This entire project was very eye opening. It allowed me to see how much time and effort goes into a school counselor’s job. It also let me see the real picture of how the CSCP will work. It is one thing to read about topics in a textbook but it is a totally different experience to actually put into place what you have read about. This has really allowed me to see the full scope and sequence of a program that I hope to someday implement on my own.
It allowed me to look at my school counselor now and
know that she is very busy and works extremely hard so that the students are
able to reap the benefits. I am very
supportive of her interactions with the students and help support her when
other teachers don’t understand why she is not sharing information with
us.
What is the biggest barrier in
implementing a CSCP?
I feel as though there are two
main barriers to implementing a successful CSCP. The first barrier is funding that is available
to provide the different aspects of the program. If the district is to fully implement the
career component of the program than they need to buy Career Cruising or
another program that can assist with teaching and instructing the students. The second barrier that I also see is getting
all staff on board with your vision and how you want to implement your
goals. I have worked in three different
districts and school counselors have always gotten a lot of grief. I think a crucial component is to start at
the beginning of the year educating the teachers and staff about your vision
and mission of how you plan on implementing the ASCA National Model.
What are 3 practical pieces or applications that you can use in your practicum?
One piece that I would like to
take with me once I start my practicum is the lesson plans that were created by
my group. They have a lot of creativity
and I think they will help keep the students attention so that they can learn
the identified skill. A second piece
that I want to use in my practicum is the Assessments and Action Plans that we
created. I think it is critical to
survey students, teachers, parents, and other staff on their perceptions at the
beginning of the year and as well as the end of the year and see what has
changed. It is important to keep
evaluating your effectiveness and if something is not working then tweak it for
the following year to make it better so that the students are able to obtain
the benefits of you being their counselor.
How do you feel about your overall preparation?
This project has made me see that no one job is any easier than another. Sometimes I would hear comments from others about the counselors’ job being so easy and it would frustrate me. I have now seen firsthand how much time goes into making assessments for students or parents to take and wish that other teachers respected school counselors more than what they do. I feel as though this project has given me a real basis of where to start once I start my practicum or have my own job as a school counselor. I feel as though I have been prepared to set flight and I hope that I am able to remember and put into place all of the pieces of a full program.
In reading the article by, Dahir,
Burnham and Stone (2009) I was able to see the importance of a lot of what we discussed
in class. It seemed to reinforce what we
read in our textbook as well as our group discussions. One fact that I read that is beneficial to
hear over and over in articles is that the level of commitment that a school
counselor gives is correlated to the schools improvement and growth level. A school counselor can really change the
atmosphere of a school in either direction.
I have seen both sides played out in my years of teaching. This is beneficial for me to hear so that I
see the benefits of all of the hard work of the counselor and that it does pay
off.
Dahir, C., Burnham, J., & Stone, C., (2009). Listen to the
voices: School counselors and comprehensive school counseling programs. Professional
School Counseling, 12(3), 182-192.
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