This week’s article about middle school counseling included
many correlations to my findings in my research paper about students
transitioning from middle school to high school. For instance, Akos (2005) notes several
challenges facing middle school students, such as the imbalance between their
maturity level and what their bodies start to feel during puberty and as well
as an emerging identity formation. Similarly,
I found that the developmental changes that students transitioning from middle
to high school compound the effects of transition. The Akos (2005) article describes the typical
middle school as being divided into interdisciplinary teams, which can more
effectively support middle school students and create a sense of school-connectedness
among students. Likewise, I found that
the transition from such a supportive middle school environment to an
environment in which students are expected to be much more independent and
where their classes are spread out all over a larger building is very difficult
for some transitioning students. Akos
(2005) recommends rigorous middle school curriculum, and that is something that
my research recommended as well, as creating a rigorous middle school
curriculum can help students to have a smoother transition to high school
courses. Finally, Akos recommends
involving parents and peers in the student learning process. I found that these are also two major pieces
of effective transition programs. After
reading the Akos article, I felt much better about the legitimacy of the
recommendations that I made in my research paper.
Recently, I’ve been experiencing a
newfound curiosity about middle school counseling and whether or not I think it
would be a good fit for me. In the past,
I would have easily dismissed the idea, as my middle school years were probably
not my personal favorite and as I have found middle school students frustrating
and annoying. However, I remember my
middle school counselor – she played an important role during a memorable year
of my life. And, during this semester,
I’ve seen statistics showing that school counselors are often most effective in
the lives of students during the middle school years. My boss has been encouraging me to look for a
position at a middle school because he thinks that I would “actually be able to
counsel students” there. He contends
that there are usually at least 2 middle school counselors to share the case
load and a guidance secretary to do more of the administrative tasks, thus
freeing up the counselors to do more of what they are trained to do. This appeals to me. At this point, I am planning to find a day to
shadow a middle school counselor so that I can get a first-hand look at what
the job is like. I don’t think that
shadowing a middle school counselor would have been on my radar at all at the
beginning of the semester, so I can definitely say that this class has
challenged me to consider opportunities that I might have missed
otherwise. I’m looking forward to
exploring this “new world.”
References
Akos, P. (2009).
The unique nature of middle school counseling. Professional School Counseling, 9 (2), 95-103.
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