Blog #11

            I agree with the ending discussion regarding getting the community involved in high school career programs. I would venture a guess and conclude that everyone has the potential to benefit from this arrangement.  As stated in the chapter, local business and industries usually have preexisting ties and close relationships with schools. So, investing in the education of the individuals in those schools can only benefit the company/industry. They are potential employees! Not helping the schools with education regarding careers within their respective companies would not only be a detriment to the student, but it would also be a doing a disservice to the company/industry.

            I also find the section that provides program tips for individuals working with the elementary school population very useful and applicable to this class (especially because my group is in charge of this group for our presentation).  I like the idea of building upon previously established knowledge and previous curricula (pg. 282).  I think children at the kindergarten level are capable of identifying workers in their school but people in the community may be outside their developmental level chiefly due to the fact that they probably do not encounter those individuals as much as their parents and school faculty. Building and adding a larger circle of careers each year can build a scaffold their knowledge on the subject of vocational opportunities. Ultimately, by the fifth grade the children would have a global idea of occupations and the groundwork is laid for middle and high school career guidance.

            When reading what Nate wrote about this chapter, I tend to agree with his concern about the amount of work a school psychologist is given. I’ve worked closely with a school psychologist for 3 years in my career and I know for a fact that she was given copious amounts of work and all too often they fell outside of her job description (e.g., cafeteria duty). I also share his concerns about the amount of children the psychologist has to see and how the ANM is laid out. It may be beneficial to look at school structure and the structure of the program to find flexibility. The ANM is very detailed which is good, but I think that a counselor would face barriers when having to do everything for each individual student. Burnout seems inevitable.