Week 5 blog

            I am coming to realize more and more how central school counselors are to meeting the needs of students, and the extent to which it will be imperative for us to be leaders in our school districts.   I connected with several strategies that the textbook discussed related to counselors as leaders.

            First, I love the idea of a TAP program.  It seems like a great way for counselors to meet student needs “behind the scenes.”   I have heard of this type of program in the past, and have often wondered how such a program could benefit my school.  I feel that having this type of a mentor would be exceptionally beneficial to all students.  We currently have character ed once per month, which really does nothing to improve the climate of the school.  I always thought that, in order for such an intervention to work, it would need to occur much more frequently so that the teachers can actually get to know the students.  In order for such a program to work, counselors would need to get teachers on board, and to train them in how to run TAP meetings with students.  This type of group intervention would be very different than most teachers would be used to, so they would need lots of support to make it successful.

            The “Reflection Moment” on page 94 (Dollarhide & Saginak, 2012) encourages readers to reflect on whether or not teachers and school counselors should co-deliver classroom guidance.  I believe that there are benefits to co-delivering curriculum.  First, the counselor is the expert in how to meet personal/social needs of students, and how to conduct discussions pertaining to this domain.  Teachers may need this type of support to deliver the information.  Secondly, co-teaching is a great way for counselors to get to know the students in the school, and to basically “advertise” themselves as a service to students.  It seems to be a common trend that students do not know whom their counselors are, let alone what they can do for them.  On the other hand, perhaps this type of co-teaching support could be faded eventually as the teacher becomes more comfortable in order to free up time so that the counselor can implement other components of his/her delivery system.

            The last section of chapter six focuses on a social justice approach to comprehensive school counseling.  It is timely that I read this when I did.  On Saturday night I was hanging out with some ladies who have school-aged children.  All but 2 of them are Hispanic.  One of the Hispanic women started talking about her 5-year-old son coming home from school and telling her that he was going to participate in a counseling group called “Banana splits.”  It’s a group to support children whose parents have broken up or divorced.  The mother was very passionately against this, saying, “he has never known his dad and I to be together because we split before he was born.”  She was also making fun of the name, saying that he may develop a complex thinking he is a banana.  She then further related it to a gorilla.  At one point she made the comment, “I’m so tired of these white schools.”  I just thought, “Wow, how could this have been handled differently to get this mother on board?”  Simply making a phone call home could make all the difference.  I would think that a logical first step would be for the counselor to determine how the parent believes that the child is affected by his parents’ break up.  I’m wondering, is it best practice to get a signature before placing a student in a group?  This is a change of educational placement, so students with IEP’s should definitely have a parent signature to ensure legal consent.   Something we will inevitably need to contend with is the fact that parents will not want their child in a group.  In this case, if we know that an intervention is essential, is it unethical to have the child in a group if he/she would like to join?   This is where our collaboration techniques will need to kick into gear.  I think that personality is a key factor in a person’s ability to build relationships.  Unless a parent has a relationship with you, they may not consider anything you have to say.  I wonder, what are some other ways that counselors have “chipped away at the mortar in the wall that divides schools from the very communities they are attempting to serve?” (Dollarhide & Saginak, 2012, p. 105).

Reference:

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