Blog 1: Week 1 & Chapter 1

After the first week of class and reading through chapter 1 in our textbook I got nervous and excited for this class all at the same time.  I am excited to finally start to tie all of these courses that I have taken in the last year and a half together, but also that makes me nervous trying to remember the things that I have learned and realizing that there are so many more things that I need to learn.  I think that this class will really make the whole program come together for me and help me to fully understand what a professional school counselor does on a daily basis.  Last week in class I had said that I was really looking to just tie everything together and understand a little more about the framework for school counseling and the guidelines set forth from ASCA.  I feel like in previous classes we have mentioned ASCA but I really didn’t know anything about what the competencies were or what the philosophy of the association is as a whole so I am excited to really learn more about it.  We also had an interesting discussion about what we can do as future school counselors to change the way that school counselors are viewed.  It is difficult to hear people say that school counselors just sit in their offices and change class schedules all day and I hope that when I am a school counselor I can make a small difference in changing that perception.  I also have to keep reminding myself that I cannot do everything and need to have small goals and have realistic expectations about how much I can do.

In regards to the reading for this week, I found the chapter to be easy to read and a good introduction for the rest of the book.  I also really appreciate the “Reflection Moments” that are spread throughout the chapter.  I think this is a really useful thing for us to do as we are reading to think about what we have experienced before and how that can apply to what we are learning now.

I also have to say that it was nice to walk into a classroom and know the other seven people in the room; it definitely takes away the nervousness of starting a new class in a new semester! I am excited to go through this semester and learn from everybody else because I think that we have varying backgrounds and can teach each other a lot throughout the course of the semester.