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Personal Growth Plan

Melissa Hanson

Drake University

Introduction to Counseling- COUN 200

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Counselor Characteristic:

I want to be a student centered counselor.

Goal 1:

Observe professional school counselors and take notes on how to be a student centered

counselor.

Activity 1:

I am a visual learner, so I choose to observe my professional school counselor in a one-on-one

setting with a student. Observing will help me understand the process of one-on-one

intervention with students in the school counseling setting. I will hope to learn the process and

procedures needed to create a good intervention.

Evaluation of Activity 1:

The evaluation for Activity one would be my knowledge on the structure of a one-on-one student

session. I should be able to answer Yes to the following questions:

1. Did I gain structural information to help me perform a one-on-one session?

2. Did I gain information on prioritizing, following protocols, and relying on data to inform

which students to pull when doing an intervention?

3. Did I gain information on what data to record and collect to make an intervention successful?

Activity 2:

Observe my professional school counselor in a group counseling setting with a multiple students.

A student centered counselor would not only work with students in a one-on-one setting but a
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group setting. In order for me to be a well rounded student centered counselor I would want to

see my professional school counselor in this setting as well.

Evaluation of Activity 2:

Just like my evaluation for Activity 1, my evaluation of this activity would require answering

Yes to the following questions:

1. Did I gain structural information to help me perform a successful group counseling session?

2. Did I gain information on prioritizing, following protocols, and relying on data to inform

which students to pull when doing a group counseling session?

3. Did I gain information on what data to record and collect to make this group be successful?

Other:

4. What are similarities and differences of group sessions vs individual sessions?

Activity 3:

Practice group counseling or a one-on-one counseling session with students in my own

classroom. As a classroom teacher you have numerous opportunities to meet with students who

struggle with different skills throughout the year. Instead of sending them to the counselor, I

would invite my professional school counselor to come in and observe/ help me in a group and

individual setting.

Evaluation of Activity 3:

Have a conversation/reflection with my professional school counselor. Write down things I could

have done better and what seemed to work.

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Evaluation of Goal 1:

The evaluation of the goal: observe professional school counselors and take notes on how to be

a student centered counselor, would really evaluated through the knowledge I would receive

while observing and reflecting with my professional school counselor.

Goal 2:

Get the ratio of counselors to students to 1:250.

Activity 1:

Write a letter to my state representative describing the importance of the ASCA recommended

ratio of counselors to students 1:250.

Evaluation of Activity 1:

If activity one was effective I should be able to answer Yes to the following questions:

1. Did my representative write back?

2. Did anything change because of my letter?

Activity 2:

Educate the staff of my building through the support of my ALP (Alternate Learning Program

Director) Yonas Michael. Meet with Yonas to discuss the different ways we can educate the staff

in order to form a small group of activists. A small group can create change, so forming a

group of professional school counselors, teachers, and administrators that are willing to help

advocate will be to our advantage.

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Some ways we can educate the community: (a) create pamphlets, (b) posters, (c) handouts,

(d)write articles for the local newspaper.

Evaluation of Activity 2:

When evaluating activity two, I should be able to answer Yes to the following questions:

1. Am I able to form a team of teachers willing to advocate for change?

2. Do we create and pass out pamphlets?

Activity 3:

Meet with my superintendent, Tim Taylor, to discuss the different benefits of 1:250 ratio of

counselors to students.

Evaluation of Activity 3:

If activity three was effective I should be able to answer Yes to the following question:

1. Did he higher more counselors the following year?

Evaluation of Goal 2:

Evaluating this goal of becoming a more student centered counselor will happen in two ways.

First I will do my best to learn what are the best practices for being a student centered counselor

(Goal 1). Then I will work in the efforts to support student centered counseling by getting our

ratio of students to counselors to the American School Counselor Association recommended

1:250. I will evaluate goal 2 by seeing if my district ends up hiring more professional school

counselors.
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Counselor Characteristic:

I want to be a cultural competent counselor.

Goal 1:

Learn and understand the different cultures of my district.

Activity 1:

Make a list of all the cultures of my school. This should include religions, countries, social

habits, & languages. Understanding the different cultures of my school will help me know my

clientele and what I need to do to serve them better.

Evaluation of Activity 1:

After activity one I should be able to answer Yes to the following questions:

1. Did I make a list of the different cultures of my school?

2. Is my list well rounded and include everything that culture entails?

Activity 2:

Plan to attend different events from each of the cultures that I listed from my school. Putting

myself into different cultural settings will help me understand what is like to be the outsider, and

also give me an understanding of the different strengths of the culture.

Evaluation of Activity 2:

I will evaluate activity two by creating a percentage based on the number of events that I was

able to attend (based on the list I created in Activity 1). My goal is to be above 80%.
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Activity 3:

Create different informational bulletin boards of the many cultures within our school. These

could include a map of the world in our school with all of the different countries represented

from cultures around the world or informational posters about different cultures that are

represented in our school.

Evaluation of Activity 3:

After activity three I should be able to answer Yes to the following questions:

1. Did I create multiple informational bulletin boards?

2. Send a survey to see if students are reading/noticing the different cultures that are

represented in our school.

Evaluation of Goal 1

Becoming a more competent cultural counselor takes time and effort. When evaluating my goal;

learn and understand the different cultures of my district, I know that learning about students

cultures is the first step in creating an atmosphere where students feel a part of the group. One

way to evaluate this goal is if I gain more knowledge about the different cultures that exist in my

school, but also gain more knowledge about the culture itself. I also want the students in my

school to become more knowledgable around the different cultures that are represented within

our school. I will be able to evaluate that with a survey I am will give out after activity three.