Each month the Lucas PTO is featuring a teacher or staff member on the Mighty Hawk Messenger blog. This month we spoke with guidance teacher Danielle Kennedy who has worked at Lucas for the past three years.
I imagine a lot
of parents are a little in the dark about what a school guidance counselor does. Tell us
about your role at Lucas.
The major parts
of my role as a school counselor at Lucas include: classroom guidance,
individual counseling, small group counseling, and responsive services. I teach
guidance in every classroom (K-6), once per week. I also am a coach for the
PBIS team and coordinate the Big Brothers Big Sisters
program at Lucas.
What prompted
you become a school guidance counselor?
When I was doing
my student teaching I became more aware of the school counseling position. I
became very interested in it, so I decided to learn more about what a school
counselor does. It seemed like a good fit for me, especially since I enjoy
helping others. A few years later, I went to graduate school and received my
Master’s in School Counseling. My first school counseling position was at the two elementary schools in the Highland Community School District.
How does paying
attention to the social-emotional learning of a child prepare them for their
intellectual education?
The learning
that we do involves problem-solving skills, managing emotions, interacting
appropriately with others, etc. These are all life skills. When children
successfully use these life skills they are equipped and better able to handle
life’s ups and downs, which will help them to focus on learning academic
content. Social-emotional and academic learning definitely go hand-in-hand.
What can parents
do to develop their child’s social-emotional learning and support the work
being done at school?
Adults at home
can help by reinforcing guidance topics and encouraging their child(ren) to
use/practice what they are
learning. We focus much of our time in guidance discussing three main topics:
problem-solving, emotion management, and safety. Children learn “steps” that
will help them in dealing with different situations at school and outside of
school.
The Problem-Solving Steps are:
1) Say the problem
2) Think of
solutions
3) Explore consequences
4) Pick the best solution (The first letter
of each step spells the word “STEP”).
The Calming Down Steps are:
1) Stop (use
your “stop signal”)
2) Name your feeling
3) Calm down (practice deep
breathing, counting, positive self-talk, etc.).
The Safety Steps are:
1) Say “No”
2) Get away
3) Tell an adult you trust.
Do you have a
favorite student story?
I had a student
share in guidance while we were learning about problem-solving that they, and a
couple friends, had practiced using the Problem-Solving Steps outside of school
and “it worked!” Hearing that story made my day!
Music Teacher Nathan Kelley
Family Resource Center Director Yolanda Spears
Modified Teacher Jessica Flannery
Principal's Secretary Angela Kessler
Art Teacher Buffy Quintero
Physical Education Teacher Chad Lowry
Custodians Scott Calcote and Marvin Penro
School Nurse Suzi Wilkes
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