blog #1 philosophy and competency

            The reading seemed extremely familiar, since much of it mirrored what we had discussed in class last week. The “definitions” of the philosophy of counseling, education, and school counseling were very interesting. Although not very clear cut, they did help me to start to see how I can mold my teaching philosophy (which I have done a lot of work with) into a school counseling philosophy. As I read I reflected a lot back on our conversations during class, as I said they were very similar to say the least. The portion of the chapter on whether former teachers make better counselors sounded very much like our conversation, at times I feel like this can be a touchy conversation but the reality is that both have their struggles. It seems to me those who feel former teachers have an upper hand are current teachers who have not studied in the field of teaching who do not know much about our program. We have discussed many of the personal qualities of school counselors in other classes; however I really liked how this text reviews the competencies in an applicable way. I was able to see where my own strengths and weaknesses may lay and how a former teacher or non-teacher may have advantages in different areas.

            While reading the philosophies of school counseling I had several ah ha moments as the authors discussed the history of the development of school counseling and how we have gotten where we are today. This transition really helps me see the many jobs of the school counselor and how each has evolved. I also found myself stopping often during this section of reading, jotting notes, and thinking about how this is feasible to intertwine in today’s schools setting and schedule. I am really interested in continuing to develop a Comprehensive School Counseling Program that aligns with my philosophy of school counseling and the competencies that the job calls for. As I read it became clear to me that one of my goals this semester will be to learn the ASCA National Model and the National Standards. Referencing both of these documents often while researching and reading will definitely help me become for familiar with them and therefore my role as a school counselor. As I reflected about this while reading I became more and more interested in conducting my interviews to see where school counselors in the schools today are in this journey. The last paragraph of the chapter Dollarhide and Saginak really sum up what our job is this semester, the most important words being counselors can use these documents to prioritize, design, implement, and evaluate (2012).

Dollarhide, C. & Saginak, K. (2012). Comprehensive school counseling programs: K-12 delivery systems in action (2nd ed.). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson Education, Inc.