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Running head: COUNSELOR INTERVIEW PAPER

Counselor Interview Paper

Sha Hall
Buena Vista University

Counselor Interview Paper

My interview with Cedar Rapids Community School District counselor Jessica
Drushel was informative and fun. I met with Jessica in her office from 9:30-10:30 am on July
13, 2015. Her office is welcoming with toys, books and comfy chairs. It was good-sized and
quite a bit larger than the counseling office in my building. The office was located in the first
grade wing of her school right next to the restrooms and across the hall from the autism room.
Jessica spends 60% of her time performing direct counseling services such as classroom
guidance lessons, small group, and individual counseling sessions with students. She also runs
an ambassador group that meets once a week. This group serves as a leadership group for third,
fourth, and fifth graders. They welcome new students, discuss school climate and help with
assemblies and other school wide activities. Jessica is grateful for the time she is provided to
offer direct counseling services to the Madison Elementary students but says she always wishes
for more.
The school counselor in my elementary building was new this past year and seemed a bit
overwhelmed with the amount of time she spent preparing and planning for her weekly guidance
lessons. I asked Jessica how much time she spends preparing guidance lessons and what type of
resources she uses in those lessons. Jessica pointed to all of the childrens books on her shelves
and said she has spent a lot of time and financial resources building that library over the eight
years she has been a counselor. She likes to use books because they always have
social/emotional lessons embedded into their stories. Jessica does not spend time on the
weekends preparing for guidance lessons because my time with family is precious to me and I
dont allow work to cut into that time. She uses a hybrid of Second Step curriculum, PARRT
curriculum and self-designed lessons using picture books. I appreciated hearing that Jessica

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doesnt spend an inordinate amount of time planning guidance lessons on weekends because I do
not want to spend time on weekends working on guidance lessons. Instead I prefer to spend
precious free time with family and friends reenergizing and filling up my gas tanks for the next
workweek.
Another question I had for Jessica was how she determines what guidance lessons to
offer students. She talked about the I Can Common Core Standards and had them prominently
displayed in her office. There are a plethora of standards and Jessica told me that she focuses on
social, emotional, and behavioral (SEB) lessons at the start of each year. Then before Iowa
Assessment tests, Jessica covers the Learn It Know It Show It curriculum to get students
prepared and in the mindset for testing.
Other resources Jessica uses to determine sequence and scope for her guidance lessons is
feedback from teachers on what is happening in their classrooms and school wide data. She
studies behavioral data from the in house database PowerSchool and looks for trends in the
behavioral write-ups. If there are a lot of peer conflicts she may select a lesson on how to get
along with peers, conflict management or having empathy for others. If she sees a lot of fighting
or physical aggression office referrals she may chose a guidance lesson that focuses on anger
management and ways to reduce anger. Using student data to drive comprehensive school
counseling programs is essential according to the American School Counselor Association
(ASCA) model (Davis 2015).
I asked Jessica about the school budget for guidance curriculum and she literally giggled
to herself and said, There really isnt a budget for new curriculum. Recently the district
counselors met to review their scope and sequence for guidance K-5 in an effort to streamline it
and make it more consistent across the district. But at this point Jessica is not aware of any plan

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to offer additional curriculum for counselors beyond the Second Step and PARRT curriculum
currently used.

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References
Davis, T. A., (2015). Exploring school counseling: Professional practices and
perspectives. Stamford, CT: Cengage Learning.