COUNSELORS MOVE TO CLASSROOMS

Cape Girardeau public school guidance counselors are beginning to put aside administrative-type duties in favor of duties more fitting for their titles.

For the past three years counselors have been using the Missouri Guidance Program to develop a counseling curriculum for the district. This curriculum, which is still in draft form, would be similar to a curriculum for core subjects like English or mathematics in that it would provide direction for counselors to improve their interaction with students.

It is possible the curriculum could be implemented as early as next year.

"This is an attempt to get guidance counselors involved in establishing a curriculum with goals in mind and activities that they could do in the classroom with students to reach kids," said Central High School counselor Jerry Witvoet. "It would help them give students goals guidance counselors think kids should have."

Betty Chong, assistant superintendent for special services, said the traditional counselors' job description includes individual contact with students in guidance offices. In the past, students came to counselors for academic or sometimes for personal problems, but the contact was limited to those who sought help or were called to the office, she said.

The guidance curriculum would change this role to include more positive, group contact on a variety of issues. More emphasis could be placed on district-related issues and career orientation at the secondary level and more personal and social development issues at all levels, she said.

"The district has hired a psychiatric examiner and is hiring another to accomplish these goals," she said. "Our goal is to separate testing and special education from guidance and get them into the classrooms more."

Witvoet said a good example of the new curriculum occurred this week when counselors visited sophomore health classes to discuss self-esteem. By visiting every health class throughout the day, counselors made essential contact with a large population of students in a short amount of time, he said.

"A lot of times counselors can become testers, paper pushers," said Witvoet. "The whole intent is to make us a part of normal programming. The doors to our offices will remain open, but we'll also be available to classroom teachers to identify topics appropriate for the class and the students."

The changing role of guidance counselors won't be easily accepted by all educators, he said. Some teachers feel they are already squeezing a lot of information in a small amount of time; these people will probably feel their time is being compromised as counselors start appearing in classrooms to facilitate their own curriculums.

"It's hard for some teachers to feel like they're covering their own subject areas without giving up time for our curriculum," he said. "That's why we try to select topics that will fit in with a teacher's curriculum. This is a new experience -- it's probably not something we will do with every teacher."

Overall, the changing role of guidance counselors will benefit students, he said. By working in classroom environments, counselors will assist teachers in their exploration of a discussion topic and allow students to discuss topics relevant to their school, class and even group of peers.

Said Witvoet: "As we get in front of more students in larger groups, we hope they will become smarter students, they will have more skills, and maybe that will help some of the individual problems that come to us," he said.