Blog 4

Blog 4 Chapter 5 and SBSC.

For this blog I will focus on the reflection from chapter five of Dollarhide and Saginak:  “Reflect on Richard Long Harkness’s famous quote, “What is a committee, a group of unwilling, picked from the unfit, to do the unnecessary.”  What is your reaction?  What has been your experience with committees?  Now reflect on what ASCA has presented in terms of Themes of the Model.  Is it through the work of committees, task forces, and other work groups that school counselors accomplish systematic change?  How does that affect the view of the committees as seen by Harkness” (Dollarhide & Saginak, p.78, 2012)? 

I don’t believe Harkness had a very good experience with teamwork.  I do not believe a pessimistic attitude towards collaboration will get me very far as a school counselor.  As a school counselor I will need to rely on relationship building, my ability to educate others about evidence based practices and developmental theory.  To work effectively in a work group, I will also need to be an effective listener as well as demonstrate leadership abilities to bring about appropriate change.  The ASCA model themes are; Leadership, Advocacy, Collaboration, and Systematic Change (Dollarhide & Saginak, 2012). 

In chapter five Dollarhide and Saginak explains ASCA’s stance on leadership.  School counselors serve as leaders who are engaged in systematic change to ensure student success.  Leadership consists of four frames; structural leadership, human resource, political, and symbolic leadership (Dollarhide & Saginak, 2012). It’s my experience that effective leaders are positive people.  Positive people are more likely to build relationships, communicate effectively, facilitate, and inspire others.  I look at leadership as a director role.  A director isn’t the star of the show but the director is the one who makes stars shine.  Leaders are the experts of locating resources and skills and putting them to good use.  In school counseling the “good use” is anything that advocates for student success. 

Advocacy is the next theme and also an importance piece of collaboration.  The mission is what binds the committee together.  When working collaboratively with parents, teachers, and staff, the school counselor can encourage the team to work towards providing fair access to educational opportunities.  I find when working in a team, on occassion it is best to refocus the group towards the overall goal, in this case the goal is to help students by removing barriers.  At times experts of a specific job or field can become too focused on their own piece and lose sight of the big picture.  When committees become fractured or divided over issues the school counselor must remind the group of it’s purpose and common goals. 

Lastly, we need committees to create systematic change.  The idea of having to bring about all that change by myself is daunting, super-human, and impossible to realize.  We need a small army of teachers, staff, parents, community members, and decision-makers to get the job done.  Systemic change requires the expertise and resources of many.   ASCA notes the importance of collecting and reporting data as the basis for change (Dollarhide & Saginak, 2012).  School counselors will need to use those relationship skills to collect, synthesize, and report data that will impact the goals of the committee. In my experience, working in a large corporation, change can be slow.  I think that having the right amount of patience while conveying the sense of urgency to change will be a delicate balance to achieve.  It will take optimism, grace, and assertiveness to get the job done. 

Dollarhide, C.T. & Saginak, K.A. (2012) Comprehensive school counseling programs. (2nd ed.). New York: Pearson, Inc.