. You do not have go through everything on your own. Talk to people you trust and find good listeners.

            - Breathe deeply. This simple act can lower your anxiety level.

- Eat three healthy, balanced meals a day.

- Get plenty of sleep. Stress is easier to manage if your body is well rested.

- Make time to relax. Take a break from a stressful task to do something you enjoy. Take a walk, go for a run, listen to music, do yoga stretches, etc. You will be able to work more effectively after a short, relaxing break. Schedule this break if you feel you need to follow a set schedule.

- Exercise regularly; even just 15 minutes a day can help, but more is always better.

            -Daily Burn, YMCA, Gym class before or during school, etc.

- Break tasks down into smaller, more manageable tasks.

- Make a must-do and a want-to-do list. Be okay if you only get your absolute must-do list finished.

-Avoid excess caffeine intake because it can increase the feelings of anxiety.

-Decrease negative self-talk. Work on changing negative thoughts into neutral or positive thoughts. For example, “My life will probably get better if I work at it and get some help.”

-Learn to feel “good enough” rather than always trying to be perfect.

Closing

Remind students that stress is normal. Tell them to use the healthy ways we discussed to reduce their stress. Advise student to not be afraid to ask for help and talk to someone—school counselors can always provide additional resources to help reduce stress.

Helpful Hints

-This can also be done with Freshmen level classes to prepare them for the stress of high school.

-Provide students with a list of the stress management techniques you discuss.

-Give students a time management sheet if they find that lack of time is what is stressing them out.

-If you have time, consider practicing a meditation technique in class.

References

Abbas_Abedi. (2008, March 15). 5 minute "alpha" meditation training for stress management [Video file]. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lZTtiNVs-zQ

Alberta Health Services. (2009). Grade 8 lesson: Stress management. Retrieved from http://www.albertahealthservices.ca/addictionssubstanceabuse/if-tch-grade-8-stress-management.pdf

All of us need some stress management techniques. [Photograph]. (2011). Retrieved from http://lessonsonstress.tumblr.com/post/9122130219/all-of-us-need-some-stress-management-techniques

American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry. (2013, February). Helping teenagers with stress. Retrieved from http://www.aacap.org/AACAP/Families_and_Youth/Facts_for_Families/Facts_for_Families_Pages/Helping_Teenagers_With_Stress_66.aspx

Massachusetts Medical Society Alliance. (2012). Teen stress: Tips on managing daily stress. Retrieved from http://www.massmed.org/About/Affiliates-and-Subsidiaries/MMS-Alliance/Teen-Stress--Tips-on-Managing-Daily-Stress-(pdf)/

Teenage stress: The top ten [Photograph]. (2010, January 26). Retrieved from http://bbc-stressors.blogspot.com/

Teens and stress [Photograph]. (n.d.). Retrieved from http://www.hartsteinpsychological.com/teens-and-stress/

Yoga classroom [Photograph]. (2014, May 22). Retrieved from http://teachlikeachampion.com/blog/managing-emotions-dan-cotton-strong-voice/

Guidance Lesson: Career Planning (9th & 10th Grade)

Guidance Lesson:

Career Planning:

 

^What does it cost?

 

Grade Level:  9 – 10

The Start of Career Planning

By the time students enter high school, they have a general sense of what a career and/or job is. They are also aware that there is a difference in earnings between different occupations. This lesson will build on previous observations/knowledge and will add a more concrete understanding of what different levels of education entail.

The first part of the lesson focuses on different levels of education and their potential earnings, typically. The second part of the lesson is using the board game Life® as a fun way to help cement the idea that education level will have

By using a monthly budget where the student to calculate how much money is left over at the end of the month, students will gain a more tangible understanding of how their occupation, and education level, will impact their future.

Lesson Plan 1: Setting up

Materials Needed: PowerPoint, Handout

For the first part of this lesson plan, we want to bring to their awareness the types of earnings available for different types of education levels. This can be personalized to the needs of the school. For example, if there is a military base nearby, school counselors can add information about earnings for military members.

Lesson Plan 2:

Materials: PowerPoint (to access please click on the link above), Life® board game, monthly budget, occupation handout, “pink slips”

For this part of the lesson, the board game is used to follow through and make the information they learned from part 1 more memorable. The board game is an illustration, using only the spin dial.

To move each student, we hand out each student a random occupation and a monthly budget. The occupation handout includes a job description, the educational level required, and expected salary/wages. The monthly budget includes cost of living information (rent, mortgage, etc) as well as the cost of amenities.

To play the game, students choose the type of live they want: do they drive or ride the bus? Do they rent? Live alone? Do they have internet at home? They will see that they may need to adjust amenities and/or living situation they choose

 

depending on their occupation earnings.

“Pink slips” are cards given to students to show them that life is unpredictable, instead of the game’s cards. (This can be used as a classroom management piece, with disruptive behavior being rewarded with a pink slip.) An example for a pink slip is: There was storm damage to your car. It will cost $2000 to fix. 

This game can be played until a time limit is reached or everyone has a turn.

Closing: Discussion

Once students have filled out their budgets and can see the state of their future finances, given a certain occupation, discuss how educational achievement and occupational training can limit or expand the possibilities for their future.

Emphasize that they can start planning now so that their high school schedule will reflect their future goals.

Tips:

-          Larger classrooms can be broken into smaller groups and brought back together for the closing to discuss the lesson.

-          Personalize this to your school!! Each school has its own needs, and the types of occupations, “pink slips,” cost of living, and available resources can be changed to make them more relevant to the school. E.g. Many students might not have thought how much internet costs on average.

The Day in the Life of a School Counselor

Jackie Kennedy is quoted as saying, “If you bungle raising your children, I don’t think whatever else you do matters very much.” We are becoming the next school counselors to serve our community. Counselors know that nothing else matters and nothing is more important than supporting children of all ages through their educational experience.  In retrospect, we are in a sense helping raise them. Certainly, bungling it is not an option!

While walking through the halls of schools and sitting in school counselors’ offices, I observed and heard many things.  Tangible pieces of advice to study up on and what it takes to be a school counselor in this day and age. Additionally, my interview with a 20-year veteran of an elementary school has reinforced my belief that nothing is more important than helping a child feel good about themselves and good about the world around them. You have to care a great deal. No amount of rigorous coursework or exams can teach someone to care. If we care, then our students can hope anything is possible.

School counselors can instill hope in the students they reach.  The counselors we met with talked at length about the many challenges their children face.  All of the counselors expressed the importance of reaching out.  Providing trust and hope in the children we sit and talk with will have lasting value for them.

School counselors work best when collaborating with teachers, other educators inside and outside of their building and with parents. The professionals we met with described their role as a contact person to coordinate services for their students.  This link is vital to the profession and with the struggles that so many children face today, the support and work between the counselor and the community is important for counselors to accomplish.  


Finally, being present and involved with all of the students and teachers shows your leadership and commitment.  The high school counselors stressed that establishing relationships and connections to students is essential.  Just walking the halls, checking in with them at lunch or informally chatting with kids outside of your office should be a daily routine.  Showing enthusiasm with a fist bump, even when their hardships are noticeable, can be the one positive highlight in a student’s day.  Don’t bungle it!             




Picture provided by:
http://thinklikeatree.files.wordpress.com/2012/08/you-have-brains-in-your-head-you-have-feet-in-your-shoes-you-can-steer-yourself-in-any-direction-your-choose-dr-suess1.jpg?w=620