Mentor Reflection

Two years ago I made the decision to return to school and pursue a master’s degree in school counseling. Becoming a professional school counselor had been a something I had been thinking about for several years and a professional goal. One of our counselors was approaching retirement so a job presented itself, therefore I decided to take action and make a few inquiries about school counseling requirements and colleges. I discovered that both of the high school counselors were going after their masters in counseling at Arkansas Tech University. I decided to enter the same program so that our counseling concepts would be consist. Subsequently, I wanted to begin preparing for my second career. I needed to begin the ultimate and most …show more content…
I knew that if I worked hard I could undertake the challenge, persistence is something I have always had in abundance, and I love to learn. There were many times I just thought I could not write yet another reflection. Or find time to complete all the hours of internship, all along questing my own abilities. Dr. Dixon was constancy filling my bucket. Even though I doubt she was even aware, she is a natural encourager. When she would talk about different types of intellect, which would give me hope that my abilities might be enough. Which would lift me up and allow me to think that I could complete whatever the task, even with the necessary writing ability I desperately lacked. I did discover a learning disability that I have been living with all my life. I was diagnosis with dyslexia, I lack phonemic awareness, instead of feeling sad or defeated, I felt liberated. I finally knew what my problem was, however, God gave me many talents, and because of them, I had the tools I needed to work around this obstacle. However, after I graduate from grad school I intend to undergo intensive training because of one of my students who also suffers from the same type of dyslexia. He is very intellect, and he and his family just feel that he too can work around …show more content…
This feeling of preparedness is more valuable to me that the degree itself. One of the most discriminate characteristics of the counseling program at ATU is the emphasis placed on counselors as school leaders. Before my association with the Center for Leadership and Learning, I did not view the counselor as a leader within the school organization. Conversely, the leadership courses have been illuminating as to how I can serve my students, school, and community in a leadership capacity. The program has enabled me to become the leader I will need to be, and also given me the tools to see and build leadership capacity in others. The counseling program has helped me become more aware of the student competencies and expectations set by the American School Counseling Association and the state standards. I had to refer and refer again to come up with ideas for planning lessons and activities for my student groups (AR

Show More