2 movies

One of the movies that I would recommend to a school counselor is: “Mean Girls.” It centers on the following themes: bullying, acceptance, getting along with others, jealously, alienation, individuality, overcoming adversity, and the need to belong. The main character, Cady, makes the difficult transition from being homeschooled to attending a public high school. She quickly changes herself in order to fit in with a very popular group, and as a result she loses her friends and her individuality. Once she’s alienated by her friends, she realized what she has done and tries to correct it. This movie shows how difficult it can be to feel accepted in high school, while trying to maintain your individuality. In addition, the importance of acceptance is almost a major element throughout the movie.  

 Another movie that I would like to suggest to a school counselor is: “When Friendship Kills” (also known as "A Secret Between Friends"). Some of the major themes in this movie are: eating disorders, divorce, and acceptance. Lexi, the main character, moves to a new city with her mother and younger sister shortly after her father and mother divorce one another. She gets involved with volleyball and becomes friends with one of the popular girls at the school and the two of them start to diet and workout. However, they both develop eating disorders, which have a major impact on their lives. This movie shows the impact that an eating disorder can have upon a person’s life.    

My Five Goals.

By the end of this semester, I would like to accomplish the following five goals:

-Build my confidence in my ability as a school counselor. I tend to second guess what I’m going to say to a student, because I’m worried about how he or she would react to it. I’m hoping that the feedback that I will receive from my professor and my classmates from their tape reviews will relieve some of my nervousness.

-Being able to build a rapport with the students is another goal of mine. I want to be able to be able to develop a strong connection with the students, so that they will feel comfortable with talking to me.

-Know how to find and gather the appropriate resources that the children may need in order to better assist them.  

-Being able to plan and carry out age appropriate guidance lessons for the classrooms that are both useful and entertaining for the children.

-I also want to become more comfortable with the variety of duties that a school counselor has in the school system. The administrative role is one of these responsibilities, in which I hope that I will become more confident with over time.

Overall, I think that the feedback from the audio tapes would help me gain more confidence in my abilities as a school counselor. By researching some of the available resources myself, I think that I will gain a better understanding in order to pass on the necessary resources that children may need now or in the future.

We all feel like this at some point in time.

Top 20 reasons to have a school counselor.

My Top 20 List for why my school needs a school counselor
Classroom guidance lessons to enhance the school environment.
Emotional support for the students, teachers, and other staff members. 
Individual counseling sessions.
Group counseling sessions with students who are dealing with the same issue.
Manage the IEPs (Individual Education Plans) and the Special Needs program.
Mediating among the conversations between everyone else in the school in order to keep the peace.  Manage and redoing class schedules.
Someone to lend a listening ear to anyone in the school who needs to talk about their issues. Substance abuse counseling.
Assessments and managing the students’ records.
Enhancing the students’ self-esteem and promoting a positive attitude. 
Meeting with the trouble makers in the school to diffuse the chaos.
Helping students with developing their decision-making, communication, and life skills. Collaborating by working with teachers and other staff members about the students’ issues.
Meetings with the parents and other staff administrators, which can be time consuming and very stressful.
Administrative duties.
Promoting cultural awareness and diversity within the school.   
Career counseling.
Creating a strong line of communication between the school staff and the parents.
To take the necessary steps in reporting and counseling the students who suffer from: abuse, neglect, and any other immediate dangers.

week 4 reflection

This last Friday, I had the chance to sit in on two IEP meetings. An IEP is an individual education plan, which is used for children who have special needs. A IEP reevaluation meeting at Jeffersontown (JTown) Elementary is suppose to consist of: the child's main teacher, the school counselor, the occupational therapist, the speech therapist, and the student's parent(s). Everyone has a chance to discuss whether the student still qualities for special needs education by talking about the previous IEP, whether the previous set of goals for the student were met, and his or her overall progress. New goals, strategies, and a new IEP are then discussed and developed in order to improve the child's education. It was interesting to get a chance to find out about the progress of these two students, whom have been previously diagnosed with polar extremes of autism.   

I also had the chance to interact with several different classrooms of elementary school students, which allowed me to get to know the children at a more individual level. Near the end of the school day, the staff had a meeting with the students in the gym to discuss the details about the walk-a-thon. This is hosted by the PTA in order to raise money for the school, and the PTA uses a reward system for the students according to the amount of money that the child accumulates from the walk-a-thon with his or her parents. I really enjoyed my day this week at JTown Elementary, because I had an opportunity to learn more about the students and some of the school functions.     

week 3 reflection

Last Thursday, while I was at the elementary school, I had a chance as a school counselor trainee to observe the school counselor administrator three classroom guidance counseling sessions. I was only able to be in the school for half of the day, because I had to work that morning. Usually, I enjoy my job but I was having a very stressful day and was glad to be able leave at noon and spend some of my time at the elementary school. While I was observing the guidance lessons, I was surprised how much the children were attentively attuned and entertained during the session with the animal puppets. It certainly uplifted my own mood. In addition, I had the chance to have a 15-20 minute individual session with one of the kindergarteners. It was definitely interesting to hear the child’s spoken thoughts and feelings. I hope that everyone had a great weekend and has a wonderful upcoming week.

a website example

I found the following website, which was developed by the Baucom Elementary school counselors: http://baucomcounseling.pbworks.com/w/page/27877666/FrontPage. In the future, I would like to create a similar website for a school and its community. This website, in particular, shares the school counselors’ contact information, an explanation of their jobs at the school, and helpful resources for the parents and students. These resources are for a variety of resources such as career counseling and bullying. In the future, I would like to create a website that provides important information and resources to the parents, teachers, and students that focuses on the current issues and subject manner.        

A technology resource

The following website provides several group lessons that are focused on a few common topics according to the age of the students: http://wvde.state.wv.us/counselors/group-lessons.html. Some of those subjects are: anger management, divorce, and study skills. This resource would be useful when teaching group guidance lessons to a classroom or in a group counseling session. It was developed by the West Virginia Department of Education for students, counselors, teachers, parents, and the school administrators.     

"The curious paradox is that when I accept myself just as I am, then I can change." -Carl Rogers

I like this quote from Carl Rogers, because it shows that we have to acknowledge something about ourselves, such as a problem that we are encountering, in order to begin the process of personal growth.  

week #2

A counselor should be someone who carries a positive outlook towards people with the intention and drive to help them. In particular, a school counselor should act as a mediator; an emotionally supportive staff member; and a developer in regards to the students’ social, personal, academic, and their future career achievement. The school counselors in my area stress the importance of preventive guidance lessons and their directive group and individual services to the students. I always wanted to be a counselor in order to help students with their personal, social, academic, and career problems and development. My elementary site supervisor stressed to me the importance of preventive guidance lessons in the classroom before issues start and get out of control. I plan on contributing to the lives of my young clients through the same practice of preventive practices.