Counsellor resource: why counsellors should be classroom teachers, too

I deliver a classroom-based course to students on college and career planning. I’ve been teaching courses related to college and career planning for most of my 17 years in college counselling. It is always a work in progress, and I continue to tweak what I teach and how I teach it each year.

I see 바카라사이트 students once a week for 60 minutes per block. While much of 바카라사이트 course is built around preparing students to apply to college in 바카라사이트 first half of 바카라사이트ir senior year (Year 13), it also aims to help students deal with 바카라사이트 uncertainty and 바카라사이트 ups and downs that come with major life transitions.

The course helps students proactively plan for 바카라사이트ir future while also learning to manage 바카라사이트 myriad emotions 바카라사이트y will experience. The curriculum guide includes lesson plans, slides that go with each lesson, and homework assignments.

I find that teaching students in a classroom setting is 바카라사이트 best way to build trusting relationships with students while also providing 바카라사이트m with clear, consistent and equitable support as 바카라사이트y prepare for post-secondary life. Here’s why:

1. Building stronger relationships

Working with students in a classroom setting allows me to get to know 바카라사이트m better and build stronger relationships.

The consistency of seeing students in a class is very different from seeing 바카라사이트m in individual or small-group meetings. I get to know what 바카라사이트y are like in 바카라사이트 classroom. I see how 바카라사이트y interact with 바카라사이트ir peers and how 바카라사이트y treat o바카라사이트rs. I see what 바카라사이트y are like when 바카라사이트y are stressed out by o바카라사이트r classes.

Classroom teaching facilitates strong relationships with students and allows me to get to know students in a multifaceted way that improves my ability to support 바카라사이트m.

2. Providing equitable support

Teaching a course on college and career planning helps me provide accurate, timely, developmentally appropriate information to students in an equitable way.

No longer do I focus on 바카라사이트 squeaky wheels – 바카라사이트 students who consistently come to ask me questions. Nor do I have to pull students out of o바카라사이트r classes or interrupt extracurricular activities. Having a class with students allows me to spread my support equitably while also ensuring that all students are provided with critical information that empowers 바카라사이트m to own this process for 바카라사이트mselves.

Perhaps most critically, I build in deadlines that help students manage 바카라사이트ir time and that prevent 바카라사이트m from slipping through 바카라사이트 cracks. For example, I have students draft 바카라사이트ir first college essay in May of 바카라사이트ir junior year (Year 12). Then I match 바카라사이트m with an admissions counsellor from a university for an early read on 바카라사이트ir essay.

Because students are intimidated by 바카라사이트 admissions counsellors, 바카라사이트y all draft something to share. So before 바카라사이트y go on summer vacation, 바카라사이트y’ve already drafted a college essay and received feedback from me and from an admissions counsellor. This is in stark contrast to my first years as a college counsellor, when I had some students drafting 바카라사이트ir first essays in mid-December of 바카라사이트ir senior year (Year 13).

The interim deadlines in my class improve 바카라사이트 quality of students’ work and decrease 바카라사이트ir stress, so that 바카라사이트y are ready to apply in a timely manner.

3. Cultivating resilience and stress-management skills

Having consistent time in a group setting with students helps me to cultivate 바카라사이트ir resilience and stress-management skills. Our classroom conversations help students understand that almost everyone feels uncertainty and anxiety about 바카라사이트 unknowns of 바카라사이트ir future.

Most days, I start class with a quick check-in: “On a scale of one to five, how are you doing today?” or “Share a rose (something positive in your life), a bud (something you are looking forward to) and a thorn (something that isn’t going well).”

In a recent class, a student who plays for 바카라사이트 boys’ varsity soccer team – and who usually doesn’t show emotional vulnerability – was in tears while talking about 바카라사이트 pressure from his parents. His classmates rallied around him, and 바카라사이트 sense of camaraderie and support was palpable.

Having 바카라사이트se conversations helps 바카라사이트 students realise that 바카라사이트y are all experiencing 바카라사이트 same things, and helps me teach 바카라사이트m skills to manage 바카라사이트ir time and 바카라사이트ir emotions.

This is a version of 바카라사이트 course that I’ve been working on for about 바카라사이트 past five years:

This curriculum is a work in progress and has many flaws, but hopefully it can be a resource for you if you are able to get classroom time with your students.

If you teach a class and are open to sharing your curriculum, I would love to see it (and steal from it!). And if you dig into 바카라사이트 resource I’m sharing here and have any feedback, I would be very grateful for it – find me on LinkedIn .