Throughout my practicum experience at South Tama Elementary I gained a whole new

perspective and respect for the position of Professional School Counselor. There were a few
times throughout my coursework where I questioned my ability to be an effective School
Counselor but was able to put those questions to rest during my time completing my practicum. I
was able to become 100% confident that the role of Professional School Counselor was for me
and it was absolutely what I wanted to do as a career for the rest of my working life. Being a
School Counselor is more than just a job it is something that you are. I was able to determine
areas that I was comfortable with and excel in as well as identifying areas where I need more
knowledge and improvement in.
I was able to determine areas of strengths and weaknesses by reflecting on my
effectiveness and delivery of the standards during my time at South Tama Elementary
completing my practicum. I was also able to use past employments and experiences to determine
these areas as well. Before becoming a Professional School Counselor I was not a teacher which
I believe had several advantages and disadvantages. My experiences outside the school setting
provided much knowledge on resources and services that can be obtained outside of the school,
relationships that I believe are very important as a School Counselor.
Areas that I have determined to be strengths for me are: standard 2, social and cultural
foundations; standard 3, fostering of relationships; and standard 10, curriculum. I believe
standard 2 to be a strength because of the experience and knowledge I have in working with
people of different social and cultural foundations. I was born, raised and still live in, and
completed my practicum in a very culturally diverse town where I have had to pleasure to meet
and build relationships with people from these other cultures. In a previous employment I acted
as the Child Health Coordinator for a non-profit agency where I worked with and served people

from low economic statuses and have much knowledge of the services and resources that there
are for persons with a low economic status. I also have experience caring for the elderly and
developmentally disabled individuals along with personal experiences that have created
awareness. I believe standard 3 to be a strength because of my ability to confidently
communicate with others and build positive healthy relationships. Healthy relationships with
positive communication are a very important part of not only being a School Counselor but being
in a school as a positive role-model for the community. I also consider standard 10 as one of my
strengths because of the experience I have with writing curriculum. In past employments I
created groups and wrote the curriculum, age and developmentally appropriate for the members
of the group. I am able to research about topics and create curriculum that I believe to be
effective for the members of the group.
The areas that I have determined to be my weaknesses are: standard 5, career
development, education, and postsecondary planning; standard 6, assessment and evaluation; and
standard 9, classroom management. I chose standard 5 and one of my weaknesses because of the
lack of experience I have with this topic. I was not able to work on this area as much as
necessary in my practicum because of the age of the students in the school. I will make it a
priority to become familiar and comfortable with standard 5 as I continue to learn. I also chose
standard 6 because of my lack of experience and familiarity with assessments and standardized
tests. During my practicum I was able to assist with some testing but not enough to be as
knowledgeable as needed to be an asset to a school. I will also make effort to learn and become
aware and familiar with assessments and evaluation used in the schools for the future. The reason
that I chose standard 9 is because during my practicum I observed the importance of classroom
management and the positive effect that it had on the students and the delivery of the lesson that

was being given. Without classroom management skills the teaching of a lesson or skill can
become overwhelming for both the teacher and student. I realized that the lack of classroom
management skills was one of the disadvantages of not being a teacher before becoming a
School Counselor. I was aware of the fact that I needed to learn classroom management and
excel in it right away and have been making many efforts to educate myself and become a better
classroom manager.