The Real Deal of School Counseling

By Christopher Gadsden

The goal of this book is to help neophyte counselors get started in the positon at any level of education. For the experienced counselors a refresher to continue to be successful in your career. People often ask questions about what counselors do. Are they just academic counselors? Is a counselor really needed to deal with a student? Can't a counseling technician do the work needed? This book seeks to answer those questions and more. This book has real life scenerios that you can work through which can help to be more prepared in your careers. 

• Language: English
• Publisher: Christopher Gadsden
• Release date: Nov 1, 2021
• ISBN: 9798201679033

Book preview

The Real Deal of School Counseling

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A Practical Guide for School Educators

By

Christopher L. Gadsden

Masters of Arts in School Counseling

Masters of Arts in Leadership & Organization

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© Copyright (2021) by (Christopher Gadsden) - All rights reserved.

It is not legal to reproduce, duplicate, or transmit any part of this document in either electronic means or printed format. Recording of this publication is strictly prohibited.

Acknowledgments

This book has been many years in development. In the process, several individuals inspired, supported, and mentored along the way. First, I'd like to acknowledge my wonderful parents who inspired me to do my best every day. They consistently showed me how to be a person of color in today's world and how to be rise above the drama or stumbling blocks that came along the way. I also thank my son (Dylan who is on the cover), who has been my motivation to finish this book. Special thank you to my sister, twin brother, and wife for their support and encouragement.

Second, I'd like to acknowledge Mrs. Abbott. As a sophomore in high school, she was one of the first persons to tell me to go into education. She saw the compassion I had for classmates and even coaching her son who was younger than I. I didn't listen to her immediately because I first pursued non-education-related bachelor's and master's degrees.

The third, person is Ms. Johangiry, who was my site internship supervisor. She showed me what true counseling was going to be like. I thought it was going to be easy since I was able to talk to anyone. She was at the time the middle school counselor and during my time observing she threw me into the deep end and wanted me to get the full understanding of what goes into being a successful counselor. I will forever be grateful for her leadership and words of encouragement even to this day.

Fourth, is Mrs. Brown AKA Grandma Brown, my first mentor. She was one of the first counselors I worked with at my first job. She exemplified ultimate dedication to her students by working extra hours, including weekends; and pulling kids from sports practice to complete their schoolwork so they could graduate. In her retirement after some 35+ years, she still checks in on me to motivate and see how things are going.

Fifth is the mentor who has invested many hours of support, given words of encouragement, opened doors for interviews, and who I aspire to become as an educational leader is Dr. Thompkins. I was fortunate to meet him at a conference and after our first conversation, he gave me his card and told me to reach out anytime. I accepted his offer by, emailing him the next day and asking him to be my mentor. Ten years later he is still one of my best mentors.

Lastly, my colleagues and interns who I have worked with and/or trained, over the past 17 years. You have shown how necessary this book is to help bridge some of the gaps between classwork and everyday practice. I thank you for your persistence in getting me to finish this project and hope this will help those whom I will never have the ability to meet.

Here are some the honorable individuals who supported this project:

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments

Introduction

About the Author

Chapter One: History of School Counseling

Chapter Two: Reality of the Profession

Chapter Three: Dos and don’ts in the first 2 years

Chapter Four: Evaluation Process

Chapter Five: Different Types of Counseling

Chapter 6: Deeper look into K-8 counseling

Chapter Seven: High School Counseling

Chapter Eight: Technology

Chapter Nine: Vocabulary

Chapter Ten: BiasES and Prejudices

Chapter Eleven: Case Studies

Chapter Twelve: Schedules/Calendar

Chapter Thirteen: Thinking outside the Box

Appendix

Bibliography

Introduction

The goal of this book is to help neophyte counselors get started in the positon at any level in education. For the experienced counselors a refresher to continue to be successful in your career. People often ask questions about what counselors do. Are they just academic counselors? Is a counselor really needed to deal with a student? Can't a counseling technician do the work needed? This book seeks to answer those questions and more.

As you read this book, some information will be data-driven; some will come from testimonials of other counselors and some will come from my knowledge and 17 years of experience in the public/private school systems and districts. In those years, I have held positions including school counselor, head counselor, lead internship counselor, dean of students, athletic director, and assistant principal. I will be sharing my interpretation along with those of other counselors with more than 25 years of experience. 

Throughout the pages, you will find white space or lined areas to allow you to take notes and write questions you might have about the topic. For those who are going into an internship or practicum, you can take this book and work through some of the scenarios with your site supervisor who may have another perspective.

This book is written to give you, the reader, and a glimpse behind the curtain of the daily activities of a school counselor. I want you to