Introduction
To attain the necessary degree of academic success, as well as the required level of personal growth, a student needs professional guidance and assistance. The challenges that learners may face in the contemporary educational environment may need the pieces of advice provided by a counseling expert (Mitchell, 2013). The significance of the services in question is especially high nowadays, with modern social networks and everyone participating in them actively. Therefore, the social/emotional domain of the school environment will be addressed first in the course of the counseling session.
1st Lesson
The students aged 8-10 (2nd and 3rd grade) will be the target audience for the counseling session. The social and emotional issues that the learners may face when dealing with the school-related communication processes will be considered in the course of the session. It is expected that the lesson will take approximately an hour. The counseling standards suggested by ASCA will be used as the primary principles by which the communication process will be guided.
Particularly, the standards designed by ASCA will be used to provide the learners with the necessary information about the possible emotional issues that they may have, as well as the methods of addressing them (American School Counselor Association, 2016). The students will be told about the significance of self-confidence and the means of boosting it. Specifically, the learners will be offered a simple test that will require answering ten basic questions. The answers that will describe the learners’ responses to stressful situations will be analyzed to develop the strategies that will help the students manage the challenges that they will face at school (Peterson, 2015).
2nd Lesson
The second lesson will also be aimed at meeting the needs of the target audience (2nd– and 3rd–graders). The session will address the issue of social pressure, in general, and bullying, in particular. The learners will be provided with extensive information on the subject of bullying so that they could detect the problem (Bentley, 2014). Furthermore, the students will be invited to tell about their experience, if they had any so far. Thus, the current status of relationships in the identified group of learners will be evaluated for the further design of an appropriate strategy.
The lesson will be aligned with the principles of counseling described by ASCA, especially the instructions regarding managing the bullying issue at school (Blake, Banks, & Lung, 2014). The use of role-playing as the means of getting the essential ideas across and promote the expected behavioral patterns to the target audience should acquire to become more confident. As a result, the participants will learn to be resistant to negative outside influences (Arcuri, 2015). The victimization issue will also be explored so that the learners could realize how dire the effects of prejudice can be (Fareo, 2015).
3rd Lesson
Finally, the issue of enhancing the significance of academic achievements for the target audience needs to be brought up (Palmer, 2013). The third session will concern the complexity and importance of studying. Particularly, the counseling process will imply that the counselor and the learners should engage in active communication by addressing the students’ learning experiences and the difficulties that the students face in the process (Conroy, 2015).
The session will occur in the format of the discussion. Thus, every participant will have an opportunity to share their concerns. The identified framework aligns with the standards set by ASCA and, therefore, should be viewed as the foundation for building trustful relationships between the counselor and the learners (Carey, Martin, & Stevenson, 2012).
Conclusion
Focusing on the emotional and academic concerns of students is crucial to help them gain confidence and engage in the process of lifelong learning. Thus, they will be able to develop the necessary skills on their own and manage emotional issues independently. The role of a school counselor is to enable the students to use the appropriate tools and strategies to acquire the corresponding skills. By considering the emotional and academic concerns that students have, one is likely to build the platform for their further success.
References
American School Counselor Association. (2016). ASCA mindsets & behaviors for student success: K-12 college- and career-readiness standards for every student.
Arcuri, N. M. (2015). K-12 educators in the role of school counselor anti-bullying specialist counseling relationship experiences: A qualitative study. Ann Arbor, MI: ProQuest.
Bentley, T. S. (2014). An examination of the relationship between RAMP (Recognized ASCA Model Program) and job satisfaction among school counselors. Ann Arbor, MI: ProQuest.
Blake, J. J., Banks, C. S., & Lung, E. M. (2014). School-based mental health professionals’ bullying assessment practices: A call for evidence-based bullying assessment guidelines. Professional School Counseling, 18(1), 136-147.
Carey, J., Martin, I., & Stevenson, S. (2012). A statewide evaluation of the outcomes of the implementation of ASCA national model school counseling programs in utah high schools. Professional School Counseling, 16(2), 89-99.
Conroy, J. H. (2015). School counselors’ perceived multicultural competence, adherence to the ASCA National Model, and students’ performance. Ann Arbor, MI: ProQuest.
Fareo, D. O. (2015). Bullying in Nigerian secondary schools: Strategies for counseling intervention. Educational Research and Reviews, 10(4), 435-443.
Mitchell, D. N. C. (2013). School and school counselor attributes and the ASCA National Model. Ann Arbor, MI: ProQuest.
Palmer, L. E. (2013). Predicting student outcome measures using the ASCA National Model Program Audit. The Professional Counselor, 2(2), 152-159.
Peterson, C. M. (2015). School counselors-in-training perceptions of their academic preparation and training using the ASCA National Model during internship. Ann Arbor, MI: ProQuest.