Middle School Counseling

I was excited to see the title for this week’s article, as I have always been interested in working with middle school students and spent an extended period substituting at a middle school in York where I could see some of the concepts described in the article in action. I thought the school had an especially effective teacher advisory program and believe they followed many of the same recommendations outlined in the article, such as having teachers assigned to a limited number of students (12-18) and having the school counselors serve as leaders of the program. Although the advisory period is not necessarily appropriate for addressing more serious issues with students, I think some of the activities described in the article, such as discussing problems with individual students and providing career information and guidance, are certainly issues teachers can address. Because school counselors are leading the program, they can extend their reach and connections with students without necessarily having to meet with each student individually. Akos (2005) also discusses the teaming approach, which I was also able to see in action. I can understand why these small learning communities are associated with positive outcomes because they allow for an increased level of individualized attention. They also “provide students a psychological home to reduce anonymity, help build peer group affiliation, and provide teachers a structure for professional development centered on effective instruction” (p. 6). I think middle school students have more potential to flourish when they feel safe and this teaming approach provides a sense of comfort and safety for them that they would not have in a middle school organized in a more traditional way. I liked considering the roles school counselors can play in this teaming structure, such as sharing knowledge of group process and leadership techniques. I talked about the value of having teachers help school counselors extend their reach and the author describes this in more detail by discussing the roles teachers can play in providing perspectives on student referrals or individual counseling cases. If a counselor creates a behavior contact with a student, it can then be reinforced by the teacher in the classroom, who will have hopefully already recognized a need for such an intervention. It is important to remember that not all teams will be effective initially and may need professional development to learn how to interact y with each other. Again, I think this advisory and training role is the one the school counselor should play in the team process. Akos, Patrick. (2005). "The unique nature of middle school counseling." Professional School Counseling 9(2), 95-103.