STEM Career Fair

Posted on Updated on

STEM fair

STEM Career Fair today!

It’s amazing to see my students so engaged and exploring all of their options. The best decision is an informed one so as a school counselor my job is to open every door and give them the skills and confidence to step through whichever one they desire.

This entry was posted in Baltimore City, Spring Internship, Urban Education and tagged , , , , , , , , , , .

I Need My School Counselor Because…

Image Posted on

I Need My School Counselor Because...

This entry was posted in Uncategorized.

First Day of National School Counselor Week!

Posted on

20140203-123234.jpg

20140203-123312.jpg

20140203-123249.jpg

20140203-123533.jpg

20140203-123608.jpg

20140203-123514.jpg

Resource page is coming soon 🙂

This entry was posted in Uncategorized.

Lessons in Culturally Relevant Pedagogy: Intragroup Variation

Posted on Updated on

Intragroup Variation Often More Pronounced than Intergroup Variation

Dr. Kris Gutierrez, UCLA

This entry was posted in Thoughts on Counseling, Urban Education and tagged , , , , , , , .

National School Counseling Week

Image Posted on Updated on

NSCW Calendar

Are you ready for National School Counseling Week?
February 3-7, 2014

This entry was posted in Spring Internship, Thoughts on Counseling and tagged , , , , , , , , , .

Spring Internship Reception

Posted on

counseling program

Last Friday I went to a reception held by Baltimore City’s Office of School Counseling and Guidance. They talked a bit about the future of school counseling in Baltimore city and the importance of school counseling interns. I have to say that I was incredibly surprised by the free goods! I love free resources so I grabbed a bunch! I’m most excited about Loesch and Ritchie’s The Accountable School Counselor. I’m reading it now and I’ll post a quick review. Come to think of it, I’m reading a lot of books about counseling, urban education, and social justice… Maybe I’ll consider posting more book reviews? We’ll see how the first one is received.

resources

the accountable school counselor

This entry was posted in Baltimore City, Spring Internship, Thoughts on Counseling, Urban Education and tagged , , , , , .

University-Community Partnerships

Posted on

I recently attended a research colloquium on university-community partnerships on Johns Hopkins University’s School of Education. This is a really special subject for me because I believe these partnerships offer great promise but can often be exploitative. This particular discussion featured members of the Baltimore Education Research Consortium (BERC) on the panel. I was thoroughly impressed with what their presentation and thought I’d share a couple of their tips for creating successful partnerships.

Rules for Successful Unions of Theory and Practice

1. Build Relationships. Build Trust.

The relationship is more important than the project. Now bare with me, I understand that academics are very devoted to their research. I get it, but for those that forge these partnership it’s imperative that you think toward the future. The relationship can be more valuable in the end.

2. Look to Practitioners as Experts

Listen twice as much as you talk. The goal should be to facilitate discussion rather than leading it.

3. Reevaluate Your Goals

What do you want? Are you looking to receive academic acclaim? looking to write an expose in the local paper? or shame local institutions? OR Do you want to create systemic change? How do you do that?

Have a “No Surprises Rule”

If community organizations/school districts have provided data or contributed to the research in any way allow the organizations to view and comment on the report before it’s published. 

Use a Participatory Model

Allow community members to help shape research projects. Ask three questions:

1. Do these research questions help inform your practice?
2. Have these questions been answered by someone else?
3. What questions did we not ask that we should? What are we missing?

I was thoroughly impressed by the information that they presented and the conversation that they facilitated. I definitely feel more comfortable of university-community partnerships and more aware of how to make these partnerships successful.

This entry was posted in Social Justice, Urban Education and tagged , , , , , .

Can You be a Transformed School Counselor and not be a Social Justice Advocate?

Posted on Updated on

I’ve been thinking a lot about this question lately. And then I think, what does it mean to be a social justice advocate? I don’t think these questions will be answered in one blog post but I do think it’s important to ponder it. I tend to worry (possibly a little more than what’s healthy) about our kids and the adults that interact with them. I know that kids are incredibly resilient and can bounce back from (almost) anything but issues of race, culture, gender identity, religion, sexual orientation, and ability are a little harder. These are not criticisms of your behavior, these are criticisms of you… of your being… of your existence. That’s tough, I’ve seen it and experienced and I know how soul crushing that can be.

By this point (in 2014) we pretty much know that you cannot be outright racist/classist/queerphobic/abelist. BUT school counselors often uphold oppressive structures or condone oppressive behaviors and in many ways that can be  worse than those outright outbursts. Upholding those oppressive structures and behaviors is quiet and often unseen… that is to say unseen by those in the dominant culture. Which makes it harder for those from marginalized groups because they’re characterized as being over-sensitive.

Counselors are advocates. I don’t think it’s unfair to take that next step to say that counselors should be social justice advocates. Let’s take a look at the National Model.

“School counselors implementing the ASCA National Model work toward socially just outcomes by acting on the themes of the ASCA National Model as leaders, advocates, collaborators and systemic change agents. They ensure equity and access for all students to reach their full potential in K-12 schools and beyond…As motivated agents of change, they utilize data to prevent and remove environmental and institutional barriers that deny students high-level academic, career and college access and personal/social opportunities.”

Well, there you have it. This is exactly why I love the new model. It leaves nothing to the imagination when it comes to social justice. You’re either socially just or not. There’s no in between, no mincing of words, nothing. Either you fight for equity or you uphold oppressive structures. Either you outright renounce oppressive behaviors or you uphold them.

I wish it was that simple though. But why can’t it be? Political, social, and religious beliefs sometimes intersect and I get that… but for me the wellbeing of the child should always trump those. But then wellbeing is defined differently for everyone. So, for me the child’s definition of wellbeing wins out. And that question is included in my intakes. What does success look like for you? What does emotional, mental, and physical health look like for you? At the end of the day, being a socially just counselor comes down to being a person first counselor that understands systems and the effects that these systems have on people. But I wonder if understanding these systems is enough.

This entry was posted in Social Justice, Thoughts on Counseling and tagged , , , , , .

Let’s Talk About Assessment

Posted on

I’m taking a course on assessment right now and it’s making me think a lot about assessment and diagnostics. I’ve never been very fond of assessment because it’s historically biased. However, this week I’ve been learning about a lot of assessments that could really improve my practice. However, the more I dig into them the more upset I become as I find that the norm groups on which I would interpret my students scores are completely irrelevant to my population. Does anyone have an idea of where I can find norm groups that are more reflective of a high minority, low income community?

Anyway, here are some of my favorite assessments:

Personality Instruments

  • Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI)
  • Sixteen Personality Factor (16PF)

Career Instruments

  • Strong Interest Inventory (SII)
  • Self-Directed Search (SDS)
  • Harrington-O’Shea Career Decision Making System Revised (CDM-R)

Clinical Instruments

  • Beck Depression Inventory: Youth (BDI-Y)
  • Suicidal Ideation Questionnaire (SIQ)

This entry was posted in Thoughts on Counseling and tagged , , , , .

Exploring the Concept of Community Schools Part I

Posted on


photo 2photo 1

Community School: a school that seeks to integrate children into the community by selected activities other than academic and at the same time serves as a community center for recreation and adult education (Merriam-Webster, 2013)

I have worked in an assortment of urban schools from traditional publics to charters to transformations to what I like to call corporate schools (publicly funded schools run by for-profit companies) but I do not have any experience with community schools. I like the name but in theory shouldn’t every school be a place for the community? A local school was looking for grad students to help them move into their new building. The work was going to be tedious and labor-intensive but I decided that this was a fantastic opportunity to get into the school and look around. In Baltimore, schools aren’t open to the public. The doors are always locked. You must ring the doorbell, state your business into some impersonal intercom, then depending on your answer the door will unlock for about ten seconds. Once inside you’re herded to the front office where you’ll again be interrogated. I’ve always found it ironic that they go to such lengths to keep the public out for safety reasons when the real danger often lies within their own walls.

But I digress, I infiltrated this school under the guise of a friendly mover. The moment I walked in I felt at home. The hallway was bright and colorful. The staff was friendly and the kids seemed to genuinely want to be there. I’ll admit that I was surprised. I have never seen that in a Baltimore City school. I came in fully prepared to hate it and rant about the awful treatment of the students. I was especially skeptical because this particular school is in partnership with a major university that formerly took advantage (read: raped, plundered, and dismantled) this entire neighborhood in order to expand (manifest destiny-university edition). I’ll save my thoughts on university/community relations for another post. Anyway, I was thoroughly impressed. The teachers were loving and knowledgable. They were culturally competent and had children’s literature that represented various ethnicities, religions, and socio-economic statuses. Just when I thought I was going to burst from joy I found the fatal flaw.

There was no school counselor.

How can you be a community school with no school counselor? We act as the bridge between staff, students, and community. I began asking questions. Apparently, they use their social worker as the school counselor. Social workers are phenomenal folks but school counselors they are not. I was incredibly disappointed. I’m beginning to realize that school counselors aren’t valued. We’re an afterthought, an if-there’s-room-in-the-budget position. As great as this school appeared to be, it was just a school. I could not be a community school with no bridge to the community.

I signed up to come back next week. I have a few more questions… I’ll report back with my findings.

 

This entry was posted in Social Justice, Urban Education.