Teenagers Inurement Enhancement of the Subject of Counselling - Term Paper Example

Running Head: REFLECTIVE JOURNAL Name: Institution” Date: Reflective Journal Article 1 – Defining Reflection According to this article, reflection is a kind of individual reaction to circumstances, knowledge and information that has been acquired out of experiences. It is a phase which can also be referred to as a “processing phase” in which knowledge and thoughts occur. Reflection has neither right or wrong way of doing it because it is not distinctly defined rather there are only questions to be investigated which gives it an inaccurate depiction: a factor that has often contributed to its dismissal in the learning circle because this is an age where learning has become a matter where observation and quantification of matters of education take priority more than anything else (Rodgers, 2002). Reflection begins with an individual person and before an individual can start his/her own assessment of the world, they have to temporarily halt, categorize and inspect their own thoughts (Dewey, 1933). It is a process that requires that they revisit their own past experiences and knowledge on the subject they are exploring and considering the reasons as to why they think the way they do regarding the subject in the context of their values, thoughts, ideals and suppositions. It is these four which form the basis of an individual’s perception. Reflection stipulates that an individual should know that he/she brings priceless information to every experience. As Kolb puts it, reflection does not take part in a vacuum: rather there is always a scheme through which thinking is organized, which is usually a transition from theory to practice (Kolb, 1984). It is therefore a process that assists one in recognizing and elucidating the important connections that exist between what they already know and what they are in the process of learning. It is also a means of assisting one to become aware of and actively taking part in critical learning (Schön, 1983).According to Dewey, the lack of proper description of reflection can lead to problems such as; one, a lack of differentiation between reflection types for instance, the difference between systematic reflection and other types of thought such as journaling, taking part in study groups and reflective thinking. The second problem that could arise from due to lack of reflection is related to the first. It is the problem of assessment of skills because it is hard to assess a skill that is not well defined. There is a great demand for portfolios that are indicative of reflective thought and exercise but it is hard to define what constitutes proper reflection without proper definitions of what it constitutes reflection. The third problem which is also largely related to a lack of proper definition is that it becomes hard to talk about reflection because there is a lack of a common language in the education circles and therefore talking about reflection is rendered hard by that fact. The final problem is that the lack of a proper sense of what reflection is all about the results of a reflective teaching culture and skills improvement in the area of reflection when there is no clear sense of the true meaning of reflection. Article 2 – The Evolving Identity of School Counsellors as defined by Stakeholders The role of the teacher when it comes to counselling in schools is the subject of this article and what the stakeholders in education counselling think about it. The stakeholders in these articles hold diverse opinions on the matters For instance, while the American Schooling Counselling Association (ASCA) holds the opinion that teachers should be counsellors first then teachers second, both the Association of Counselor Educators and Supervisors (ACES) and the American Counseling Association (ACA) together with other organizations are of the opinion that both the teaching and counseling roles should b practiced together hand in hand in what they refer to as a “unified professional identity” (Perkins et al, 2006). ASCA, developed a framework in the form of National Standards for the purposes of guiding school counselors to build up all-inclusive school counseling programs (Perkins, Oescher, & Bllard, 2006). These standards are mainly for clearly ascertaining the role of the counselor in a school setting and they are based on a research that was done in the early 1990s on how to improve counseling programs nationwide and they were funded by DeWitt Wallace and this gave birth to the Education Trust TSCI. Both ASCA and the Education Trust TSCI are focused on encouraging counselors to adopt a method that is holistic when it comes to schools and systems. Other organizations have echoed this view but opposition has been witnessed coming from the direction of some school counselors. The early 1980s also saw a growing call to end the crisis witnessed in the education system at that time with calls for restructuring with many changes taking place and affecting many school counselors. 2001 saw the “No child left behind” getting introduced which was aimed at dealing with disparities in the education system (Perkins et al, 2006). Up to date, the emphasis has been on ensuring that every chi;d benefits from the school counselling program. Article 3 - What Counsellors need to know about resiliency in adolescents This article is meant for counsellors with an aim of equipping them with the right information concerning the subject of resiliency in adolescents and it has three parts namely; an outline of what resiliency in the first part, what constitutes resiliency in the second part and the roles of the people involved when it comes to guiding adolescents and thirdly the relationship between counselling practice and assets related to the improvement of the subject of counselling adolescents who have been identified herein in as those between age 12 and age 18 and basically refers to them in the general term-“adolescents” as opposed to Leffert’s structure which has an identification of three groups of adults (Leffert et al, 1998). Resiliency Resiliency according to this article is a process through which adolescents handle harsh conditions and its results as per Richardson’s concepts herein have been defined as; recognition, reinforcement and enhancement the quality referred to as resiliency which basically refers to factors of protection (Richardson, 2002). Resiliency has also been defined herein as a process of development which involves adolescents overcoming difficult situations and which involves confidence and self-efficacy in the capabilities that are required when dealing with difficult situations. A example is given herein from the Harvard Mental Health Letter of Adolescents who endure regardless of neglect, violence within the family and the society in general, poverty, etc (Harvard Mental Health Letter, 2006). According to this article, the protection of Adolescents also depends on the protection that adolescents get from parents depending on the parent’s competency and how caring they are. According to this article, an adolescent who is resilient is one who is healthy emotionally and one who is capable of exhibiting coping mechanisms when it comes to obstruction and disputes and they often exhibit the following characteristics; a sense of self worth, self regulation, a sense of hope, the capability to ser achievable goals and prospects, among other characteristics which are often what distinguishes them from other adolescents who are not resilient What constitutes resiliency This part of the article talks about the factors that counselors should be aware of when dealing with adolescents in order to be able to effectively deal with issues of resiliency as well as building it amongst adolescents. It suggests a visual framework of doing this and also advances the idea of the role of parents and guardian in doing the same as the primary care givers as outlined by Gleason (Gleason, 2007) as well as other writers on the subject. The article also talks about the roles of the family, the community as well as teachers in the matter. The relationship between counselling practice and assets related to the improvement of the subject of counselling adolescents This part combines both implications of the subject matter to counselling practice and the practical application of the subject. It is in this part where the issues of how the use of certain aspects of counselling such as those pertaining to development can actually be utilized to ensure that resiliency is fostered and entrenched in young adults through the players named above namely; parents, teachers and the community at large. (Short & Russell-Mayhew, 2009). These are contained in the five developmnental assets namely; laying emphasis of expectations that are pro-social like in Edwards and others accompanying factors (Edwards et al, 2008), capturing the quintessence of improving vital improvement results (Leffert & Scales 1998), understanding the importance of these assets for example their provision of a taxonomy of targets related to targeted development levels requiring the contribution of both the family and the community (Leffert & Scales 1998), the diversity of the framework of assets development such as its use across the board regardless of race, gender background, status, IQ or origin of a person and its diversity and lastly (Benson, 1997) and its provision of a common playground in terms of communication to all involved (Leffert & Scales 1998). List of References Benson, L. (1997). All kids are our kids. Minneapolis: Search Institute. Dewey, J. (1933). How We Think: A Restatement of The Relation of Reflective Thinking in the Educative Process. New York: D.C. Heath. Edwards, W., Mumford, E., & Serra-Roldan, R. (2008). Resiliency in adolescent males in a correctional facility. The Journal of Correctional Education 59 (2) , 94-105. Gleason, T. (2007). A strengths-based approach to the social developmental study. Children & Schools Vol 29 (1) , 51-59. Harvard Mental Health Letter. (2006). Resilience. Retrieved July 19, 2012, from www.health.harvard: http://www.health.harvard.edu/. Kolb, D. (1984). Experiential Learning: Experience as the Source of Learning and Development . Englewood Cliffs NJ: Prentice-Hall. Leffert, N., R., B., & Scales, P. e. (1998). Developmental assets: measurement and prediction of risk behaviours among adolescents. Applied Dvelopmental Science Vol. 2 (4) , 209-230. Perkins, G., Oescher, J., & Bllard, M. (2006). The Evolving Identity of School Counselors as Defined by the Stakeholders. New Orleans: University of New Orleans. Richardson, E. (2002). The metatheory of resilience and resiliency. Journal of Clinical Psychology Vol. 58 (3) , 307-321. Rodgers, m. C. (2002). Defining Reflection: Another look at John Dewey and reflective thinking. Teachers College Record Vol. 104 ()4 , 846-866. Schön, D. (1983). The Reflective Practitioner. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass. Short, J., & S., R.-M. (2009). What Counsellors Need to Know About Resiliency in Adolescents. Int J Adv Counselling 31 , 213-227. Read More

Article 2 – The Evolving Identity of School Counsellors as defined by Stakeholders The role of the teacher when it comes to counselling in schools is the subject of this article and what the stakeholders in education counselling think about it. The stakeholders in these articles hold diverse opinions on the matters For instance, while the American Schooling Counselling Association (ASCA) holds the opinion that teachers should be counsellors first then teachers second, both the Association of Counselor Educators and Supervisors (ACES) and the American Counseling Association (ACA) together with other organizations are of the opinion that both the teaching and counseling roles should b practiced together hand in hand in what they refer to as a “unified professional identity” (Perkins et al, 2006).

ASCA, developed a framework in the form of National Standards for the purposes of guiding school counselors to build up all-inclusive school counseling programs (Perkins, Oescher, & Bllard, 2006). These standards are mainly for clearly ascertaining the role of the counselor in a school setting and they are based on a research that was done in the early 1990s on how to improve counseling programs nationwide and they were funded by DeWitt Wallace and this gave birth to the Education Trust TSCI.

Both ASCA and the Education Trust TSCI are focused on encouraging counselors to adopt a method that is holistic when it comes to schools and systems. Other organizations have echoed this view but opposition has been witnessed coming from the direction of some school counselors. The early 1980s also saw a growing call to end the crisis witnessed in the education system at that time with calls for restructuring with many changes taking place and affecting many school counselors. 2001 saw the “No child left behind” getting introduced which was aimed at dealing with disparities in the education system (Perkins et al, 2006).

Up to date, the emphasis has been on ensuring that every chi;d benefits from the school counselling program. Article 3 - What Counsellors need to know about resiliency in adolescents This article is meant for counsellors with an aim of equipping them with the right information concerning the subject of resiliency in adolescents and it has three parts namely; an outline of what resiliency in the first part, what constitutes resiliency in the second part and the roles of the people involved when it comes to guiding adolescents and thirdly the relationship between counselling practice and assets related to the improvement of the subject of counselling adolescents who have been identified herein in as those between age 12 and age 18 and basically refers to them in the general term-“adolescents” as opposed to Leffert’s structure which has an identification of three groups of adults (Leffert et al, 1998).

Resiliency Resiliency according to this article is a process through which adolescents handle harsh conditions and its results as per Richardson’s concepts herein have been defined as; recognition, reinforcement and enhancement the quality referred to as resiliency which basically refers to factors of protection (Richardson, 2002). Resiliency has also been defined herein as a process of development which involves adolescents overcoming difficult situations and which involves confidence and self-efficacy in the capabilities that are required when dealing with difficult situations.

A example is given herein from the Harvard Mental Health Letter of Adolescents who endure regardless of neglect, violence within the family and the society in general, poverty, etc (Harvard Mental Health Letter, 2006). According to this article, the protection of Adolescents also depends on the protection that adolescents get from parents depending on the parent’s competency and how caring they are. According to this article, an adolescent who is resilient is one who is healthy emotionally and one who is capable of exhibiting coping mechanisms when it comes to obstruction and disputes and they often exhibit the following characteristics; a sense of self worth, self regulation, a sense of hope, the capability to ser achievable goals and prospects, among other characteristics which are often what distinguishes them from other adolescents who are not resilient What constitutes resiliency This part of the article talks about the factors that counselors should be aware of when dealing with adolescents in order to be able to effectively deal with issues of resiliency as well as building it amongst adolescents.

Read More