This is the module in its entirity,
Introduction - Effective versus Ineffective
Guidance Counsellors strive to create pathways to success for their students. Their role is to support students and be the person a student feels comfortable and safe in communicating. Watch the following videos, beginning with the Ineffective Counsellor session and then the Effective Counsellor session. Reflect on what makes a ‘good’ or ‘bad’ Guidance Counsellor.
YouTube URL: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ocp_1PtZupg
YouTube URL: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_TwVa4utpII
As Per Module:
"Task 1: Effective Communication (Review & Reflect)
In the introductory video, we watched an ineffectual counsellor and then an effective counsellor. An effective counsellor relies on effective communication skills in their approach to counselling with students. Here are a few of them:
Active Listening
Tips to becoming a better listener
Non-Verbal Communication
Understanding Body Language
Courageous Conversations
Paraphrasing
Questioning techniques
Being an effective communicator is key to a Counsellor’s interaction with students and building a safe and trusting relationship where students can open up and seek supports. Below are several resources for you to explore around some of the essential communication and counselling skills.
Review 2 or 3 of the following links
Active Listening: A Communication Tool - (Note: although this article is about parent/child communication it would be easy to replace parent with counsellor and child with student.)
7 Powerful Tips To Becoming A Better Listener
Listen With Your Eyes: Tips For Understanding Non Verbal Communication
Top 10 Non Verbal Communication Tips
Understanding Body Language
Restorative Practice
Note: some of these links may open with an “error” notification due to security restrictions in the Blackboard platform. There is nothing wrong with the links, just click on the URL and it will take you to the trusted site.
Review and Reflect on the following questions. No submission is required for this task.
In what area do you feel that you would need to work on to be an effective Guidance Counsellor?
In the introductory video, the ineffective counsellor would have benefited from what specific communication skills?
What is one piece of take-away advice you would give to yourself as a new Guidance Counsellor?"
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
As per module,
"Task 2: Communication with Students and their Parents/Guardians (Discussion Board)
Thinking about your role as a Guidance Counsellor and the larger school community; including students who may not seek you out and the parents of all of your students, what are ways you can reach out to them and/or share the many resources and information you have as a Guidance Counsellor? You may want to visit a Guidance Counsellor and ask what they do or do some research of your own. Think of today’s student and parents/guardians. What is the best way to reach out to them and share? Reflect and/or refer to the resources you reviewed on Effective Communication in the previous task.
a. Identify one method of sharing information with students. Try to post a different idea than your classmates.
b. Identify one method of reaching out and sharing information with your students’ parents.
c. Supposing you were asked to share one piece of advice to parents regarding the difficulties students face in school. The advice can focus on a social, emotional or education issue. In one sentence what piece of advice would you share with parents?"
The first and foremost effective means of communication between the teacher and the caregivers if there is an LMS maintained and purchased by the school would be through the "parent" portal (portion of the classroom assigned for caregiver's observation and audit) of the provided LMS. An example in Canadian classrooms might be through Google Classrooms or Canvas Instructure, these are two softwares that allow teachers to include caregivers into the classrooms to a) keep caregivers in the loop with daily happenings of class tasking and b) allow caregivers to be aware of the student's progress.
While working in China, I have been in two schools, the first was Maple Leaf International School (now called Maple Leaf World School), their LMS was initially "Pearson's Powerschool" this included "Gradebook" which parents could use to collect details on student progress. There were functions that we were unfamiliar such as "contact" parent, but not many parents were connected due to the system's way of organizing/leveraging human resources within it. Later the school adopted licensed use of Canvas which was much more functional and much more parent intuitive. It took awhile for teachers to get behind because what and how things were being introduced (online-2020), but thereafter it became one of my favourite tools.
After leaving Maple Leaf, I have since been at Huamei where there was no LMS, and began introducing Edmodo to colleagues. which others were using schoology, both have advantages, but neither supercede the school's decision to establish use of "Classin" (I don't like as it has not matured to the extent it should have been when the school purcahsed the license leaving teachers to make-shift modular learning and establish grading protocols independently etc.)
Long and short, in all these online communications with parents, there are recurring themes that tell me that they are not effective, 1) confirmation of the last statement, an example: "So if my son hands in this work, they will pass the class?" and 2) plea for improvement strategies, an example "So if my daughter has a 90, what can she do to improve her score to 95?"
In person conversations with caregivers are never easy-unless you are congratulating them on rasing such perfect and wonderful children-then ya, but even then, sometimes caregivers inquire, "right, how can they be better?". I digress, in person communications here allow for one of two things to happen, 1) everyone walks away with a new direction or on the same page regarding the discussion happening; or 2) Someone walks away saying they will bring their child to another school and get a higher mark elsewhere, but realistically, maybe that is what is best for the student as the caregiver believes so that isn't always a bad thing if it is a potential option for that family. (no, I have never had anything that extreme be said across the table, but close-very close sentiments, and understandably, with organizations like "Rosedale" and "Ontario Virtual High School", why wouldn't you shell out the extra change if you had it and clean-up an A+?). In every situation though, the problem was resolved, when communicating online, the problem just becomes more volatile, confusing and leads to a great deal of disregard for what is actually being said by either party-no accountability, especially if teachers (which has been the case in the past), is being expected to communicate through "Wechat" (Chinese Software similar to WhatsApp, not a professional tool of communication in nature).
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
"Task 3: Contemporary Issues & Challenges in Ontario Schools: Agency AssignmentTask 3: Contemporary Issues & Challenges in Ontario Schools: Agency Assignment
Let's talk about Mental Health. Throughout thsi course, we have learned that training on skills to connect to mental health is essential for both elementary and secondary Guidance Counsellors. An article in the Toronto Star cited the following:
“While Guidance Counsellors said their biggest role is in assisting students with course selection and post secondary decisions, many counsellors admitted that the most time consuming and perhaps the most challenging, was in providing counselling for kids with mental health challenges.” (~Source: https://www.thestar.com/yourtoronto/education/2018/01/23/school-guidance-counsellors-stretched-amid-rising-mental-health-needs.html)
Read the full Toronto Star article, 'School guidance counsellors ‘stretched’ amid rising mental health needs'
Mental Health is perhaps the most talked about issues, but there are others. A Guidance Department cannot be all things to all students. We need to recognize our limitations and know when it is time and appropriate to refer to an outside agency. In 2009, the Ministry of Education released PPM 149 which required schools to review and develop a process for outside agencies to operate within their schools. PPM 149 can be found at Protocol for Partnerships.
For this Assignment, you will identify/focus on a contemporary issue in Guidance and choose Option A or B to complete. Do not do both!
Identify a contemporary issue Guidance Counsellors are assisting their students with and in which Counsellors could use more skills and training on. Some examples are below, but feel free to choose one of your own as well. It may help to review Options A and B before deciding what issue you are going to focus on.
Mental health and wellness
Suicide intervention
Support for substance abuse
Healthy relationships for teens
How to access and work with community resources
Specific considerations for Indigenous students
Learning about specific considerations for LGBTQT2 students
Learning about jobs of the future and future workplace trends
Bursaries and scholarshis - where to find them and how to access them
Cyber Ethics, Cyber Bullying and Cyber Safety
Social Media - the perils of oversharing and how to deal with the oversharing fall-out
Human trafficking - what it is, signs, how to help
Teen homelessness
Partner abuse (physical and emotional)
Eating disorders and body image (may be gender or non-gender specific focus)
Stress - Regardless of cause
Marginalization - student voice
Option A) After reading PPM 149, please select a school board in which you have worked or one that is in your area. Select an agency from the approved list (see note at end of this text) in your board and create a slide presentation (or other presentation model) about the services, how they support students, when you would use them and how one would access support from the agency.
Option B) If you would like to focus on an issue which a Guidance Counsellor may deal with, that may not be supported by an agency, i.e., Cyber Bullying, … compile a list of resources available to a counsellor and his/her students. This should be presented either in a slide presentation format, or other presentation model.
In preparation of this presentation, attempt to create something that you could share in your school (perhaps in a short PD session) - something that is relevant to you, your colleagues, or your department. Make sure that you produce a product that could be distributed after the presentation as a reference for staff. Remember the effective presentation tips that were outlined in the Module 2 assignment. Please no Google drive links - they don't work well with Blackboard).
Refer to Assignment Rubric for assessment criteria - Assignment Assessment.docx Assignment Assessment.docx - Alternative Formats
Submit your assignment to the Dropbox. Be sure it is in a file format your instructor is able to access/open.
Note: If your board does not have an "approved list" of agencies, pick an agency that your board/school uses regularly."
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
"Task 4: OSCA Ethical Guidelines (Journal)Task 4: OSCA Ethical Guidelines (Journal)
Read through the Mental Health, Diversity, Cyber Ethics, and Social Media sections (Pgs 26 - 34) in the 2022 OSCA Ethical Guidelines. These pages focus on some of the issues we have discussed in this module. Upon reading this selection, take note of the guidelines and legalities involved.
How important to your job as a guidance counsellor or teacher is knowing what your legal obligations are in responding to these specific issues and scenarios introduced?
In your journal, share your response to the question posed above, in addition to responding to each of the following;
2 pieces of information you did not know
2 pieces of information that you found surprising or challenging
1 piece of information you resist (Dig deeper when considering this piece)
Note: Please remember to use paragraphs to separate your thoughts in this journal response rather than one long, continuous, writing piece as outlined in the Journal Entry Guidelines found in Module 1.
Submit by clicking on the Journal tab found on the left."
As per journal,
"It is really worth looking into getting a lawyer (it seems), as a guidance counsellor, but realistically, the salary of a guidance counsellor cannot provide enough income to afford the lawyer for as often as one may actually need the lawyer in order to avoid or prevent any potential issues. Personally, I believe the reality of a slip for anyone is inevitable. Even the most careful individual will face a situation wherein, planning ahead couldn’t even have helped. It is in my belief that if someone is taking on a position like this within a school, they need a really positive and professionally-based relationship with their school’s administration. Having the principal or vice-principal (someone else whose well-being and success relies heavily on the understand of legal obligations in a position), in order to set ground work in one’s first year as a guidance counsellor, because it is probably the foremost important part of knowledge a guidance counsellor needs.
Through studies in Careers and Guidance Part 1, the journey takes those enrolled through the OSCA Ethical Guidelines for Ontario School Counsellors (2022), where in a series of situations and expectations ensue. In Module 3 the segment being focused on is relevant to pages 26-34. Topics covered in this section of the text include, “Mental Health”; “Diversity”; “Cyber Ethics”; and “Social Media”. The reality of these situations is sobering for a newly enrolled member of this base qualification as many of these situations (however obvious as they may seem) are often overlooked and can lead to serious implications against the counsellor in-training.
It is uncommon knowledge that the Counsellor employed by a school board, and working at a school is expected to or encouraged to run social media platforms such as a Twitter account (as mentioned in the text). It would seem that the Ontario College of Teachers has enough issues deciding what is reasonable cause and what isn’t in regards to what teachers post, that it would feel foolish to encourage a guidance counsellor to take home their work in that manner as usually social media accounts are relatively personal and although there is that idea of community engagement-there is a limited amount to what seems to be acceptable for a guidance counsellor to indulge in with regards to social media anyways.
It is surprising to hear, or read that the guidance counsellors have “Cyber Ethics” or (as worded in the text), “Crisis Lines” available through the internet. To an extent it can be understood that guidance counsellors need to be available but the question being posed here is, “if the student cannot seek help anonymously, the service being sought and accessed is during the school hours, why isn’t the student not being prompted electronically to access the counsellors as needed through a school protocol system, if it is during school hours?” That being said, usually these “crisis lines”/online chat experts are supposed to be available outside of the expected hours of clinics and other regularly operated service providers, therefore it sounds like guidance counsellors are being asked to be available after the school hours-is that viable by union and collective agreement standards?
Overall, the idea of the guidance counsellor being given a lot of innovative freedoms is nice, but it is challenging to imagine that one’s good intentions or hard work may not be welcomed in a way that may promote or reinstate faith in innovative thinking or team-minded goal setting. Sometimes the realities of limits and carefulness needed should certainly be of great emphasis moving forward, but realistically, there isn’t one person’s job who sits on the shoulders of an administration like a Jiminy cricket, this needs to come from the experiences and understandings of the individual in that position.
The previously mentioned challenge makes me resist the idea that administrators, teachers and guidance counsellors should get the full swoop of the regulatory punishment because of the fact that there isn’t anyone who is regularly looking out for another the person. It seems like the guidance counsellor, the principal and the vice-principal are all expected to be looking out for others as well as their own skins. Realistically, I resist the idea that a guidance counsellor with truthfully positive intentions is treated without recognition of a more equitable outcome with regards to punitive measures, in the event of non-life threatening or imminent harm-providing instance. This being something reflected on from the warnings and cautionary pieces given in earlier parts of the guidelines."
No comments:
Post a Comment