DEVELOPMENTAL
CLASSROOM GUIDANCE
CHAPTER 10
Introduction
• Beginning in the 1970s, states began to
drop requirements that professional
school counselors be certified,
experienced teachers.
• Currently, only seven states require
professional school counselors to have
experience as teachers.
Introduction
• Direct delivery of a school counseling curriculum means that
professional school counselors have a considerable role in
teaching students in classrooms.
• In 43 states, many new school counselors do not have a
teaching background but will assume significant teaching
responsibilities.
• School counselors must become knowledgeable of effective
teaching methods.
The Scope and Responsibility of the Professional School
Counselor as a Developmental Classroom Guidance
Specialist
• The ASCA National Model charges professional school counselors with the
responsibility of implementing programs to assist all students in their academic,
personal/social, and career development.
• The ASCA National Model suggests 35-45% of the counseling program be
devoted to implementing a developmental guidance curriculum in elementary
school, 25-35% in middle school, and 15-25% in high school.
• As a result, professional school counselors must develop teaching skills to fulfill
their roles within comprehensive, standards-based programs.
The Effect of Classroom Guidance on Student
Development
• Overall, studies found that classroom guidance activities had a consistently
positive effect on students.
• Students in a fully implemented developmental guidance program including
classroom guidance reported higher grades, better preparation and
information for future goals, and a more positive school climate.
• Positive changes were found in classroom behavior and attitudes, exam
preparation, school attendance, career goals, college attendance, career
planning skills, and coping skills.
The Effect of Classroom Guidance on Student
Development
• Due to accountability issues raised in the ASCA National Model and
the No Child Left Behind Act of 2001, professional school counselors
must demonstrate their interventions are effective.
• Strategies to show effectiveness of classroom guidance:
• Collection of data prior to and after the intervention
• Pre-post test design
• Collection of content evaluation data and process evaluation
data
• Feedback from students and teachers used to identify which
parts of the lesson can be improved upon
The Effect of Classroom Guidance on Student Development
• For curriculum materials already evaluated for effectiveness, go
to:
• The Center for School Counseling Outcome Research
• www.umass.edu/schoolcounseling
• Second Step Violence prevention program
• www.cfchildren.org/ssf/ssindex
• Student Success Skills
• www.studentsuccessskills.com
• The Real Game
• www.realgame.com
• Peacebuilders
• www.peacebuilders.com
Developmental Theory
•
Human developmental stages are the basis for effective counseling
programs.
•
The challenge for professional school counselors is how to translate
developmental theory into practical ideas for the classroom.
•
An example of hierarchical learning (Nicolle, 1994) based on Adlerian
psychology includes:
1. Understanding of self and others
2. Empathy skill development
3. Communication skills
4. Cooperation skills
5. Responsibility skills
Role of the Professional School
Counselor in Delivering the Curriculum
•
Professional school counselors implement their role as educator in three
ways:
Consultation- A counselor might consult with a team of teachers as they plan their
curriculum. Classroom teachers can begin teaching developmental guidance
lessons after consultation.
Collaboration- The professional school counselor works collaboratively in the planning
and implementation phases. The teacher and counselor implement the program
together as a team with each professional responsible for his/her area of
expertise.
Direct Teaching- The professional school counselor directly delivers developmentally
appropriate guidance units.
Setting Up & Managing a Classroom Environment
•
Setting up and effectively managing a classroom environment involves:
The arrangement of the classroom.
Working with the teacher’s rules.
Preventing discipline issues in the classroom.
Managing disruptive behavior.
Classroom Arrangement
• Classroom arrangement:
•
1. Creates a climate for learning
•
2. Communicates teaching philosophy
•
3. Communicates interaction expectations
Examples of classroom arrangements include:
1. Lecture Hall or Classroom-Style
• 3. Small Tables
• Creates a formal, business-like, and cold
atmosphere.
Creates a relaxed, informal, student-centered
atmosphere where all will have the opportunity to
discuss.
• Emphasizes one-way communication with
students taking a passive role.
Encourages active participation.
2. U-shaped or V-shaped
A circle or block arrangement is a modification of this
style.
• Creates a formal atmosphere.
4. One Large Table
• Conveys opportunities for interaction.
Encourages free exchange of ideas.
Less formal.
5. Circle of Chairs
Creates a friendly, relaxed, and warm atmosphere.
Encourages active participation.
•
Working With The Teacher’s Rules
• It is likely that the professional school
counselor will use different classrooms to
present lessons.
• As a result, the professional school counselor
should be aware of the teacher’s rules within
that particular classroom in order to give
students consistency.
• The basic rules of the classroom should be
followed.
Preventing Discipline Issues in the Classroom
• The best way to deal with discipline issues is to prevent them.
• Ways to prevent discipline issues include:
• Creating a well-designed lesson.
• Make sure the work is not too hard or easy.
• Make sure the work is not boring.
• Make sure expectations and instructions are clear.
• Getting and keeping students’ attention.
• Keep the whole group alert and on-task through encouragement,
praise, non-sarcastic humor, and being dramatic.
• Enlist student involvement.
• Have a smooth flow to the lesson (known as momentum).
• Have sufficient quantities of material ready that students need for the
lesson.
• Be aware of everything going on in the classroom.
Managing Disruptive Behavior as a Counselor in the Classroom
• When discipline problems arise, counselors must first decide if there is a
need to deal with the problem.
• Know what behaviors require intervention.
• It is important that the teacher’s rules are respected.
• Have strategies to deal with difficult behaviors in effective and respectful
ways.
• Do not act in an authoritarian manner, but embrace democratic
principles. Do not be passive in regard to disruptive students.
Reasons and Solutions for Misbehavior
• Misbehavior stems from at least one of four student goals:
Attention Seeking
Power
Revenge
Feelings of Inadequacy
S
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t
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Use a kind, but firm voice when
disciplining.
It is important to develop a
healthy non-authoritarian
relationship with students.
Apply logical consequences.
Do not engage in a power
struggle.
Crafting A Curriculum
• Curriculum is often developed by committees.
• School counseling leadership teams or guidance advisory committees develop
curricula that support the counseling program’s vision and goals.
• The ASCA National Model should be considered when crafting a curriculum.
• The curriculum should have a theoretical foundation that fosters academic,
career, and personal/social development of students.
• Curriculum implementation is the responsibility of the school community.
However, before implementation can occur, a formal assessment must be
conducted to determine student needs.
Crafting A Curriculum
• A formal needs assessment should be conducted at the onset of each program
and every three years thereafter.
• Students, parents, teachers, administrators, and the community should be asked
about their perceptions of student needs.
• After the needs assessment is conducted, the school counseling leadership team
decides on student outcomes.
• These outcomes reflect what students need to know or be able to do upon
graduating from high school.
• The outcomes are then broken down into competencies.
• Finally, methods of assessment are detailed.
Crafting a Curriculum
• The school counseling leadership team then decides how to help students meet the
competencies.
• Counselors often create their own curriculum materials or use commercially
available curricula.
• There has been a recent emphasis on using commercial curricula for which research
evidence of effectiveness exists.
Scope & Sequence When Creating Units and Lessons
• The content of the program provides its scope.
• The sequencing of the curriculum should ensure that grade level
learning is not isolated from other grade levels or redundant.
• Vertical articulation provides for a school or district-wide curriculum
that builds skills and competencies sequentially, especially at a given
grade level.
• Horizontal articulation establishes the connection between the
content of the counseling curriculum with content in other subject
areas, especially across grade levels.
Conceptualizing A Unit
•
There are three models of teaching
guidance curriculum:
1. Direct teaching.
2. Working collaboratively with teachers to
present the lessons together.
3. Consulting with teachers and having
teachers teach the lessons and units.
Learning Considerations When Planning Units & Lessons
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Gardner’s theory of multiple intelligences exemplifies the need
to teach and assess using various modes:
Verbal/linguistic
Logical/mathematical
Spatial
Bodily Kinesthetic
Musical
Interpersonal
Intrapersonal
Naturalist
Learning Considerations When Planning Units & Lessons - Cognitive Learning
•
There are six levels or categories of cognitive understanding:
1. Knowledge
2. Comprehension
3. Application
4. Analysis
5. Synthesis
6. Evaluation
•
Within a lesson plan or unit, it is important to teach to and evaluate
within several of the categories.
Learning Considerations When Planning Units & Lessons - Affective
Domain
•
The affective domain focuses on using and developing Gardner’s
intrapersonal and interpersonal intelligences.
•
Five levels of affective learning include:
1. Receiving- Being aware of the affective aspect of the
lesson.
2. Responding- Discussion of the affective lesson.
3. Valuing- Assessing one’s values.
4. Organizing- Conceptualizing and arranging values.
5. Internalizing- Developing consistency between one’s beliefs
and actions.
Learning Considerations When Planning
Units & Lessons –
Psychomotor/Kinesthetic/Behavioral Domain
•
Four areas within this hierarchy include:
1. Moving
2. Manipulating
3. Communicating
4. Creating
****In a well designed unit, professional school counselors attend to
learning and development in the cognitive, affective, and
psychomotor/kinesthetic/behavioral domains.****
Learning Objectives
•
Learning objectives serve to focus the counselor on the desired outcome of
students’ participation in the lesson.
•
There are 4 parts that comprise measurable learning objectives (ABCDs):
1.
Audience- For whom the objective is intended.
2.
Behavior That Is Expected- Use descriptive verbs that address the
cognitive, affective, or psychomotor/ behavioral outcome around
which the lesson is structured.
3.
Conditions- When or how the intended behavior will be observed and
measured. For example, “After observing role plays…”
4.
Degree of the Expected Performance- How frequently students will
need to exhibit the behavior in order for the objective to be
considered met.
Constructing Differentiated Developmental Lessons and Activities
•
Lessons can be conceptualized as having three distinct parts:
The introduction
The developmental activities of the lesson
The conclusion, assessment, and follow-up
Introducing Lessons
•
There are two important aspects to remember when
introducing a lesson:
Communicate an overview and the overall objective(s) of the lesson.
Help students understand they already know something about the topic at hand
and that during the lesson they will be working to extend their knowledge.
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Activating previous knowledge helps students orient
themselves to the lesson.
One method to activate students’ previous knowledge
is through semantic mapping.
Developmental Activities
•
There are two broad areas of understanding that can help guide
professional school counselors as they design learning activities:
1. Multiple intelligences
•
Professional school counselors structure and implement their
lessons to draw on a variety of cognitive strengths that
students possess.
•
For example, professional school counselors may want to
have students create a song or use role-playing to use
various learning styles and intelligences.
2. Level of activity
•
It is important to keep students active.
•
Students who are actively involved will have a more
stimulating or engaging class experience.
Conclusion, Assessment, &
Follow-Up
• The Conclusion
• Summarize the essential points of the lesson in the last 2-5 minutes of the lesson.
• Summarize by restating the lesson’s objective(s) and very briefly review how the lesson
built upon previously developed skills and knowledge.
• Ask students how the lesson can apply to life outside the classroom.
• Assessment
• Measure or evaluate the learning objectives that were previously written and
presented.
• Follow-Up
• Students require review sessions to extend upon what they have learned.
• This can bolster learning and behavioral changes.
• Follow-up is necessary to ensure that changes in learning and behavior are
continuing.
Summary/Conclusion
• Professional school counselors spend time in classrooms teaching
developmental lessons to students focused on academic, career,
and personal-social domains.
• The goal is for all students to achieve the developmental
outcomes that local school counseling leadership teams deem
essential.
• Professional school counselors work with teachers to integrate the
counseling curriculum with other components in the school’s
curriculum.