Post 3

I loved the case study at the beginning of the chapter. On top of that, I liked the way Mr. Paulson reacted to the situation. Mr. Paulson could tell the situation was deeply affecting Ty, he acknowledged Ty’s questions, and he recognized the importance of including Ty’s mother in on the conversation at hand. After all, Ty is feeling pressure from his mother, his environment, and school. At least this will help with two out of the three. The reason I liked reading this case study is mostly because it touches home! City life is tough! Even Ty admitted that. Ty realizes that in order to live a successful life (in his eyes) would be to get out. One way to get out is by making it to college. I am not going to lie; I preach to many of my students the importance of their choices. I encourage them to see outside of their family and their environment. Many of them don’t realize their true potential. Also, many of them do not see outside of York city. There is more out there! They first must believe it, and then they truly can achieve it. After reading the rest of Chapter 4 presented by Dollarhide and Saginak (2012), I couldn’t help by think of how teaching and counseling are quite similar. As a teacher, it is my hopes that I must be able to use prevention, intervention, and treatment with each one of my students academically and behaviorally! In addition, after implementing my plan of action, I absolutely have to be reflective. Did it work? How did the student respond? What can I do to make it better? I believe that the reflection piece of the CSCP is most vital part of the process. After all, how will you ever become a better counselor? If I did that as a teacher, many of my students would not be successful, and they would not meet my administrations standards. If I did this as a counselor, many of my clients would fall between the cracks, while others seeking someone to encourage and support them. Reflecting upon the CSCP will hold me accountable to become more effective as a school counselor. I think that Walsh, Barret, and Depaul’s (2007) highlight the most important reason for a role shift for school counselor’s. If the educational system is changing, that means the roles of not only teachers, but administrators need to change as well. As I have experienced over the past 5 years as a teacher, there is such an emphasis on accountability! Our main obstacle is bridging the academic gap. In order to bridge the gap, teachers and administrators must effectively work with ALL students. As counselors there is a call for aiding in the educational development of students. Counselors can do this by providing support with academic and nonacademic barriers that students face day in and day out. This study showed the importance of providing support to ALL students, further adhering to the NCLB. Dollarhide, C.T., & Saginak, K.A. (2012). Comprehensive school counseling programs (2nd Ed.). New York: Pearson, Inc. Walsh, M. E., Barrett, J. G., & DePaul, J. (2007). Day-to-day activities of school counselors: Alignment with new directions in the field and the ASCA national model®. Professional School Counseling, 10(4), 370-378.