Reference no: EM133471123
Practicum II
Question 1. Amelia- What practices would you like to research further? Why? In what areas or topics would you like to receive Professional Development?
For the second half of my practicum hours, I would like to overserve more groups. I have observed intakes for new students, MANY restorative circles, high school readiness criteria and scheduling students for next year's courses. I will also be at an elementary school in June, so I hope to be able to observe more groups and do more with social emotional learning. Being at a middle school at the end of the school year is exhausting, the parent complaints and student behaviors are at a tipping point. I will look forward to going to the elementary in June and observing how to support this age group.
2. Ashley- I. Self-care: How are you taking care of yourself to better meet the needs of your learners?"Because of the multilayered demands of school counseling and the potentially devastating consequences of a school counselor's impairment, the ASCA Ethical Standards for School Counselors address self-care as an ethical mandate. This professional mandate also requires school counselors to self-assess and monitor their physical or mental health issues and seek necessary support to maintain professional effectiveness." (Williams) Since I've started my practicum, I've begun to understand the importance of self-care. I've noticed how unpredictable the day is at the elementary school level. The only mandatory task throughout the day is the in-class lessons. If there's an immediate need for the school counselor, she rearranges her schedule to accommodate that matter, such as a fight on campus, a parent present for concern, or a school crisis. Although I'm only here a few days a week, my schedule has gotten pretty full, so managing my calendar is essential to ensuring task completion. A few weeks ago, I began walking before starting my day or at the end. My goal is to walk at least 4 miles a day. This change has helped me develop more energy, peace, and rest, and I feel even healthier. I hope to continue this practice as long as it's helpful. I also plan to attend at least one fun activity I enjoy monthly. As my schedule shifts, I plan to prioritize self-care as it is essential to becoming an effective school counselor.
Professionalism Ethics
3. Jaqueline- There are many different conditions to consider when looking into our youth. One of these is teen births. Rates are actually decreasing and although it isn't 100% apparent why, "evidence suggests these declines are due to more teens abstaining from sexual activity, and more teens who are sexually active using birth control than in previous years" (CDC, 2021). In the United States, this decline is both in the number of birth rates, like from a "17.4 per 1,000 females in 2018 to 16.7 per 1,000 females in 2019," and in the age range, which "birth rates fell 7% for females aged 15 to 17 years and 4% for females aged 18 to 19 years" (CDC, 2021). It seems, too, that every race is following this declining trend over the years.
"Globally in 2021, an estimated 14 percent of adolescent girls and young women give birth before age 18" (UNICEF, 2022). This was conducted over the time frame from 2015 to 2021. It varies depending on the region, country, location such as if it is rural or urban, and the level of income and education for the young women. (UNICEF, 2022). The rates seem to be "lowest in countries in Europe and North America and highest in countries in sub-Saharan Africa" (UNICEF, 2022). Earlier I mentioned a decline over time in the United States, but this decline is seen globally as well. "Since 2000, the global adolescent birth rate for the age group 10-14 has declined by over 50 percent, from 3.3 to 1.6 per 1,000 adolescent girls aged 10-14. (Likewise, the) rate for age group 15-19 has declined by over 30 percent, from 65 to 43 births per 1,000" (UNICEF, 2022).
As a school counselor, it would be best to educate at least the young women on sexual education, preventative measures, and other safe practices rather than simply asking them to abstain. They will be better equipped if they are aware of the facts and possible outcomes of sexual activity as well as how to go about things as safely and healthily as they can. It would be even better if we could get an all-inclusive health lesson for all students, not just those who are able to become pregnant. I feel like the others involved in such partnerships and situations should understand what could happen. It would also be helpful to get the community or at least families and other stakeholders engaged, because depending on the demographic, the whole village, so to speak, is a part of this and can be instrumental in terms of support and resource availability. As a counselor, we can also offer resources, like with Planned Parenthood if a clinic is needed for appointments or birth control, for example, and with supplying condoms.
4.Stacie- In the United States, the amount of children who are without health care has lessened in recent years due to the bills that were put into action. Things such as The Affordable Care Act and Children's Health Insurance Program. Infant death has decreased along with teen births due to the increase in health care. But one that is on the rise is obesity, this has increased greatly for our children along with the increase of depression and anxiety. I also read that the increase in homelessness, I wonder if this is because of the cost. The unemployment rates have decreased over the years but there are still many job openings. Kindergarten readiness has improved due to the fact of the changing of age requirements. There is a program prior to Kinder for the younger students, each year they will be lowering the age. This allows students that may not have access to preschool to get started on their education. "High school dropout rates have declined slightly in recent years, but around 6% of youth still do not complete high school. Chronic absenteeism is also a concern, with around 1 in 7 students missing 10% or more of school days." (The condition of Education 2018 - national center for education statistics n.d.) Another concern for the students is child and youth deaths, substantiated child abuse, juvenile arrests, and gang membership. This I have witnessed firsthand with working at a school where the students would be released from Juvenile Hall or have to be in a gang to survive. Along with these issues drug use especially fentanyl right now on the rise and this can be a concern with student deaths.
As a school counselor, there are a lot of different interventions that I would love to implement. I would love to do something with students who are having attendance issues. After that, I would love to add interventions for students who are also falling behind with their grades as well. It truly depends on the area you are employed along with the demographics.
Social and Emotional
6. Jaime- Counseling is a professional relationship that helps empower a diverse group of people through different aspects of their lives such as mental health, education, career, wellness, and social/emotional needs. Using counseling theories and techniques, school counselors accomplish these goals by fostering educational and social equity, access, and success (Erford, B. T. Pg. 1. 2018). Counselors act as advocates for students and their families, working with teachers and other professionals to help students succeed and have better outcomes for their futures. The counseling field is always growing and changing. The counseling profession has come a long way from when it first began, allowing many different professionals to pave the way to create a field that empowers and transforms different aspects of people's lives.
As a school counselor or school psychologist we actively engage with students and help with social/emotional needs. With this often students can be in crisis or have trauma responses that create behaviors that have concerns for safety. Defusing critical incidents and providing stress debriefing as a response team in important. Being able to implement trauma-informed practices within school systems and behavior teams will be the difference in defining the problem, ensuring safety, providing support, making plans, and gaining buy in from students to work through the crisis and create interventions for success.
School counselors can provide referrals to school services, community resources, educate teachers and administrators and be the advocate for all students in the system. School counselors help build programs and manage crisis for students. Each school has their own unique individualized site demographic, population, data service, crisis intervention plan, and preventative efforts to help manage campus safety and create success for all students. There are many different aspects of school counseling such as individual counseling, group counseling and school guidance lessons. School counselors, "have embraced to address the evolving and diverse needs of students, schools, and the families they serve (Woodward & Davis, 2009).
6. Areva- How are School Counselor's instrumental in their role and their efforts to help meet the academic, career, and social and emotional development needs of all students?
School counselors advocate for all students emotionally, socially, and academically. School counselors identify and call attention to policies and practices, use outcome data to disadvantage groups of students, and advocate for change. The journal article School Counselors as Curricular Leaders: A Content Analysis of ASCA Lesson Plans states, "School counselors who take an active role in planning, preparing, delivering, and evaluating the core counseling curriculum for all students demonstrate their roles as leaders.
School counselors are instrumental to students academic and career aspect because they advocate for students to stay on track with their grades, making sure to work with parents and teachers on different strategies to keep the student on track in all academics, expose them to different career paths that they never thought they could do. School counselors advocate for students by eliminating student development barriers, creating opportunities to learn for all students, ensuring access to a quality school curriculum, and collaborating with others within and outside the school to help students with specific needs. As a school counselor a students social and emotional needs are highly important for a student to even function to do their academic work. "School counselors are pivotal in helping students develop social and emotional (SE) skills through school counseling programs." Research shows that school counselors who reported having more fully implemented, comprehensive, developmental programs also reported higher leadership practices than those who did not report as high on program implementation" (Lopez, 2017). Building programs are essential to get to know students and build relationships with them. For example, "Bella Vista Middle School" has a program called "Upgrade," helping students who are struggling with grades of a D or lower. (2.0 GPA). The program investigates reasons for struggles in certain classes, creates obtainable goals, and weekly check-ins to see how students are doing emotionally, academically, and socially. They meet once a week as a group and engage in different activities.