2011-08-16T04:47:00.000-07:00

2011 - 2012

This is my 11th year as counselor for Middlebury Community Schools. What a privilege it has been to work with so many students and their families for more than a decade! I spend half of my time at Jefferson Elementary (Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Friday afternoons)and the other half at Middlebury Elementary (Mondays, Wednesdays, and Friday Mornings) . My goal is to assist students, parents, and teachers with problems that interfere with learning. Students can achieve more when barriers to learning are removed.

I have had an excellent advisory council in place for many years at Jefferson Elementary consisting of parents, teachers, and an administrator. We have worked together to obtain state recognition for the guidance program through the Gold Star School Counseling Award since 2003. Last year in 2010, we have achieved national recognition through the ASCA RAMP award as a nationally recognized model program. Jefferson Elementary received the award at a ceremony in Boston. I also meet with community leaders and business people as needed for input, guidance, and direction as we work to meet the academic, career, and citizenship development needs of all students. Last year we formed an advisory council at Middlebury Elementary. Middlebury Elementary will receive the Gold Star Award for school counseling in the fall of 2011.

Individual Counseling: Each year I provide hundreds of individual counseling sessions to students. My focus is to help students overcome barriers to the learning process so that they can have a more successful educational experience. I also meet with individual students to assess and resolve problems, provide counseling and support, teach new skills, develop behavior plans, and assist parents and teachers with other educational or behavioral interventions. These sessions have centered on topics such as academics, anger, anxiety, attendance, behavior, conflict, depression, family issues, friendship, grief, self esteem, social skills, study skills, etc.

Families: I also work with parents and families in a number of ways. Last year I had well over 600 parent contacts made through parent meetings, family meetings, phone calls, drop in visits, email, or parent teacher conferences.

I work with families who desire to implement Love and Logic Parenting Resources to make a difference in their families. The resources have been very well received by parents are a valuable resource to many families including my own. Working together with parents has made many of our students more successful.

Classrooms: This year I will teach classroom guidance lessons once or twice a month. I will be teaching over 400 classroom guidance lessons. These lessons target various standards and indicators in 3 major domains: Academic, Career, and Citizenship. My classroom lessons are tied to the Indiana Student Standards for Guidance.

Click here for Indiana Student Standards for Guidance

By mastering the Indiana Student Standards for Guidance, students are far more likely to become successful learners, productive workers, and responsible citizens. Some of the topics that are covered through the year include: what do counselors do?, respect, what to do when someone bugs you, conflict resolution, peer mediation, anger management, diversity, self-esteem, prejudice, tattling, bullying, good touches vs. bad touches, goal setting, decision making, empathy, and careers.

Small Groups: Last year I offered more small group counseling opportunities for students than ever before. My plan is to continue that service this year. Groups have been offered on issues such as controlling anger, changing family situations, life skills, study skills, social skills, Stop myself and Really Think Groups, friendship skills and several groups with students who are going through the grieving process. Groups consist of 6 - 8 students and meet for about 30 minutes once a week for 6-8 weeks.

Counselor's Corner