This week’s reading provided some good reminders about good
teaching. I strive to incorporate
all of these positive teaching techniques and ways of interacting with students
into my daily routine, but the reality is that I’m human and sometimes let my
own frustrations get the best of me.
Reminders like this are often needed. I really connected with the Love and Logic system of teaching. In fact, I like it so much that I ordered the book. J This philosophy is a very positive,
solution-focused way of managing a classroom. It emphasizes Choice Theory, which I love and use often, and
appreciate learning new ways of incorporating it. While reading through this section of the book, I went
through some of the dialogue with my students. While many do respond well to this type of interaction, I
could see others making a mockery of it (pardon me while I play Devil’s
Advocate). For example, when
asking a student, “What do you think might happen if you keep talking instead
of working?” I could totally see a
student saying, “I think I’d have fun!”
If responding, “that’s a possibility. What else?” I
could see the student making comments such as, “everyone else would have fun!”
or “Nothing else. I just want to
have fun!” I do understand that I
could continue to encourage the conversation in a more productive direction;
however, then this puts attention on the student and most likely others would
be joining in and laughing, thereby reinforcing an undesirable behavior. Therefore, the use of these techniques
needs to be done with great “withitness.”
Of
course, my experiences are primarily based with middle school students. Because of this, I was amused to read
the article, The Unique Nature of Middle
School Counseling (Akos, 2005).
Unique is only the beginning; counseling middle schoolers, I imagine,
would be worlds different than counseling elementary or high school
students. I strongly agree with
the sentiment that it is important to staff schools “with teachers who are
experts at teaching early adolescents” (Akos, 2005). I do believe that most middle school teachers are in middle
school for a reason: they “get” these students. Sometimes, however, there are teachers who do not consider
developmental issues surrounding adolescents in middle school. I would imagine that this would create
quite a barrier for middle school counselors in educating teachers in how to
implement the “developmental curriculum” (Dollarhide & Saginak, 2012). I believe that middle school is the
optimal place in which to teach the developmental curriculum along with the
academic curriculum. I believe
that it is the task of a school counselor to encourage and support this with
teachers, and I wonder how some do so.
I understand the concept of meeting with a teacher advisory “cadre,” and
I wonder how practical and effective this is. I do believe that there are teachers who are extremely
passionate about this and would be willing to take their time to be part of
such a group. Perhaps these teachers
could then share in the undertaking of encouraging others to take their lead in
putting developmental issues at the forefront.
Not
only do counselors need to educate teachers, but they must also educate
parents. Akos (2005) stated, “Even parent
engagement, while desirable at all levels of schooling, is more salient in
middle school due to the typical drop-off in parent involvement.” I agree 110%. The problem is that many parents of students at this age
have the belief that the students are getting older and need to learn to be
more independent; therefore they are backing off in their involvement. The reality is, students need support
and modeling in how to be more mature and independent young citizens. Not only should they be getting this
from their teachers, but they should also get a more individualized approach at
this responsibility and maturity, which most effectively comes from parents. Parents are a great source of support
for middle school students, and if they back off too quickly, this may allow
greater influence to occur through – guess who – peers (not always the best
examples of role models at this age).
Truly, middle school counselors (and teachers) are a special breed. J
References:
Akos, P. (2005, December). The unique nature of middle school counseling. Professional
School Counseling,
9(2), 95-103.
Dollarhide,
C.T., & Saginak, K.A. (2012). Comprehensive school counseling programs
(2nd
Ed.). New York: Pearson, Inc.
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