The Use of One of the Models of Brief Counseling By Tom Harrison - Assignment Example

 The Use of One of the Models of Brief Counseling By Tom Harrison Students’ age group, starting from the age of 5 till they complete their college, presents with a lot of learning opportunities in all aspects of life, besides educational curricula. However, educational curricula are given maximum importance, and the general tendency to judge and categorize students as ‘good’ or ‘poor’ develops among teachers, parents and, in turn, on students based on their performance in examinations. Although teachers are aware that different students in the same age group possess different skills and abilities, determined by their learning styles to an extent (Seckel, n.d.), little effort is put to take an advantage of this difference in their learning styles in order to enhance every student’s overall learning; reasons attributable to this are time and effort it would require. Most of the parents and students are not aware of this fact. Personal counseling of students are found to be more useful in such cases (Thompson, 2002). When such a student client approaches, or is presented for counseling, the approach should be able to achieve an increased awareness, increased motivation, and provide a problem resolution. However, the type of approach depends on the age and understanding level of the student. This can be more effective for students who realize and acknowledge their academic shortcomings. For a student aged around 11-14 years presented with learning issues in specific subject, the structural problem solving approach can be applied. Very often, most of the students face issues in scoring good marks in mathematics but score good marks in all other subjects. For example, consider one student who is almost a top scorer in most of the subjects except mathematics, which he manages to score average marks. This may not be a concern for teachers, but the student will always feel taken aback, more so if he is not able to rank amongst the top. In such a situation, Harrison (2007; p.89) indicates that the Structural Problem-Solving approach focuses on student client’s beliefs about the impact specific behaviors have upon a desired goal and on student client’s beliefs concerning their abilities to perform those specific behaviors. Counselor can help the student in identifying the root cause of the problem and devise an action plan to achieve the goal, i.e. to score between 95 to 100% in mathematics. The counselor can ask the student how he is able to score high marks in other subjects, and what interests him in the other subjects. Next, the counselor can ask the student to list all activities that he does while studying for other subjects; like, how much attention he pays in the class; what kind of notes-taking he does, and how? He may also note how many hours he spends in a day on another equally significant subject, like physics; what study pattern he follows: whether daily, or just before the exam; what kind of material he refers to before the exam, whether class notes, text books, or any other material that has good pictures, in-depth explanation in text, voice recorded, etc? The student may also be asked what kind of other activities and reading he does, apart from academic curricula; how much time he spends in a week on these activities. Further, the student may be asked to rate these forms of learning according to their impact, from a scale of 1 to 30 (1 being least and 30 being highest impact). Analysis of this rating based on prioritization will help the counselor and the student client in assessing what study pattern and style the student actually enjoys, and hence more effective. For instance, if the student likes reading and taking notes, that could be the reason for achieving top scores in other subjects that present an opportunity to apply this learning style. In such cases, students tend to perceive and create images and relate their reading to the images that they can remember (Gregory & Chapman, 2006). Next, the student needs to rate how this study pattern and style may impact on achieving top scores in mathematics. If the student feels, his ‘reading’ habit can help in better understanding of mathematics concepts, based on previous experience in other subjects, he can make a list of activities that will facilitate more reading in order to gain better understanding. The student may be asked to read a specific chapter or an exercise one day before and after it is taught at school or any other activities that the student is willing to perform. It is a general practice that mathematics is more of a practice and conceptual understanding; if the students do not get an opportunity to learn in a style that suits them, they feel disinterested. In this case, if we assume that the student tends to understand better by reading, he should be advised to read mathematics books to gain a thorough understanding of the concepts. This will improve his confidence and automatically improve his motivation to subsequently practice the concepts and problems. Knowing how to learn will also help in setting goals for positive change in areas that may be difficult and using strategies in a manner that will be most effective achieving the goals (Carter, Bishop & Kravits, 2007). References Carter, C, Bishop, J and Kravits, S.L. (2007). Keys to college studying: becoming an active thinker. (2nd ed). NJ: Pearson Education Inc. Gregory, G and Chapman, C. (2006). Differentiated instructional strategies: one size doesn't fit all. (2nd Ed). CA: Corwin Press. Harrison, T. (2007). Brief Counseling in the K-12 Developmental Counseling Program. Wittmer, J. (Ed.) Managing your school counseling program: K-12 developmental strategies (3 rd Ed). MN: Educational Media Corporation Seckel, S. (n.d.) Characteristics and responsibilities of successful learners. Journal of Instruction delivery systems Volume 21 No. 2. Thompson, R. (2002). School counseling: best practices for working in the schools. (2nd ed). NY: Routledge Mental Health. Read More