CSP 740 Practicum Experience Profile for

School Counseling Program

FALL SEMESTER
Practicum Site: Olive Elementary School_ ____________
_____________________

Supervisor: Dr. Biasotti

Activities to Fulfill Assignments in Other Courses

Required Activity
Reflection on & Self-Evaluation of this Activity
e.g., highlight your strengths/weaknesses
CSP 600 Cross-Cultural
Counseling

CSP 600L Pre-Practicum

(SDSU Practicum, 2012-2013)

This class taught me a lot about different

intentional counseling techniques that can be
applied when working with students at our
school sites. Some of the counseling skills I
feel most confident using at my practicum
site are intentional listening skills such as
encouraging, paraphrasing, summarizing, and
not trying to solve the students problem right
away. I also learned the importance of making
sure that when I am working individually with
students that they are aware of when it is
required that I breach their confidentiality.
In lab, we had the opportunity to practice the
counseling skills that we learned about and
discussed in class. Being in a small group
setting where each of us took turns roleplaying as a counselor or a client helped me
to feel confident that I was practicing these
skills right and allowed me to learn other
ways of approaching situations. We also had
the opportunity to practice telling students
about their confidentiality rights. This helped
me sound more natural when delivering this
information to my students at practicum.

Date
Complet
ed
9/18-12/4

9/18-12/4

Supervis
or
Initials

CSP 740 Practicum Experience Profile for

Something I would like to work on is my
ability to be completely present with the
client/student because I am still in the stage
where I am constantly thinking about what I
am going to say next.
CSP 615 Multicultural
Counseling

CSP 630 Social Justice and

Holistic School Systems for
School Counselors

In this class I learned so much about how to

work with diverse student populations and
their families. In one of our projects, we split
up into groups based on our cultural
backgrounds and each group presented to the
class about their cultures. This assignment
gave me a better grasp on the prevalence of
white privilege in our society and the impact
that it has on the populations of students that
I am working with at Olive. I am still
constantly learning how to be more culturally
competent, but this class catalyzed by ability
to be more conscious.
In this class, we learned the importance of
learning about and understanding students
ecological backgrounds in order to provide
services that will best meet their needs. Using
a students ecological model can help
educators gain a better understanding of all
the factors contributing to the success or lack
of success in education. Understanding these
factors taught me the importance of not
labeling students because often times their
actions are completely out of their control and
it is us to us to find ways to help them and
their families.

Activities Required of All Students in CSP 740 Practicum: Schools

(SDSU Practicum, 2012-2013)

9/18-12/4

9/18-12/4

CSP 740 Practicum Experience Profile for

Required Activity

Obtain & discuss the school's

report card
(Consider ASCA Data Profile)

Discuss time, resource, priority

management for balanced service
delivery
(Consider ASCA Agreement)

Apprentice to a teacher (min. 1

hr/day for 10 weeks); become
familiar with curriculum,
expectations, instruction,
classroom management

(SDSU Practicum, 2012-2013)

Reflection on & Self-Evaluation of this

Activity
e.g., highlight your
strengths/weaknesses
We reviewed the School Accountability
Report Card, SARC, which included: mission
statement,
the
principals
message,
enrollment, class size, teachers, curriculums,
support staff, student performance and their
API scores. This is useful information to
understand the dynamics of the school and
environment it provides its students. It was
easy to comprehend and access. Parents and
the public have easy access to it.
Since Dr. Biasotti split her time between two
elementary schools, I learned a lot about how
difficult it is to manage time and deliver a
balance of services to students.
Olive
Elementary is not very ASCA aligned and
could possibly benefit from creating an
agreement that allotted the amount of time
spent delivering each service.
Throughout the semester, I observed Ms.
Pugas 1st grade classroom on multiple
occasions because my case study student
was in her class. She had many visuals
around the room that contained classroom
expectations, student work, and learning
materials. Since my case study student was
one that acted out frequently in class, I was
able to learn classroom management
techniques that my student responded to well
and ones that he did not respond to at all. I
also learned about ways that the teacher

Date
Complete
d
9/25/2014

9/18
12/4

10/2
12/4

Supervi
sor
Initials

CSP 740 Practicum Experience Profile for

transitioned from one agenda item to the
next.
Tutor one student in your masterteacher's class (min. 20 min/day
for 8 weeks
Shadow/interview the SC (min. 4
hr)

Shadow/interview the SP (min. 2

hr.)

Observe in classroom(s) at grade

level different from your masterteacher, examine curriculum &
instruction, discuss comparisons

(SDSU Practicum, 2012-2013)

Throughout the semester, we shadowed our

site supervisor, Dr. Biasotti, on many
important aspects of the school counseling
profession including: individual counseling
sessions, classroom guidance lessons, parent
phone calls, and interactions with other
administration.
When we met with the school psychologist
who works for the district, we interviewed her
and she provided us with information on her
role to the district. She talked about a school
psychologist being labeled to just take
assessments and tests for students, but they
are in transition to a new role. She had
mentioned that it is essential to collaborate
with other school personnel to update each
other about the students they are working
with.
Another classroom that I observed often was
Ms. Browns kindergarten class. Ms. Brown
had to implement classroom management
strategies much more frequently than Ms.
Puga because she had many kindergarten
students who often disrupted the entire class.
Similar to Ms. Puga, Ms. Brown also had
vibrant visuals placed around the room that
included classroom expectations, student

9/25-12/4

10/2/2014

CSP 740 Practicum Experience Profile for

work, and learning materials.
Shadow/interview/observe
administrative personnel (e.g.,
principal, VP/AP, attendance clerks,
principals secretary)
Shadow/interview/observe special
education personnel (e.g., RSP
teacher, SDC teacher, speech
therapist)
Shadow/interview/observe
personnel who address biologically
based issues (e.g., nurse, OT, PT,
APE teacher)
Shadow/interview/observe teachers
who address needs of English
language learners (e.g., bilingual,
ESL, ELD teachers)

Shadow/interview/observe an
administrator at the school
Shadow/interview/observe noncertificated personnel (e.g.,
secretary, custodian, bus driver,
aide, security)

(SDSU Practicum, 2012-2013)

We interviewed Dolce, the administrative

assistant who helps parents find resources,
translates for teachers who need it. She is in
the office that parents have to go through, so
she has built rapport with them.

9/18/2014

We shared an office with Joseph, the ELD

teacher and coordinator who assesses ELD
students. He determines if the students have
sufficient knowledge in English or need
additional assistance and need to be placed in
ELD classes.

9/18-12/4

I have observed the noon duty staff during

recess and lunch. They, just like everyone
else in the school, are important people who
play a role in the students education. If I ever
need information on a student and how they
are behaving, they are the ones I go to
outside the classroom because they are
familiar with all the students and their
character.

CSP 740 Practicum Experience Profile for

Observe student-focused school
meeting (e.g., SST, IEP, 504)

Observe and/or co-facilitate (with

professional SC) individual & group
counseling sessions

Observe guidance curriculum in the

areas of academic, career or
personal/social development
(Consider ASCA Core Curriculum
Action Plan)
Become familiar with community
resources available to families.

(SDSU Practicum, 2012-2013)

While I was unable to attend a studentfocused school meeting, my case study

student had an SST, and I was given a
detailed summary and notes of what took
place at the event.
I have observed individual counseling
sessions with my site supervisor, Dr.Biasotti
and I have also had many of my own. With my
case study student, we met individually every
week throughout the semester. In these
sessions,
we
worked
on
behavior
management and social skills. We often read
books, discussed his home life, and practiced
learning several social stories. By the end of
the school year, I was able to successfully
have him get through the lunch line without
him causing a scene and holding up the rest
of his class from receiving their lunch.
We observed Dr. Biasotti give a classroom
guidance lesson on mental health.
This
helped me learn how to keep elementary
level students engaged through the use of fun
activities, discussion, and games.
One of the MFT interns that works at a
nonprofit in the community came into the
counseling office one day to discuss the
mental health services that her organization
provides. This gave me insight into what the
referral process looks like and what students
might require additional outside support.

12/4/2014

9/18 -12/4

11/13/201
4

10/9/2014

CSP 740 Practicum Experience Profile for

(SDSU Practicum, 2012-2013)

CSP 740 Practicum Experience Profile for

School Counseling Program

SPRING SEMESTER
Practicum Site: Potter Junior High

Supervisor: Danielle Duarte

Activities to Fulfill Assignments in Other Courses

Required Activity
Reflection on & Self-Evaluation of this Activity
e.g., highlight your strengths/weaknesses
CSP 662 Interventions with
Child & Adolescents (3)

CSP 670 Group Counseling (3)

(SDSU Practicum, 2012-2013)

This class taught me an enormous amount of

counseling tools and techniques that I will be
able to take with me as I enter the school
counseling profession. One particular
approach we focused on was SolutionFocused Brief Therapy. A few aspects of SFBT
techniques I feel most confident about
implementing are building rapport and goal
setting. This semester at practicum, I did a
lot of individual counseling regarding
academics, and goal setting was a key
component of a lot of my sessions with
students. The techniques I saw myself
utilizing most when goal setting was looking
for exceptions/ instances of success and
cheerleading. I used scaling a few times, but
I would like to practice implementing that
more in the future because the times I did use
it, it seemed to work well.
The group counseling class also provided me
with countless techniques and tools that will
enable me to be an effective group facilitator.
Even though I was unable to lead my own
group this semester, due to transferring

Date
Complet
ed
5/7

5/14

Superviso
r Initials

CSP 740 Practicum Experience Profile for

practicum sites, I was still able to sit in on a
plethora of my peers groups and I feel
confident about being able to lead one on my
own next year.
CSP 740 Ethics (1)

ARP 660 Counseling Theories

(3)

(SDSU Practicum, 2012-2013)

Policy, politics, ethics, and law, are all

concepts we dove deep into this semester
between class and practicum. Not only were
we able to talk about multitudes of ethical
dilemmas in class, but we also read and
discussed all of the chapters from our Ethics
and Law text at practicum. Since I have not
yet been faced with an ethical dilemma of my
own, I feel mildly scared about how I will
respond but I feel confident that the
education and training I have received thus
far will enable me to act professionally and
competently when I am faced with one in the
future.
Learning about all the various counseling
theories available to the therapeutic realm
was highly valuable in helping me to create
my own individual personal counseling
approach that I have been able to begin
implementing at my school site. While I
assume the post-modern approaches (i.e.
solution-focused, narrative, motivational
interviewing, etc.) to be the most applicable
to the school counseling field, I realize how
important it is to understand how these
theories developed as well as each of their
limitations.

5/12

5/9

CSP 740 Practicum Experience Profile for 10

Activities Required of All Students in CSP 740 Practicum: Schools

Required Activity
Reflection on & Self-Evaluation of this Activity
e.g., highlight your strengths/weaknesses
Observe school governance
meetings (e.g., site council, faculty
meetings, committee meetings,
school board)

Carry an individual counseling load

(at least ten students once/week
for five weeks)

Co-Facilitate (with SC supervision)

a topic-focused counseling group
for a minimum of 6-8 sessions; a
group must have at least 5
students (Consider ASCA Small
(SDSU Practicum, 2012-2013)

This semester, I attended a School Counseling

Advisory Council Meeting, which involved the
school counselors, administration, students,
parents, and the rest of the school counseling
interns. The goal of the meeting was to
welcome feedback from any of these parties
on ways to better support students on their
academic journey. I learned a lot about what
it is like to present a school counseling
program to an audience as well as collaborate
with other school personnel about ways to
improve.
Since I transferred practicum sites in the
middle of the year without knowing whether
my stay would be permanent, I was unable to
develop a large caseload of students that I
met with on a weekly basis. However, there
were about 5 students that I checked in
weekly mainly to monitor grades but also to
help students with various personal/social
issues that came up. I feel like the individual
interactions that I did have with students
have been successful overall, I would like
more practice at the individual level next
year.
While I did not entirely co-facilitate a
counseling group myself, again due to
transferring practicum sites, I was able to
help my peers facilitate their Student Success

Date
Complet
ed
4/30

5/14

5/14

Superviso
r Initials

CSP 740 Practicum Experience Profile for 11

Group Action Plan).

Observe process of how school

determines student placement in
classes in next grade level for
upcoming year.

Develop, implement, and evaluate

an intentional guidance activity in
one of the following areas:
academic, career, or
personal/social development
(Consider ASCA Results Report)

Continue monitoring academic

progress of case study student
(from 622A) and evaluating
effectiveness of interventions.
Modify interventions if needed.

(SDSU Practicum, 2012-2013)

Groups on a weekly basis and I feel confident

about being able to lead one of my own next
year.
This semester, I got insight into several
different avenues of how students are placed
in their classes. First of all, I participated in
helping 8th grade students create their fouryear plans for high school. I also worked with
a lot of the data that determined student
electives based on grades and
recommendations. Lastly, I helped conduct
AVID interviews with incoming 7th graders,
which also involved reading through
applications to determine appropriate fit.
Throughout the semester, there were multiple
intentional guidance activities implemented
such as planner checks, tardy interventions,
and grade checks. I was able to see how data
was disaggregated to determine which
students needed each of these interventions
and was involved in creating a lesson plan for
the tardy intervention. Even though I was
able to observe all of these interventions, I
have not yet led one on my own, which is
another domain I will focus on next semester.
Each week, I met with my case study student
for 15-20 minutes and was able to implement
a lot of the SFBT techniques that I had been
learning in class. My case study students
main goal was to pass all of his classes, which
required him to bring up his honors social
studies and science classes up to at least a C.
We found that a lot of the grade decreases

5/14

5/14

5/14

CSP 740 Practicum Experience Profile for 12

Conduct parent conference with at

least two of the students on your
caseload to discuss students
academic progress

had to do with failing to complete and turn in

assignments this trimester, which he had
been doing before. In a 6-week timeframe,
he was able to bring one of his grades to a Cand still might be able to get the other one to
the C once his teacher inputs extra credit that
my student turned in.
This semester, the only parent conference
that I was involved in was an observation of
one held by my site supervisor; I did not have
any parent conferences of my own. Next
semester, I plan to pay extra attention to this
domain so I can get ample practice with
parent communication.

Record of Additional Major Practicum Activities

Activity
Reflection on & Self-Evaluation of this Activity
e.g., highlight your strengths/weaknesses

(SDSU Practicum, 2012-2013)

5/14

Date
Complet
ed

Superviso
r Initials