Blog #10

            I am sure that this chapter of the book provides some comfort for the teachers/educators in the class.  However, I have to be honest and say that the idea of delivering curriculum to students, or any stakeholder for that matter, makes me anxious and nervous.  I hope and know that one day be comfortable and confident with this process, but that day is not today. 

I hope that before I become a professional school counselor I can gain some more knowledge and experience working in a classroom.  Through observation, I have been able to pick up some very important tips and techniques.  I have been trying to absorb everything.  Also, I just finished taking my classroom management course this semester.  I learned much more than I would have imagined by taking that course.  It was nice to get perspectives from different teachers actually working in schools, but also interesting to see things more through the instructional/academic side of things.  I can’t explain why I am so nervous about educating the different stakeholders within a school.  After all, half of my current job at work involves meeting new people, training, and developing new and current employees.  I guess teaching curriculum and lessons in a school is not too far off from that.

When I talk to different people about the idea of me going into school counseling, the first question they always ask is “What grade level do you want to work with?”  My answer is always the same...I don’t really have a preference, but I have always been interested in working with middle school students.  It’s then funny to see peoples’ reactions.  They usually say something such as, “Why middle school?  Kids are nuts at that age.”  Even though I tend to agree with them to a point, that is what intrigues me the most.  I think back to when I was in middle school and how important those years of transition were.  Children at the early adolescent age need the most help at figuring out who they are.  Middle school is also a crucial time for a student to have adults in their lives to help educate them about life things.  In fact, according to Akos, Patrick (2005), “there are some parallels to the toddler stage in child development in terms of taking risks and pushing boundaries, although more severe consequences exist for some of the risks (e.g., drugs/alcohol, smoking, sex) that middle school students take”.  As a result, education from a counseling perspective becomes even more critical for students at that early adolescent stage.  To summarize, I better get comfortable and confident pretty quickly.J

Akos, Patrick. (2005). The unique nature of middle school counseling. Professional school counseling, 9, 95-103.

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