Analysis Of The Alternative By Galen Leonhardy

Time is needed for teachers and specialists to meet and create well-constructed plans to identify and implement modifications the, accommodations, and specific goals for individual students. Collaboration must also exist among teachers, staff, and parents to meet a student’s needs and facilitate learning at home.

My educational goal is focused on becoming a school counselor and developing a theoretical orientation that will provide a framework for me to choose and direct therapeutic interventions with students. My theoretical orientation will guide me as I provide resources and services to students, staff and parents. Also, I want to be able to work with students so they are able to identify, understand and appropriately display the feeling they experience.

The topic I have chosen to write this research paper over is the rational choice theory. The rational choice theory started with the work of Cesare Beccaria in the late eighteenth century. From that point forward, the theory has been developed and opened up to incorporate different viewpoints, like discouragement and routine activity theory. The rational choice theory is a monetary rule that expresses that people dependably settle on reasonable and legitimate choices. These choices furnish individuals with the best advantage or fulfillment, given the decisions accessible and are likewise in their most elevated self-interest.

In the first journal of The Alternative, Galen Leonhardy journals his daily experiences as a teacher for an alternative school is Kozol Creek, Idaho. He describes the students in his classes and discusses his teaching methods to aid these students academically and socially, in order for them to transfer back into public life. The goals that he sets for himself regarding assisting the students are encountered by obstacles such as uncooperative colleagues and a local community that is ripe with preconceived stereotypes, poverty, and systematic neglect. The stark contrast between Leonhardy’s teaching methods and those of his unaccommodating coworkers reminds me of the disparity between some of the teachers that I had in middle school, some utilizing effective methods to encourage students and others employing unproductive methods of disparaging students.

In looking at the needs of an entire school, it is important to examine the needs of each individual student. It is known that not every student learns the same and achieves the same; therefore, each intervention should be personalized for the individual students. For the past two years, Whitley County High School has developed an intervention model that focuses on the middle tier of students. It is thought that these students can be instructed at a level that brings them out of the middle

Identifies skills, theories of change, program designs, partnerships, and ways of building schools where students achieve.

In schools all over the world today, School Counselors are crucial to assisting students, parents, school administrations, and the community. I believe that creating an effective counseling program that supports the counselors’ role in education will foster a close interaction between students and counselor to achieve success in their personal/social lives, academic achievements, and college readiness careers.

All of these elements are important for a practice or program, however, the three elements I feel that are more important are; 1) creating a caring community of learners 2) Teaching to enhance development and learning 3) Planning curriculum to achieve important goals. Creating a caring community, communities are very influential for children beginning school and being immerged into a place outside the home, sometimes for the first time. It is vital to create a safe and warm environment for children where they can learn social skills and how to treat others. Teaching to enhance development and learning is a happy mixture of adult-guided and child-guided but has the teacher being the one in charge and responsible for directing and supporting the child. Planning curriculum to achieve important goals, programs must have a curriculum based on goals that are significant for children development. Lakeridge UMC accomplishes these three guidelines by incorporating play with peers and academics and staffing caring teachers. This program also gives its kids some freedom by not having to ask to go to the bathroom but just going, instead of interrupting the class which also fulfills creating a caring community guideline. Lakeridge no doubt follows the guidelines for a successful

The program’s philosophy is based on the NAEYC’s guidelines on developmentally appropriate practices and Froebel, Piaget, and Gardner’s early learning theories. We believe that every child can learn and grow with the proper care and instruction. The NAEYC defines practices as developmentally appropriate when they consider age and stage related differences, individual differences in learning style and preferences, and social and cultural differences among children (Kostelnik, Soderman, & Whiren, 2011). For this reason we believe that the best way to ensure positive development is to adapt the materials, activities, and the mode of demonstrating learning to meet the varied needs of our students.

School counseling programs are designed to serve the school as a whole. They serve the students as counselors, act as consultants to teachers, parents and administrators and coordinate activities to implement the developmental guidance program. However, in order to have an effective program they need to instill the qualities of Lencioni’s model into their interaction with the individuals they serve.

Edith demonstrates awareness of goals in program planning. She is knowledgeable in Desired Results Developmental Profiles and the importance in connecting them into classroom activities.

Robert W. Pazmiño describes education as, “the process of sharing content with people in the context of their community and society, which necessitates an invitation for all to bring their distinct gifts.” If we were to use this definition for education, it is important for Mr. Thompson to take Pazmino’s idea of context to the community and apply it to the kids he is teaching. If there are other students that are having the same problems as Jennifer,

My personal theory of education can be expressed as we teach the present for the future success of the world. Each student can have opportunities to succeed within their own life. There are many facets of education that can make a successful student. From the teachers’ year to year, subject information, school based leaders, mandated standards and much more. I feel that the Curriculum and development class gave an overview of vision, mission, and resources for the standards to be taught.

Professional development principles Ben embraces are Rigor, Relationships, Relevance and Realness. Mr. Rhodes continually emphasizes that work needs to have relevance and rigor in assignments and that the relationships teachers build with students is essential for success. Specific content used for staff development goals are Glenn Singleton’s work (Equity), National Achievement Gap, High Performing Schools, 90/90/90 Studies, 21st Century Skills, Marzano’s Instructional Strategies, and Heidi Hayes Jacobs’ literacy work. A variety of activities for teaching new skills to teachers occurs throughout the year. These include study groups, guest speakers, ERO (staff development classes), open classroom visits, master teachers sharing best practices in literacy, differentiated instruction, , math, and culturally responsive teaching, conference opportunities, mentors, district content area inservices, building inservice days, monthly district content area meetings, partnerships with universities, Collaborative Action Research for Equity (C.A.R.E.) cadre, and monthly building equity meetings. Mr. Rhodes uses the district Teaching Learning Cycle (Plan-Teach-Monitor- Adjust) to evaluate and assess the learning goals and make improvements. Ben also meets with Ben and the leadership team about the goals and creates the timeline to provide training and analyze progress. Evaluation of the learning goals using the SIP (as a living document) and individual goals are important

This quarter’s course of “theories of counseling” felt like a whirlwind of theories, theorist, therapeutic techniques, and proper application of theoretical framework to help counsel students. As the course continued each new theory and therapy style I learned about seemed more appealing and useful than the last. In deciding which therapy styles I would favor using I have to take into account the general demographic of the students and communities I wish to work in. I plan to work with middle school to high school students that are from urban low social economic status and are recent arrivals to the country. Some of the characteristics of obstacles these students and families face daily are, single parent home/income, past/recent trauma, history of low family education level and legal trouble. I am fortunate to live in the community and society I want to help and that I have grown up in. I am equally blessed to be raised and have the opportunity to give back to my community and society the best way I know how by giving back in a positive manner.