I have been surprisingly impressed with the guidance counselors at Harris County High School. Guidance counselors are an often overlooked member of the educational family. Teachers are a given and administrators are the necessary elements to running the business that is the educational system. Counselors tend to be the glue between teachers, administrators and students. I know a lot is asked of the teacher. It is difficult to teach lessons and remember to keep the individual needs of hundreds of students in mind when trying to prepare them for the future. That is where getting to know your counselor can be invaluable.
I have had the good fortune to have counselors work with me to understand students and to help students get to the proper instruction and classes. It is unfortunate that we can come to take counselors for granted. I hear students and teachers complain often about how the counselor isn't doing enough to help them. They sometimes forget that the counselor is doing all they can to make sure everyone has what they need. Everyone cannot always get everything they want.
True, they can make mistakes from time to time. We are all human. I propose we think to ourselves how much better we are with them than we would be without them. Guidance is the only other career in education that I have seen thus far that I would like to partake other than teaching.
Wow Kennis! I would have to agree with what you posted. While I have not had the opportunity to work with counselors at my school, I can only imagine what it would be like to have that resource located in the school. Counselors are truely a resource that we forget and often neglect to recognize when students are successful.
ReplyDeleteIt is overwhelming to me sometimes the problems that my students have and I couldn't imagine what a Guidance Counselor goes through on a daily basis. To have to help an entire school of students navigate through their high school careers is a tremendous responsibilty. So, after this assignment, I will be a lot more forgiving of oversights and mishaps made by Counselors with students. I will also try to help correct the mistakes with little fuss. You are right they are only human!!