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North Hall Middle Counseling & Guidance Plan

North Hall Middle School has approximately 850 students and two full-time counseling positions. The counselors serve 34 regular classrooms grades sixth to eighth as well as 5 resource special education classes, 2 self-contained special education classes, 1 ESOL class, 2 gifted resource classes, and 11 connections classes. Our purpose is to facilitate healthy social, emotional and academic growth through a comprehensive guidance program.

CLASSROOM GUIDANCE:
  1. Counselor orientation. Counselor and counseling program introduction. Students complete a needs survey.
  2. COLORS personality survey, activities that promote self-awareness regarding temperament, learning styles and career goals for 6th and 7th grade
  3. Georgia Career Information Systems (GCIS), computer-guided career exploration activities for 7th and 8th grade
  4. Self-Directed Search Career Explorer, a career interest inventory for 8th grade
  5. GREAT program, a violence prevention program presented to sixth graders coordinated by the counseling office and taught by UGA graduate students
  6. Introduction to High School, coordinated by the counseling office and presented by a NHHS counselor

SMALL GROUPS:
  1. Implement and facilitate personal/social, academic and developmental small group counseling
  2. Small groups are offered as needed for special purposes:
    - Divorce
    - Loss/grief
    - Assertion skills
    - Transition to a new school
    - Anger management
    - Self-esteem
  3. Coordinate small groups offered by outside agencies:
    - Power Team program, builds skills in communication, leadership, organization, teamwork, and goal setting. Led by Centerpoint for 7th grade boys and girls.
    - Smart Girls, an education and support program designed to encourage healthy relationships among teens and empower them to make safe and positive choices. Led by Teen Pregnancy Alliance for 8th grade girls.
    - Wise Guys is similar to Smart Girls but it is offered to 8th grade boys.

INDIVIDUAL COUNSELING
  1. Encourage students to seek the assistance of the counselor on an as needed basis
  2. Accept parent and teacher referrals
  3. Crisis counseling

CONSULTATION AND COORDINATION:
  1. Meet with teachers and assistant principal weekly to discuss students
  2. Consult with parents and teachers during parent conferences, SST, or IEP meetings
  3. Offer referral sources for services offered in the community
  4. Coordinate Red Ribbon Week activities
  5. Mentor program liaison
  6. Coordinate guest speaker from Rape Response to present a rape prevention and personal safety curriculum to eighth grade students
  7. Coordinate Career Day
  8. Meet monthly with administrative team
  9. Meet monthly with other Hall County middle school counselors
  10. Coordinate standardized testing and attend countywide meetings regarding testing
  11. Teach parent education classes
  12. Assist with coordination of SECRET SANTA
  13. Consult with outside agencies such as DFCS, Juvenile Court, Mental Health, Laurelwood, etc.
  14. Consult with Alternative Learning Center faculty members
  15. Coordinate visits to elementary schools for fifth grade orientation
  16. Coordinate a presentation and tour of the school for fifth grade students at NHMS
  17. Coordinate Parent Night for fifth grade parents
  18. Attend annual Georgia School Counselors Association conference
  19. Attend annual Student Assistance Professionals Association conference
  20. Coordinate student registration and records
  21. Coordinate end of year middle school records transfer
  22. Attend weekly grade level meetings and monthly faculty and PTO meetings
  23. Coordinate Peer Mediation program
  24. Coordinate KIDS ON THE BLOCK puppet show addressing sexual harrassment presented by Teen Pregnancy Alliance for sixth graders
  25. Coordinate high school transition activities for eighth grade students

Tips for Parents

Improving Your Child's Study Habits
  1. Encourage your child to talk with you about school and what he or she is learning. Listen and share what you know about the subject. This helps to generate enthusiasm and interest.
  2. Provide a proper home study setting with a place to work, good light, adequate materials and freedom from d1stractions.
  3. Ask to see your child's homework assignments frequently.
  4. With your child, plan a regular time for studying each day. We recommend an hour a day. When deciding on study time, consider your family schedule and your child's extracurricular activities, as well as your child's best time for studying.
  5. Help your child understand that studying is more than just reading or doing homework. Share techniques you know for learning new material
  6. Help your child with organizational skills, such as time planning and organizing notebooks and materials. Share ideas that help you.
  7. Treat school as your child's job. Encourage regular attendance and punctuality. Habits set now will follow your child into adulthood.
  8. Be sensitive to your child's health needs. Proper sleep, diet and exercise will help your child be more alert when studying.
  9. Encourage your child to do his homework. Support and encouragement from parents are important, but you should not do homework for him.
  10. Make expectations realistic in terms of your child's abilities. Be sensitive to your child's frustrations about schoolwork.
  11. Try to be positive if your child brings home poor work or test results. Approach it from the standpoint of how you can help him to do better.
  12. Notify the school counselor or teacher when family situations arise that may worry your child and keep her from concentrating at school. Teachers need to be aware of students' emotional concerns since they may affect day-to-day performance in class.

Why Middle School Counselors?

Every day in the United States:
Six children and youths under 20 commit suicide.
13 children and youths are homicide victims.
16 children and youths are killed by firearms.
316 children under 18 are arrested for violent crimes.
1,420 babies are born to teen mothers.
3,356 students drop out each school day.
5,702 children under 18 are arrested.
13,076 public school students are suspended.
Source Information: 1996 Children's Defense Fund - "Every Day in America."

School Counselors Have Changed
For many people, the term "counselor" takes them back to the image of someone they visited with 20-plus years ago regarding a schedule change, test results or scholarship information. With social, economic and technological changes occurring, professional school counselors are responding to the needs of today's youth through comprehensive school counseling programs.

A Certified and/or Licensed Professional
All professional school counselors must have a master's degree and meet other certification requirements as defined by each state. Most have previous teaching experience. Professional middle school counselors have training and experience in understanding the developmental tasks of 11 to 15 year olds and are competent in counseling, consulting and coordinating.

The Developmental Needs of Middle School Students
Middle School is an exciting but frustrating time for students in addition to their parents and teachers. Transition is the key word. Through middle school years, physical and psychological changes abound. During their journey from childhood to adolescence, students are characterized by:

Being very active, yet easily fatigued due to rapid physical growth. Searching for their own unique identity, Turning more toward their peers rather than to their parents for ideas and affirmation. Extremely sensitive to comments from others. Relying heavily on friends to provide comfort, understanding and approval.

A Comprehensive and Developmental Program
Internal changes, coupled with the challenges of the outside world, reinforce the goal of middle school counselors: to teach students skills to help them through this difficult stage of life and to use these skills on a daily basis. To accomplish this, middle school counselors provide and carry out a comprehensive counseling program focusing on the uniqueness of students in three areas of development: academic, career and personal/social. Designed for all students, student competencies provide goals that are integrated throughout the entire school curriculum and environment. These goals are the engine that drives the program components including the guidance curriculum, individual planning, counseling and program management.

Adapted from American School Counselor Association website

Announcement:
WE HAVE A GREAT NEED FOR MENTORS AT NHMS! Mentors are dependable, caring adults who interact one-on-one with an assigned student for a minimum of four hours a month. This interaction could be a meeting for breakfast, lunch, school programs, etc. The Greater Hall County Mentor Program provides a two hour training to give mentors helpful ideas and resources. Targeted students often have academic difficulties, behavior or family problems. If you are interested in becoming a positive role model in a young person's life, please contact Kristi Logan, Carol Ann Ligon or Amy McNeilly.



 
 

 
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