Magdalen’s Career Narrative Owusu, C. (2014, November 25). Never get bad grades in an african home. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qc7J8CKfzaI I chose this video because it portrays many of the messages and advice that I heard from my parents and loved ones while growing up. This messages and advice were what influenced my decision to choose school counseling. There are five messages from this video that I want to discuss and further explain to describe how my parents and loved one influenced my decision to become a school counselor. First, the video highlighted the expectation from African parents that you will spend all your time dedicated to your education. This expectation was set at a very early age for me, I started school when I was six months old. From that age till today, that expectation still continues to exist. Growing up with …show more content…
As I explained above, I have spent all my life in school and I value education because of the messages that I received while growing up. If it was possible to spend my whole life going to school I would. When I realized that I had a passion for education, I started to consider the possible career choices and found school counseling to align with my goals. I noticed that I enjoyed working with youth but I didn’t really have the passion to teach in front of a classroom all day. As I began to look into how I could work with youths in an educational setting, I learned that school counselors have a huge impact on the educational success of a student. I saw how much impact outside factors contributed to a child desire to learn and excel in school. Therefore, I wanted to work closely with children to help them deal with the factors that stand in their way of them being able to truly learn and do well in school. If I can help a student remove barriers that stands in their way, then I will be able to give that child an opportunity to enjoy school and eventually love it as much as I
Although the !Kung San of southern Africa differ greatly from the people in the west African nation of Mali, both areas share similar problems. Both suffer from diseases, illnesses, malnutrition, and having to adapt to the ever changing and advancing cultures around them. What I found to be the most significant problem that is shared between both areas is that the people suffered from a lack of education. In the book Dancing Skeletons: Life and Death in West Africa by Katherine A. Dettwyler, there is a lack of education in proper nutritional practices, taking care of children and newborns, and basic medical knowledge and practices. The Dobe Ju/’hoansi have recently started putting in schools to help children receive an education to help them have better success with the surrounding peoples and culture, but there is a lack of attendance in these schools. There are also many education issues in proper sexual practices that would help stop the spread of HIV and AIDS, in a place in the world were theses illnesses are at surprisingly high levels.
2 May 2014. Breidlid, Anders. " Culture, Indigenous Knowledge Systems And Sustainable Development: A Critical View Of Education In An African Context. " International Journal Of Educational Development 29.2 (2009): 140-148.
The compressive school programs are driven by student data and are based on academic, career, and personal/ social development. The programs are collaborating between the counselor, parents, and many other educators to create an environment that promotes student excellences (ASCA, 2016). A productive school counselor will focus on their skills, time and energy on direct and indirect services to all students. Therefore, to achieve those goals, the ASCA recommends that a school counselor should not have more than 250 students and that 80 percent or more of a counselor’s time in direct and indirect services. As a result, we will focus on the delivery of those services.
(e) Counselors and professionals should be actively engaged in encouraging career workshops, exploration events, (c) Counselors should connect their African American students with community with outreach efforts, mainly through internships, job shadowing, and service learning projects. (G) Counselors and Professionals discuss with their African American Student their long term career goals, (h) Counselors should provide their clients with information on different career options in combination with additional career options in combination with additional back up plans. (I) career counselors and professionals should be knowledgeable about and build relationships with college extended African American, (J) Career counselors must totally understand that each client lives in a unique sociocultural context, (k) career professionals must be alert of the impact of discrimination and oppression and how they affect the worldview of culturally different clients. (L) It is vital that counselors and professionals remain updated on the most
I was raised in an encouraging household where both of my parents greatly valued education. Although they were high school graduates, neither could afford to attend college; a combination of family and financial woes ultimately halted their path. As a result, my parents frequently reminded me that getting a good education meant better opportunities for my future. To my parents, that seemed to be the overarching goal: a better life for me than the one they had. My parents wanted me to excel and supported me financially and emotionally of which the former was something their parents were not able to provide. Their desire to facilitate a change in my destiny is one of many essential events that contributed to my world view.
Many individuals, teachers or not, only do what they are asked or expected to do. However, going above and beyond and being able to have greater influence on a child’s life is my goal. I know I will love my job and in this position, children and families will be going through difficult and not normative life events. It is essential to extend further assistance to make each individual feel important. Being someone who can help families understand and make their lives a little bit easier by providing support and encouraging optimal development, I can hopefully make a meaningful impact on a child and/or family. The child and family satisfaction would bring happiness in itself and be worth more than
Deciding to become a Student Guidance Counselor was not a fly by night decision. I did a great deal of reading and research before making a decision. I knew once I started a graduate program in School Guidance Counseling, it would be both challenging and a commitment until the end. I am somewhat nervous about this new journey that I am about to partake; however, I am ready to accept the challenge and make the commitment. I am a newly licensed teacher and there will be areas and terminology which I am not familiar. But, what I have found out thus far is that a teacher and a student counselor have quite a few things in common. They both work with other teachers, parents, school administrators, and the community in an academic setting. The skills I have acquired as a preschool director and teacher will be integrated into my career as a guidance counselor. I will have the skills to guide and enhance the social, academic, and personal growth of my students by using a variety of strategies which will be my primary goal. I will be able t...
The choices we make early in life have an enormous impact on our future. I have always known that I wanted to directly impact people’s lives and my personal experiences have set me on the school-counseling path. In the future, I would love to influence another generation of students to soar for their dreams.
Individuals’ perceptions of their life/worth have the power to control the goals that they can carry out and meet. Every day we are learning new things and everyone has his/her own unique ways of learning. My strong desire to help students with their academic, personal, and social needs make me a strong candidate as a school counselor. While completing my undergraduate degree in Early Childhood Program Administration I learned a great deal about myself. I have a passion for learning and want to share and express that love for learning with students. I feel that the Master of School Counseling program provides a direct path to my career goals of helping students to comprehend subject matter while learning to love learning as I do. Not only will
I cannot recall a more rewarding experience than helping facilitate a child’s education while enabling parent participation alike. These experiences have drawn me to my current position as an Educational Assistant where I am constantly interacting and establishing relationships with students, learning about their goals and aspirations. It is that same desire to empower our future students that has steered me towards a career as a school counselor. By enrolling in the Masters in counseling program, I aspire to develop methods and experience to become an effective, experienced, and adaptable school counselor that promotes self-awareness, allowing students to realize their full potential and impetus them towards a promising future. I want to learn skills that facilitate personal and career development, ensuring that our students grow accomplishing their goals and ambitions. To discover techniques that help students improve in all areas of academic achievement, establishing relationships with students and parents alike. By becoming a school counselor, I am determined to become an advocate for underserved youth. I aim to become an effective agent educational reform, providing support for students in the various institutions that may disempower
Many years back, a young woman named Ann Young noticed the change in a number of her students work ethic and motivation began to decline, thus causing her as a guidance counselor to investigate. She found that many children under her watch and supervision in the school, were either homeless, living with friends, family or hopping from couch to couch. Flash forward to 2016, the efforts that one woman had now helps with more than one thousand students every year.
I chose education as my career path because I hope to be able to make a small difference in a child’s life. Time and time again I have seen children being educated poorly and/or not having appropriate role models in their life. I feel that an educator must not only be able to convey to the student the classroom material, but also be a counselor, coach, mentor, and a parent. Failing to fulfill these roles gives a child the chance to slip through the educational system without having the opportunity to influence them to some degree.
Nairobi: Heinemann Educational Books Ltd, 1978. _____________. African Religions and Philosophy. New York: Anchor Books, 1970. Shorter, Aylward.
Dei S., Schooling and Difference in Africa: Democratic Challenges in a Contemporary context. Toronto, University of Toronto Press: 2006. Print.
Nobles, Dr. Wade. Seeking the Sakhu: Foundational Writings for An African Psychology. 1st. Third World Press, 2006. Print.