The Experience in the Educational Counseling Preparation Program - Research Proposal Example

The Experience in the Educational Counseling Preparation Program The topic of my Culminating Essay involves reflection of my experience in the Educational Counseling Preparation Program. Being now at the graduation phase of my participation in it, I really have what to share with you of my progress in acquisition of knowledge and skills. Moreover, I must admit that the program has contributed to my awareness of certain dispositions, which existence within my personality had been hidden from my perception up to a point. Surely, the program has also added to comprehension of myself as a person and as a professional. But first things first. For the beginning it may be said that the whole program has passed like one day, so this fact may serve as an evidence of my total exposure to its content. Actually, the latter has been extremely interesting and useful for me, since I have learnt a great many of new and extremely effective data from various subject areas within the material of the program. Besides, I have had a great opportunity to see certain mechanisms and schemes in their action while practice. Frankly speaking, knowledge from any branch of learning is beneficial for me as a future professional, but still my personal feeling is that psychology has the greatest power for educational counseling. In fact, this science has conquered my mind due its specific approaches, laws and tools able to assist people in a very active way. This understanding has penetrated into my conscious to the extent that my plans for the future work as an educational counselor are prevailed with intensions to be guided by psychology as a primary and main principle of cooperation with students, their parents and instructors. So, this is my first disposition that has been opened through participation in the Educational Counseling Preparation Program. Whereas one compares current me with that person (another me) prior to the program, the difference is impressive. I don’t want to display but the changes are notable. The thing is that I have turned into a personality with a good bundle of knowledge and skills from a person with poor experience even in communication with other people. Definitely, I can’t say that I have been nothing before the program. Naturally, I have had some basics resulted from my educational background. But intensive learning in the Educational Counseling Preparation Program has upgraded my level in a great measure. Furthermore, it has continued the process of my self-improvement. In particular, my experience has aided me in attainment of self-belief. I regret to say that I have always been shy and extremely introvert. To pronounce a public speech, even in the case that that public is only three men or my classmates, has cost me incredible efforts, and sometimes I have just become unsociable, for there has been a certain barrier inside of me affecting my person in a very negative way. Such moments have pushed me off from the process of my so-called socialization. Therefore, I have had to exert myself over and over again for rehabilitation in terms of verbal interaction with people. In all fairness, I have chosen the Educational Counseling Preparation Program being guided with a burning desire to endure embarrassment and tension trigged in myself by fear to fail while cooperation with people. Specifically, I have just realized that only direct interpersonal interaction is able to improve my situation, and constant contacts with people may add to my self-belief and self-improvement. And my expectations have been satisfied, since now I am a self-assured personality without any discomfort while conversations with men, during public appearance and other forms of teamwork. In such a manner, one of the key skills acquired and trained during the program is effective coordination with the outer world. Further, the experience in the program has taught me the way of positive help for students. I have realized that a good educational counselor concentrates attention and efforts on unique individual strengths and talents of a student, aspires helping him or her in choosing of an educational establishment in the USA that fits his or her personality and interests most accurately. In addition, the best evidence of professional competence in the educational market is governing of a student’s success. And the key principle for avert educational counselor is that any candidate (any student) and his or her situation are different and need an individual approach. Such a context has opened my eyes on my potential contribution to successful future of students. Being already on my way of self-growth, I have gained an insight into my assistance to people and decided without a shadow of a doubt that I have every needed personal qualities for becoming a great educational counselor having already a good background and continuously working over self-improvement and attainment of professionalism. As for my professional progress, it must be said that it cannot be perceived as such one that has gained its final stage, for the process of professional becoming lasts the whole practice of cooperation with people in general and students in particular, that is to say there will be a plenty of time for further perfection of my professional skills in the future during my dedicated life as an educational counselor. Thereby, it is obvious that I am just at the initial stage of the progress, but I may notice some achievements resulted from my experience in the program, namely: attainment of thoughtfulness, personal approach to every possible issue and task, adaptation of social fairness, creativity in solving problems, engagement and active participation in community’s affairs as a direct guideline for appliance of acquirements in practice. In addition to all mentioned above, my personal belief is that my training in the capacity of an advocate for students’ interests as well as interaction with their parents, academic and research workers contributes to my skill of equal treatment of everyone regardless numerous groundless prejudices and stereotypes dominating the society. As a result, practice of the program alongside with its key principles and extremely useful and effective in its operation knowledge has given not only a great basis for the development of a leader and a professional but also has provided with all necessary means for fixing the result. It is natural that there are some expectations and needs for future growth regarding knowledge, skills and dispositions, which occur in my head with increasing frequency. It goes with my extremely high reliance on my most beneficial contribution to educational counseling. Essentially, I mean a positive effect of myself on expansion in the number of students with increasing chances for enrollment to the most prestigious educational establishment or those ones which are able to provide students with high quality education. In this respect, there is an urgent need to concentrate all my efforts on gaining of any possible effective information for further acquiring of knowledge and mastering skills, which may be of service for my further self-improvement both as a personality and as a professional, as all these qualities are able to help me in becoming one of the greatest educational counselors of the USA. Apparently, a considerable role in future growth of knowledge, skills and dispositions belongs to their active practical application while cooperation with students, their families, other representatives of education and larger community in whole. Anyway, I realize that my disposition to help people by the means of psychology alongside with actual use of acquirements and skills resulted from my experience in the Educational Counseling Preparation Program is capable of qualified help for students in their choice of a good educational establishment, which is able to point them a right direction for the prosperous future on the assumption of their personal interests and qualities. And in this very context, I may apply all my knowledge and experience as a good educational counselor for professional assistance, being an opinion leader within school and in larger community. Now my Culminating Essay and immediate future definitely keep a pace with each other. I am sure that my experience in the Educational Counseling Preparation Program will provide my expectations for future growth of knowledge, skills and disposition in their practical application during the process of active assistance to students in their choice of the best educational establishment that fits them by reference to every individual case. I realize that I have become a so-called good master of my craft. This emerges from comparison of current me with all my self-confidence in every possible sphere including my personality and my professionalism with that almost non-mature person at the beginning of the program. Surely, both classmates and instructors, and total and constant interaction with them have influenced my personal development during the program. In particular, my experience with classmates has added in a very active way to acquisition of extremely important knowledge of psychology and sociology, as well as skills of effective communication with people and ability to help them being guided by appropriate knowledge. Naturally, I have not got that great practice during the program which is able to make an experienced educational counselor of me, but even best and worst classes (________________) had contributed to my preparation for this. Finally, I must admit that my self-reflection may have only one weakness - a kind of my subjectivism in evaluation of my personal development, on the background of the main strength, such as in-depth analysis of knowledge and skills acquired during the program. Read More