Week 14-Post of choice

It appears that I have previously forgotten to post something additional for week 14 other than my reflection, so here we go.  I hope that I can just blame this on pregnancy brain, at least for the time being!  Then I will blame it on being the mother of three!  I feel that I have voiced this before but I am glad that my practicum experience gave me the opportunity to get back into school and working with students.  I have been a stay at home mom for the past couple of years and I have enjoyed my time home but I am ready to feel like a professional again!  This practicum gave me the opportunity to feel professional again, even as a student!  It has also reinforced my feelings of going back to work even after giving birth to baby number 3!

I have a very genuine love and concern for children.  I always have known that I needed to pursue a career in which I could work with students.  It would be wonderful to be a student counselor but I am afraid that it will be difficult to find a counseling position in any of the surrounding counties.  There are very many counselors seeking positions and limited positions to fill.  I am beginning my search for a teaching or student counseling position and I cannot wait to see what lies ahead for me professionally.

My Blogging Experience

I was new to the blogging experience when I began this class.  Sure I had stumbled upon some blogs on the internet but never had I posted any of my own.  I used this blog as a way to communicate with fellow classmates and to have a way to voice my reflections throughout my practicum experience. 

I will admit that I have had a love/hate relationship with my blog throughout this course.  I feel that it was just hard for me to keep up with the weekly blogs and my practicum hours.  The part that stands out for me the most about my blogging experience is having the chance to research student counseling information on the internet to include in my blog.  This gave me the opportunity to find some valuable resources that I can use in my counseling experience.  An advantage to using the blog over a more traditional journaling activity is that it incorporates the use of technology which as graduate students and future student counselors we need to be familiar with.  The main disadvantage I found was that I had a hard time keeping up with whose blogs I had responded to.  Maybe there was a simple way to figure that out and I just never did!

As I stated before I had mixed feelings about the blog.  I think it was a good way to force myself to reflect on my practicum experience but it was difficult to keep up with at times.  I don’t have one particular thought that stands out for me.  I spent a lot of my time throughout this course feeling a little overwhelmed by personal and professional events that all seemed to be happening at once. 

I believe that my assumptions about counseling have changed in the fact that I realize a lot of schools deal with the same problems.  It does not matter how large or small the school population is or the economic status of the students they are a generally having the same difficulties and issues that they are trying to work through.  As I stated before the blog did force me to reflect on my counseling experience.  Reflection is always a good thing because it forces us to look at our experiences in life and make changes if needed.  As individuals we always need to be reflecting in our personal and professional lives.

I like that the blogging experience did give me a chance to reflect.  It also allowed me to find valuable information on the internet that I will be able to use even after this class is over.  I was also able to follow my classmates and see how my experience compared to theirs and to gain information from them as well.  One challenging part about the blog was just keeping up with what I was supposed to be blogging about and not getting behind.  I also found it a challenge to keep up with posts that I had made comments on.  Because of these challenges I would recommend to future students that they stay up to date on weekly blogs so that they do not become overwhelmed with it.  I feel that that this blog has given me the chance to share everything that is significant with my practicum experience.

Continued learning and growth

I plan to continue growing professionally as a counselor or educator by first looking for a job where I can continue being a student counselor.  It is not easy to find a student counseling position in the area that I live considering there is usually only one at each school, but I will begin searching and waiting to see if a position would become available.  My immediate plan is to work as a substitute teacher until I can find a teaching or counseling position.  Being a substitute teacher will allow me to continue my experience with working with students and help to build my confidence.  I also plan on continuing my education my taking more counseling classes towards my Rank I degree.  I feel that it is also important to stay up to date on the latest news and changes in the student counseling career by being connected to organizations such as ACA.  I feel it is very important to stay updated in technnology at all times.  Technology is used every day while working with students so it is crucial to stay up to date on the latest technology changes.  Personally, it is important to reflect on how I can improve as well.  Considering this is the end of the year, it is a great time to reflect on changes I would like to make.  I would like to become more organized to help simplify my life.  My life could be less chaotic with a little more organization!  I would also like to better manage my time.  I like to use checklists to help with time management, but I have gotten out of the habit of doing that.  Those are some ways I can improve personally.