1 Professional Educators using reflection and problem-solving to make informed ethical decisions School Counseling Reflection 1: Student Development Standard 1: Student Development The professional school counselor utilizes his/her skills and knowledge of student development and behavior to promote the mental health and well-being of all students by facilitating their academic, career, and personal/social development. Artifacts 1. Vision Boards 2. Stress Activity 3. Implementing a Culturally Responsive Strategy in the Classroom Introduction In order to fully understand student development, one must first understand a child’s cognitive development. Cognitive theorist, Jean Piaget, is perhaps the most influential researcher on child development. Piaget’s cognitive developmental theory states that, “children actively construct knowledge as they manipulate and explore their world” (Berk, 2013, p. 18). In his cognitive development theory, Piaget breaks down the development into four stages: sensorimotor (birth-2 years), preoperational (2-7 years), concrete operational (7-11 years), and formal operational (11 + years). It is important to note that while Piaget heavily influenced research on child development, his theory has the field divided (Berk, 2013). Another researcher of human development, Lev 2 Vygotsky, focused on sociocultural theory and how culture; the values, beliefs, customs, and skills of a social group, is transmitted to the next generation and how these factors also affect a child’s development (Berk, 2013). While Vygotsky agreed with Piaget that children are active, constructive beings, Vygotsky viewed “cognitive development as a socially mediated process, in which children depend on assistance from adults and more- expert peers as they tackle new challenges” (Berk, 2013, p. 23). A third researcher in the field, Urie Bronfenbrenner, developed the ecological systems theory, which views the person “as developing within a complex system of relationships affected by multiple levels of the surrounding environment” (Berk, 2013, p. 24). His theory is broken into four systems: the microsystem, the mesosystem, the exosystem, and the marcosystem. All of this is to say, it is not simply enough to know one theory and believe we have sufficient information to be successful educators in student’s lives. Therefore, as practicing educators and counselors, we must stay abreast of all child development theories so we may better serve our students’ needs. Quality Indicator 1 - : Human Growth and Development: The professional school counselor demonstrates knowledge of human development and personality and how these domains affect learners, and applies this knowledge in his or her work with learners. Students at different ages, in different stages in life, and raised in different cultures experience life differently. For example, a student wh.

1. 1
Professional Educators using reflection and problem-solving to
make informed ethical
decisions
School Counseling Reflection 1:
Student Development
Standard 1: Student Development
The professional school counselor utilizes his/her skills and
knowledge of
student development and behavior to promote the mental health
and well-being of all
students by facilitating their academic, career, and
personal/social development.
Artifacts
1. Vision Boards
2. Stress Activity
3. Implementing a Culturally Responsive Strategy in the
Classroom
Introduction

2. In order to fully understand student development, one must first
understand a
child’s cognitive development. Cognitive theorist, Jean Piaget,
is perhaps the most
influential researcher on child development. Piaget’s cognitive
developmental theory
states that, “children actively construct knowledge as they
manipulate and explore their
world” (Berk, 2013, p. 18). In his cognitive development
theory, Piaget breaks down the
development into four stages: sensorimotor (birth-2 years),
preoperational (2-7 years),
concrete operational (7-11 years), and formal operational (11 +
years). It is important to
note that while Piaget heavily influenced research on child
development, his theory has
the field divided (Berk, 2013). Another researcher of human
development, Lev
2
Vygotsky, focused on sociocultural theory and how culture; the
values, beliefs, customs,

3. and skills of a social group, is transmitted to the next generation
and how these factors
also affect a child’s development (Berk, 2013). While
Vygotsky agreed with Piaget that
children are active, constructive beings, Vygotsky viewed
“cognitive development as a
socially mediated process, in which children depend on
assistance from adults and more-
expert peers as they tackle new challenges” (Berk, 2013, p. 23).
A third researcher in the
field, Urie Bronfenbrenner, developed the ecological systems
theory, which views the
person “as developing within a complex system of relationships
affected by multiple
levels of the surrounding environment” (Berk, 2013, p. 24).
His theory is broken into
four systems: the microsystem, the mesosystem, the exosystem,
and the marcosystem.
All of this is to say, it is not simply enough to know one theory
and believe we
have sufficient information to be successful educators in
student’s lives. Therefore, as
practicing educators and counselors, we must stay abreast of all
child development

4. theories so we may better serve our students’ needs.
Quality Indicator 1 - : Human Growth and Development: The
professional school
counselor demonstrates knowledge of human development and
personality and how
these domains affect learners, and applies this knowledge in his
or her work with
learners.
Students at different ages, in different stages in life, and raised
in different
cultures experience life differently. For example, a student who
receives good scores on
assignments in class might show them with pride to a teacher,
parent or mentor. But,
when asked to share with the class, might do so hesitantly and
be uncomfortable in doing
so because the context changes the value of the outcome for the
student. The student’s
teacher, parent or mentor will respond positively and the
student knows this. However,
the student’s peers may respond negatively and the student is
also aware of this reaction.
3

5. Therefore, in order to best help students, counselors must
understand human development
and personality and how they affect learning. Counselors can
use this knowledge by
providing both individual and small group counseling sessions.
Some students might
excel when placed with a small group of their peers, while
others will recede and not
participate, resulting in lost purpose for that session. By
providing students with a simple
questionnaire, counselors can better determine the needs of the
student and how best to
serve them in the educational setting.
As a teacher in the middle school level with grades 6, 7, and 8,
I am aware of the
developmental needs of my students at these ages. My sixth
graders come to me shy,
nervous, excited, and very social with their peers. They are
much more focused on their
social lives than their academic careers. They do not have the
mindset to understand how
their education is preparing them for their adult lives.
However, as these sixth graders

6. come to me in eighth grade, they are more mature and more
focused on their academic
careers and where it will lead them. They pay less attention to
what their peers will think
of them and become more self-confident in themselves as
individuals. As a school
counselor, understanding the development of my students at
different age levels will help
me identify with them better and serve them more efficiently.
Quality Indicator 2 – Counseling Theories and Interventions:
The professional school
counselor knows and understands established and emerging
counseling theories and
applies knowledge of techniques and strategies for innovative
and differentiated
interventions.
According to Degges-White and Colon (2014), “If [school
counselors] are to
effectively … provide a comprehensive school counseling
program that addresses the
needs of all students, school counselors need to have innovative
strategies and
interventions available on their school counseling ‘tool belts’”
(p. 6). Through my

7. 4
readings in my Foundations of School Counseling course, I
came across Degges-White
and Colon’s (2014) book, Expressive Arts Interventions for
School Counselors. The
book discusses “the use of expressive arts as a healing
modality” (p. 3) and an innovative
way to differentiate interventions for student learners. The
expressive arts discussed
include: visual arts, music therapy, movement and dance
therapy, and expressive
writing/poetry therapy and how these arts can be applied to
academic development,
career development, and personal/social development.
Recently, vision boards have become popular within our culture
and are used to
help individuals set and visualize their goals. Degges-White
and Colon (2014), discuss
the use of vision boards to utilize in the academic domain with
students. I have fine-
tuned their lesson to create one that will benefit my middle
school students (artifact 1:
Vision Boards). The vision board can be adapted to coincide

8. with individual, small
group, or whole classrooms to visualize short-term immediate
goals or long-term life
goals as well as when students are facing challenging situations
(Degges-White & Colon,
2014). When creating their vision boards, students will search
for images and words to
represent individual goals that have been identified. They
arrange these images and
words in a creative manner on their board and share their final
product if they so choose.
Students will decide on a prominent place to hang their board so
they may visualize them
throughout the day. “Daily viewing of the words and images
will unconsciously help
them to make choices throughout the day that are consistent
with the goals listed”
(Degges-White & Colon, 2014, p. 15).
Quality Indicator 3 – Helping Relationships: The professional
school counselor
establishes helping relationships with students through
individual counseling, group
work, classroom guidance, and mental health and well-being
activities within the
comprehensive guidance and counseling program.

9. 5
Relationship building between school counselors and students
is crucial for
success. According to the website, School-Counselor.org, this
relationship building is
also called building rapport (retrieved June 2015). “It's
recognizing that others have
differing points of view, yet allowing people to communicate
without feeling judged,
condemned or guilty” (school-counselor.org, retrieved June
2015). Building helping
relationships with students allows them to openly share their
thoughts and feel respected
and understood by their school counselors.
To build helping relationships with the students in my school,
one activity I might
use is a classroom lesson on stress (artifact 2: Stress Activity).
We would understand
the cause, consequences and management of stressors on
students. I would begin the
lesson by hanging three large pieces of paper around the room

10. labeling them as “school,”
“relationships,” and “changes during adolescence.” Students
can then walk around the
room adding different examples of sources of stress for each
category. By allowing them
to respond on their own, I am able to address all particular
concerns of the group. I
would then follow up with a lesson describing the different
types of stress, what causes
the stress, and how we can manage stress. While discussing
ways to manage stress, we
might practice some of the techniques such as meditation, yoga,
or listening to music
(DeMaso & Gold, 2006).
Quality Indicator 4 – Social and Cultural Diversity: The
professional school counselor
demonstrates knowledge and understanding of how social and
cultural diversity affects
learning and development within the context of a global society
and a diverse
community of families through lesson plans, guidance activities,
and interactions with
students.
In my Developing Responsible Leaners class we studied
intensely about social

11. and cultural diversity and how it affects learning and
development. I developed a lesson
6
(artifact 3: Implementing a Culturally Responsive Strategy in
the Classroom) to
involve families in children’s learning to help the students build
a link between school
and home. I learned that culturally responsive strategies
“honors the communities in
which students belong, portrays the life experiences of
children’s families, and
recognizes the accumulated wisdom of caregivers and other
family members” (Amatea,
2013, p. 56). In the lesson, I worked with students to develop
family history projects in
which they explore their cultural backgrounds and share them
with the class. With the
project, the students were to conduct an interview, create a
family tree, write a narrative
based on the interview, and prepare a presentation for the class.
I had given them
freedom on how they choose to work on their projects. They

12. had to conduct the
interviews at home but their class time could be spent how they
saw fit. Some students
chose to work on their presentations in the classroom while
others wanted help with
writing their papers and chose to write their papers during class.
I had several parents contact me during the week asking
questions, and expressing
their joy over the project because it allowed them to have
conversations with their
children. One parent commented specifically how this project
has “forced” her son to sit
down with her in the evenings and communicate together which
doesn’t typically happen
as he is often playing games or with his friends. Another parent
mentioned that the
project allowed for very fun and interesting conversations
between the whole family, and
sparked discussions about her parents and grandparents,
relaying stories of her childhood
to her daughter. Overall, I truly enjoyed this project and plan
on starting out the next
school year with this so that I may gain a better understanding
of my students’

13. backgrounds earlier in the year and establish relationships with
my student’s families.
7
While this lesson was conducted with my role as a classroom
teacher, this activity
could absolutely be implemented in my role as a school
counselor. By doing so, I will be
able to understand my student’s diversity and better serve their
needs.
Quality Indicator 5 – Appraisal of Student Growth and
Achievement: The professional
school counselor knows and understands the principles of
measurement and
assessment, for both individual and group approaches, as they
apply to the academic,
career, and personal/social development of all students through
full implementation of
a comprehensive guidance and counseling program and defines
the counselor’s role in
assessment consistent with level of training, expertise, and a
fully implemented
comprehensive guidance and counseling program.
“Assessment activities include assessing the current program to
determine what is
working, what needs revising or adjusting, what needs

14. implementing, and what needs
tossing” (Dollarhide & Saginak, 2012, p. 94). Appraising or
evaluating allows a
counselor to see growth of the students and overall school
environment. Evaluations and
assessments should take priority in the planning process and can
be done individually, in
small groups, within the school climate, among families, and
peer groups. Assessment
should guide all aspects of counseling services. They will tell
us what needs to be
addressed, how well those needs are met, and if they should be
revisited after a lesson.
As a school counselor in training, I have participated in
assessment classes that
have helped me gain a better understanding of and familiarity
with assessments I may use
during my counseling career. For example, the Behavior
Assessment System for
Children, Second Edition (BASC-2) may be used to assess the
behavioral and emotional
functioning of adolescents and can be an effective tool in
promoting student success.
This assessment can help counselors detect academic problems

15. that may result in
behavioral and emotional deficits so they may be corrected
before negatively affecting
the student.
8
Quality Indicator 6: Career Development and Planning: The
professional school
counselor demonstrates knowledge and understanding of career
development and
planning processes across the life span and assists all students
in their career
awareness, exploration, decision-making, and planning.
Dollarhide and Saginak (2012), suggest that, “Career
development is an important
part of what school counselors do at every level” (p. 53) and list
seven steps in the
process of making career choices:
1. Understanding of self (knowledge of one’s likes, dislikes,
abilities, skills, gifts, challenges, values,
needs, dreams, lifestyle goals, personality, interests)
2. Understanding the world of work (knowledge of career paths,
job titles, salary levels, employers,

16. employment environments, occupational projections, training
requirements)
3. Reality testing (firsthand experience through employment,
volunteering, internships, cooperative
education jobs, lab experiences, job shadowing)
4. Commitment (making a decision, with relative confidence, in
the face of uncertainty)
5. Career preparation (accessing formal or informal training for
the job or occupation)
6. Placement/career entrance (using job-seeking skills, filling
out applications, writing cover letters
and resumes, participating in interviews, then accessing
opportunities in the chosen occupation)
7. Evaluation and renewal (as the individual matures throughout
life, the core self changes in terms
of likes, dislikes, values, and other variables outlined in Step 1.
Concurrently there are changes in
the work world. Individuals continuously evaluate their level of
career satisfaction, and will begin
again at Step 1 when their level of career satisfaction reaches a
low-point threshold of tolerance.
If they still like the tasks of the occupation, they may decide to
change employers. If they dislike
the tasks, they may decide to change occupations entirely.) (p.

17. 53).
While for some, it might seem inappropriate to begin career
exploration with
students at the elementary level, we know from research that
when children begin to view
their interests, strengths, and challenges as possible indicators
of future careers, they will
be more ready to enter the workforce when they become young
adults. Therefore,
beginning a career portfolio with students at the elementary
level that they will continue
9
to revise and revisit throughout their academic education will
ensure their success when
choosing post-secondary education or careers.
The Labor Market and Career Information (LMCI) department
of the Texas
Workforce Commission has created an activity workbook for
elementary grade students
that focuses on careers entitled, Careers Are Everywhere. The
activity book instills the

18. importance of self-knowledge, educational and occupational
exploration, and career
planning with young students in a fun and challenging way. As
a school counselor,
having access to resources such as this will allow me to provide
career development for
students even at the elementary level.
10
References
Amatea, E. (2013). Building culturally responsive family-school
relationships. Upper
Saddle River, NJ: Pearson Education, Inc.
Berk, L. (2013). Development through the lifespan. New York,
NY: Pearson
Education, Inc.
Building Rapport with Students. (n.d.). School-Counselor.Org.
Retrieved from

19. http://www.school-counselor.org/topics/rapport-with-
students.html
Children’s Hospital Boston and McLean Hospital. (2006). An
adolescent mental health
& wellness curriculum: A starter kit for schools (2nd ed.).
Belmont, MA:
DeMaso, D. and Gold, J.
Degges-White, S. and Colon, B. (2014). Expressive arts
interventions for school
counselors. New York, NY: Springer Publishing Company,
LLC.
Dollarhide, C. and Saginak, K. (2012). Comprehensive school
counseling programs: K-
12 delivery systems in action. Boston, MA: Pearson
Education, Inc.
Texas Workforce Commission. (n.d.). Careers are everywhere:
Activity workbook.
Austin, TX: Hughes, M.
REFLECTION 1
Student Development
While it is advisable to address 2 experts per indicator.
you must cite at least 2 experts for each standard.

20. The professional school counselor utilizes his/her skills and
knowledge of student development and behavior to promote the
mental health and well‐being of all students by facilitating their
academic, career, and personal/social development.
Artifacts
1.
2.
3.
In your reflection: Address each of the following indicators
citing at least 2 experts for each.
Introduction
(Write introduction for Student Development Reflection here)
Quality Indicator 1 -: Human Growth and Development: The
professional school counselor demonstrates knowledge of
human development and personality and how these domains
affect learners, and applies this knowledge in his or her work
with learners.
(Address Quality Indicator 1 here)
Quality Indicator 2 – Counseling Theories and Interventions:
The professional school counselor knows and understands
established and emerging counseling theories and applies
knowledge of techniques and strategies for innovative and
differentiated interventions. (Address Quality Indicator 2 here)
Quality Indicator 3 – Helping Relationships: The professional
school counselor establishes helping relationships with students
through individual counseling, group work, classroom guidance,
and mental health and well‐being activities within the
comprehensive guidance and counseling program.
(Address Quality Indicator 3 here) Professional Development
Folio Guide for Professional School Counselors 49
Quality Indicator 4 – Social and Cultural Diversity: The
professional school counselor demonstrates knowledge and
understanding of how social and cultural diversity affects
learning and development within the context of a global society
and a diverse community of families through lesson plans,
guidance activities, and interactions with students.

21. (Address Quality Indicator 4 here)
Quality Indicator 5 – Appraisal of Student Growth and
Achievement: The professional school counselor knows and
understands the principles of measurement and assessment, for
both individual and group approaches, as they apply to the
academic, career, and personal/social development of all
students through full implementation of a comprehensive
guidance and counseling program and defines the counselor’s
role in assessment consistent with level of training, expertise,
and a fully implemented comprehensive guidance and
counseling program.
(Address Quality Indicator 5 here)
Quality Indicator 6: Career Development and Planning: The
professional school counselor demonstrates knowledge and
understanding of career development and planning processes
across the life span and assists all students in their career
awareness, exploration, decision‐making, and planning.
(Address Quality Indicator 6 here)
Some expert for these indicators:
Quality Indicator 1: Human Growth and Development
Howard Gardner (cognitive), Erik Erikson (psychosocial
theory), Abraham Maslow (hierarchy of needs), Jean Piaget,
Lev Vygotsky, Lawrence Kohlberg,
Quality Indicator 2: Counseling Theories and Interventions
Albert Bandura, William Glasser, Carl Rogers, B.F. Skinner
Quality Indicator 3: Helping Relationships
Howard Gardner (cognitive), Erik Erikson (psychosocial
theory), Abraham Maslow (hierarchy of needs), Jean Piaget,
Lev Vygotsky, Lawrence Kohlberg
Quality Indicator 4: Social and Cultural Diversity-
Jerome Bruner, Howard Gardner (multiple intelligences), David
G. Lazear , Mel Levine, Thomas Lickona (character
development), Abraham Maslow (hierarchy of needs), Carol
Tomlinson (differentiated instruction), D. W. Sue, Janet Helms,
Lisa Delpit
Quality Indicator 5: Appraisal of Student Growth and

22. Achievement-
Alfred Binet, Robert Yerkes, David Wechsler, Isabel Myers and
Katherine Briggs, John Holland,
Benjamin Bloom (taxonomy), Kay Burke, Allan A. DeFina
(portfolios), John Dewey, Howard Gardner (multiple
intelligences), Robert Mager, Jay McTighe (backward design),
Grant Wiggins (backward design)
Quality Indicator 6: Career Development and Planning-
Frank Parsons, Donald Super, Anne Roe, John Holland, Eli
Ginsberg, Edward Bordin, John Krumboltz, Robert Lent