|
Showing 1 - 17 of
17 matches in All Departments
Providing individual and group counseling for secondary school
students was once a major priority for secondary school counselors.
However, many guidance programs have abandoned this role, and
counselors have become quasi-administrators who spend most of their
time scheduling students for classes, managing mandated testing
programs, resolving discipline issues, and advising students on
college admissions. Counseling students on personal and well-being
issues takes up a very small part of the time. In many school
districts, social workers, student assistance counselors, and
school psychologists have taken over the counseling duties.
Critical issues are now causing school leaders to consider
reorganizing school guidance staff so there is a cadre of
counselors trained and charged with the mission of providing
individual and group counseling for troubled teens. First, the
number of troubled teens arriving at the schoolhouse door looking
for help has exploded. Second, budget cuts have eliminated or
drastically curtailed many of the services of social workers,
student assistance counselors, and psychologists. The result? Many
once open doors for help are now closed, and schools' counseling
services are failing many students, parents, and educators in need
of intervention. This book provides a new model in which
well-trained counselors can once again regain their historic role
in counseling troubled teens, parents, and training staff and
students on the front lines to act -- not look the other way --
when they observe a student heading towards the margins of school
life.
With budget cuts looming every year, administrators and union
leaders find themselves in a never-ending game of promoting how
good their school is and why budget cuts will derail their ongoing
success. The vehicle they choose for this ongoing self-promotion is
what William Fibkins calls the "dazzle" approach, which focuses
only on "good news." Overtime administrators and staff often come
to believe the positive reviews of the good news process and
overlook or abandon those students who don't make good news but
instead act out, fail, cause trouble and give the school a bad
name. These are the "bad news" kids, and their lives are not
newsworthy. This book is about the unintended consequences that can
occur when the "good news" process becomes heavily embedded in
school life -- a process that creates two different worlds in a
school community that often prides itself on fostering unity and
belonging. The school media promotions may say "All is well here,"
but this positive spin belies the divisions that breed isolation
and estrangement for both the "good news" and "bad news" kids,
which gives rise to class warfare in the school community. In a
culture in which some students are valued as more worthy than
others, being a more worthy student can have a serious downside
that is as risky as being an unworthy student. This book explores
these often hidden consequences and what school and community
leaders need to do to right this sinking ship - a ship that seems
sturdy and well-built to onlookers but is abusing its crew to keep
afloat. Some schools operate on a system which uses high achieving
students as a commodity to pass school budgets and downplays the
cries of troubled students to be included in "their" school. Good
news gets headlines while bad news is shifted to the back page or
left out, resulting in an "all is well, problem-free" picture of
the school.
We know teenagers face many developmental issues as they navigate
their path into adult life. They sometimes find themselves heading
towards the margins of school life because of academic failure,
poor peer relations, acting out behaviors, school and home
pressures. Problems that often lead to risky behaviors behavior
with drugs, alcohol, and tobacco addictions that in the end only
complicate their young lives and offer them little relief. They
need help, support, and guidance from caring and experienced adults
who can help them redirect their lives. However " help" as it is
organized in our large high schools, junior high schools, and
middle schools is usually centered on a few overworked guidance
counselors, social workers, and school psychologist who are
increasingly finding themselves losing staff due to budget cuts. As
a result school communities find themselves in a no-win situation
in which the needs and problems of teenagers are the rise while the
core of designated helpers in the school organization is being
decimated or forced to abandon their helping and counseling role to
take on administrative duties because of cuts in the administrative
staff. This we know It is the new reality in our secondary schools.
However there is a glimmer of hope in this dire scenario. It has
given rise to the need for caring and experienced teachers to be
given the green light to open their doors to kids in need. No, as
any wise educator knows ,this is not a new role for teachers who
see their role as not only an academic teacher but a personal
adviser as well. They are what I call " angel teachers." Educators
who care about kids well being. One can find these angel teachers
in most secondary schools. They carry on their intervention with
students in a quiet, trusting, private manner with little interest
in notoriety or stardom. In fact that's why kids in need are
attracted to them and lineup outside their door. Kids know these
caring teachers can deliver the kind of help they need. Their savvy
and know the drill of how help works for kids in need. But the
valuable helping role of these angel teachers has often gone
unheralded because the designated helpers in the school have been
anointed, with that role. But today's circumstances call for change
if our schools are to meet the need personal and well being needs
of their students. We need to examine the role of these angel
teachers and make the case that they are now needed to take a
primary role in the schools intervention efforts. This book will
explore how they arrive at this role, their skills, how they help
kids and how they avoid becoming saviors, self-promoters, and in
the helping process for their own self-esteem
Veteran educators are being encouraged to take early retirement in
order to create jobs for less-experienced, lower-paid novices.
Veteran educators are not alone: early retirement promotions have
become the norm for aging workers in America. Consequently, there
is a brain-drain of skilled workers at the national, state, and
local levels. The early retirement of our most talented veteran
educators is leaving our schools without the necessary leadership,
hard-earned experience, proven skills, and wisdom to meet the
evolving challenges our country faces. Indeed, there are long-term
consequences of losing skilled educators while they are in the
prime of their professional lives. Addressing these concerns, this
book challenges the good news only" theory of early retirement
promotions which suggest that veteran educators are no longer
needed as they age and that their retirement is the only way
schools can survive financially in times of economic uncertainty.
This theory contends that everyone involved gets a reward: the
novice educators get jobs and the veterans get some cash. This
trade is seemingly no problem, until the veteran educators are out
the door and the school staff, students, and parents are left
without their steady guiding hands. Instead of hastily luring prime
educators out the schoolhouse door with planned buyout promotions,
schools should offer our most gifted veteran educators career
alternatives that will encourage and reward them to remain on
board, thereby allowing them to lead novice and mid-career staff,
students, parents, and community members. Examining the negative
consequences of early retirement promotions on school culture,
administrative leadership, teacher and student performance,
community reaction, Stopping the Brain Drain of Skilled Veteran
Teachers will not only expose some of the major drawbacks of early
buyouts of veteran educators, but will also suggest creative career
alternative to keep such teachers on board."
This book address a major gap in the current mentoring programs at
the secondary level. Staff development resources are often
concentrated on helping new teachers be successful in their early
school experience. Yes, a good idea, but a limited vision.
Meanwhile many veteran teachers go without the mentoring assistance
they need to be effective classroom teachers. While a few become
mentors themselves, many veteran teachers just settle, slowly
giving up, and become at risk of failure, burnout, and thinking
only of retirement. This book is a call to school superintendents,
building administrators, department chairs, school board members,
union leaders, parent leaders, and teacher educators to address the
need to provide ongoing mentoring for all teachers.
This book seeks to educate principals, counselors, teachers,
coaches, support staff, and students about sexual misconduct, while
providing a training model to prepare school staff to avoid sexual
misconduct, to encourage school leaders to upgrade their
supervision efforts, and to provide needed outreach and
intervention before sexual misconduct occurs. To help eliminate
sexual misconduct in schools, this book provides step-by-step
training procedures that can be used as part of the schools' staff
development program to teach educators about the importance of
setting boundaries. Real-life case studies documenting
inappropriate teacher-student relationships are included. The major
focus of this second edition is to alert educators to the effects
of unrelenting school reform efforts, which have become a
distraction at best and a barrier at worst to dealing with problems
such as sexual misconduct. This book provides a roadmap of what
needs to be done to restore each educator's mission to being
committed to their students' well-being before it is too late.
This book seeks to educate principals, counselors, teachers,
coaches, support staff, and students about sexual misconduct, while
providing a training model to prepare school staff to avoid sexual
misconduct, to encourage school leaders to upgrade their
supervision efforts, and to provide needed outreach and
intervention before sexual misconduct occurs. To help eliminate
sexual misconduct in schools, this book provides step-by-step
training procedures that can be used as part of the schools' staff
development program to teach educators about the importance of
setting boundaries. Real-life case studies documenting
inappropriate teacher-student relationships are included. The major
focus of this second edition is to alert educators to the effects
of unrelenting school reform efforts, which have become a
distraction at best and a barrier at worst to dealing with problems
such as sexual misconduct. This book provides a roadmap of what
needs to be done to restore each educator's mission to being
committed to their students' well-being before it is too late.
The Graveyard of School Reform: Why the Resistance to Change and
New Ideas explores the critical role resistance plays in defeating
valued programs for students, parents, and staff. It is time for
education reformers to face the hard truths about the skilled and
destructive forces of resisters and to learn that good ideas and
calls for change are not enough. Reformers need to learn how to
overcome these entrenched forces and muster new skills with the
will to win, courage, and the persistence required. Resistance has
been given little attention for far too long considering the huge
cost and the loss of programs we desperately need. Fibkins argues
that reformers often accept defeat when they should be discovering
new ways to win. As an education reformer Fibkins has observed far
too many necessary programs meet an untimely death due to the
naivety of reformers. By reviewing lessons learned from other
failed reforms and analyzing successful reforms, Fibkins new book
addresses issues and presents doable models for reformers to
succeed and deliver what administrators, staff, parents, students,
and community members need to make their schools the best they can
be.
There is an epidemic of student obesity in America, and educators
are ideally situated to identify, intervene, educate, and support
overweight students who are headed for long-term illness or
premature death. Such an effort will require changes in the way
that schools operate. These changes can be implemented with a
low-cost budget and by restructuring staff and resources that are
currently in place. Fibkins proposes a Circle of Wellness model for
schools that includes an intervention effort to promote a
health-oriented cafeteria; increased physical activity; healthy
levels of blood pressure, cholesterol, and blood sugar; life-skills
training groups offered by counselors; outreach to parents; and
easy access and referral to community health, mental health, and
recreation resources. Teen Obesity will be of interest to
administrators, teachers, and parents. To learn more, visit
www.williamfibkins.com.
This book is designed as a nuts and bolts guide for school
counselors. Fibkins highlights for secondary school counselors the
"how's" and "why's" for using group counseling intervention to help
the increasing numbers of troubled teenagers. Group counseling
intervention is ideally suited to reach many more students than
one-on-one counseling, and it offers busy counselors a positive way
to maximize their outreach services. This book contains specific
steps in developing a successful group program that comes to the
aid of troubled teens and, in the process, helps create a school
environment where students can learn, teachers can teach,
administrators can lead, and parents can learn how to better help
their children.
Providing individual and group counseling for secondary school
students was once a major priority for secondary school counselors.
However, many guidance programs have abandoned this role, and
counselors have become quasi-administrators who spend most of their
time scheduling students for classes, managing mandated testing
programs, resolving discipline issues, and advising students on
college admissions. Counseling students on personal and well-being
issues takes up a very small part of the time. In many school
districts, social workers, student assistance counselors, and
school psychologists have taken over the counseling duties.
Critical issues are now causing school leaders to consider
reorganizing school guidance staff so there is a cadre of
counselors trained and charged with the mission of providing
individual and group counseling for troubled teens. First, the
number of troubled teens arriving at the schoolhouse door looking
for help has exploded. Second, budget cuts have eliminated or
drastically curtailed many of the services of social workers,
student assistance counselors, and psychologists. The result? Many
once open doors for help are now closed, and schools' counseling
services are failing many students, parents, and educators in need
of intervention. This book provides a new model in which
well-trained counselors can once again regain their historic role
in counseling troubled teens, parents, and training staff and
students on the front lines to act -- not look the other way --
when they observe a student heading towards the margins of school
life.
Veteran educators are being encouraged to take early retirement in
order to create jobs for less-experienced, lower-paid novices.
Veteran educators are not alone: early retirement promotions have
become the norm for aging workers in America. Consequently, there
is a brain-drain of skilled workers at the national, state, and
local levels. The early retirement of our most talented veteran
educators is leaving our schools without the necessary leadership,
hard-earned experience, proven skills, and wisdom to meet the
evolving challenges our country faces. Indeed, there are long-term
consequences of losing skilled educators while they are in the
prime of their professional lives. Addressing these concerns, this
book challenges the "good news only" theory of early retirement
promotions which suggest that veteran educators are no longer
needed as they age and that their retirement is the only way
schools can survive financially in times of economic uncertainty.
This theory contends that everyone involved gets a reward: the
novice educators get jobs and the veterans get some cash. This
trade is seemingly no problem, until the veteran educators are out
the door and the school staff, students, and parents are left
without their steady guiding hands. Instead of hastily luring prime
educators out the schoolhouse door with planned buyout promotions,
schools should offer our most gifted veteran educators career
alternatives that will encourage and reward them to remain on
board, thereby allowing them to lead novice and mid-career staff,
students, parents, and community members. Examining the negative
consequences of early retirement promotions on school culture,
administrative leadership, teacher and student performance,
community reaction, Stopping the Brain Drain of Skilled Veteran
Teachers will not only expose some of the major drawbacks of early
buyouts of veteran educators, but will also suggest creative career
alternative to keep such teachers on board.
This book address a major gap in the current mentoring programs at
the secondary level. Staff development resources are often
concentrated on helping new teachers be successful in their early
school experience. Yes, a good idea, but a limited vision.
Meanwhile many veteran teachers go without the mentoring assistance
they need to be effective classroom teachers. While a few become
mentors themselves, many veteran teachers just settle, slowly
giving up, and become at risk of failure, burnout, and thinking
only of retirement. This book is a call to school superintendents,
building administrators, department chairs, school board members,
union leaders, parent leaders, and teacher educators to address the
need to provide ongoing mentoring for all teachers.
There is an epidemic of student obesity in America, and educators
are ideally situated to identify, intervene, educate, and support
overweight students who are headed for long-term illness or
premature death. Such an effort will require changes in the way
that schools operate. These changes can be implemented with a
low-cost budget and by restructuring staff and resources that are
currently in place. Fibkins proposes a Circle of Wellness model for
schools that includes an intervention effort to promote a
health-oriented cafeteria; increased physical activity; healthy
levels of blood pressure, cholesterol, and blood sugar; life-skills
training groups offered by counselors; outreach to parents; and
easy access and referral to community health, mental health, and
recreation resources. Teen Obesity will be of interest to
administrators, teachers, and parents. To learn more, visit
www.williamfibkins.com.
This guide helps educators gain a better understanding of several
issues impacting on teacher-student relationships so that they will
be better prepared to help students improve academically and
socially. Understanding these issues will help students take their
place as contenders in an ever-changing and complex world. The
following are the issues that must be addressed in order to help
each of our students successfully navigate through the risks and
challenges of adolescence and follow their star: 1. Why
historically teachers have not utilized their bully pulpit and
skills to lead the way in addressing the personal and well-being
problems. 2. Why changes in our students' families and communities
have now created the need for teachers to be the primary source of
intervention for underachieving and failing students. 3. Why school
guidance counselors and social workers need to step back from their
unattainable role as the primary source of student intervention and
shift this role to teachers on the front lines. 4. Why we need to
help teachers and administrators improve the quality of
teacher-student relations right now and not postpone needed
intervention until secondary school enrollment and class size are
reduced. 5. How we can proceed to train and expect teachers to
better understand how their students learn, develop, and
effectively address the non-academic issues that get in the way of
learning. An Educator's Guide to Better Understanding the Personal
Side of Students' Lives is a road map on how to elevate the
teacher's advising role, the most underutilized helping resource in
the school, to its rightful place as a source of academic and
non-academic help for students. Students need teacher advisers who
can help them successfully navigate through the risks of adolescent
life. This guide will help. The book includes 36 case studies of
high school students that support why it is important for educators
to be advisors and mentors. To learn more, visit
www.williamfibkins.com.
With budget cuts looming every year, administrators and union
leaders find themselves in a never-ending game of promoting how
good their school is and why budget cuts will derail their ongoing
success. The vehicle they choose for this ongoing self-promotion is
what William Fibkins calls the "dazzle" approach, which focuses
only on "good news." Overtime administrators and staff often come
to believe the positive reviews of the good news process and
overlook or abandon those students who don't make good news but
instead act out, fail, cause trouble and give the school a bad
name. These are the "bad news" kids, and their lives are not
newsworthy. This book is about the unintended consequences that can
occur when the "good news" process becomes heavily embedded in
school life-a process that creates two different worlds in a school
community that often prides itself on fostering unity and
belonging. The school media promotions may say "All is well here,"
but this positive spin belies the divisions that breed isolation
and estrangement for both the "good news" and "bad news" kids,
which gives rise to class warfare in the school community. In a
culture in which some students are valued as more worthy than
others, being a more worthy student can have a serious downside
that is as risky as being an unworthy student. This book explores
these often hidden consequences and what school and community
leaders need to do to right this sinking ship-a ship that seems
sturdy and well-built to onlookers but is abusing its crew to keep
afloat. Some schools operate on a system which uses high achieving
students as a commodity to pass school budgets and downplays the
cries of troubled students to be included in "their" school. Good
news gets headlines while bad news is shifted to the back page or
left out, resulting in an "all is well, problem-free" picture of
the school.
The Graveyard of School Reform: Why the Resistance to Change and
New Ideas explores the critical role resistance plays in defeating
valued programs for students, parents, and staff. It is time for
education reformers to face the hard truths about the skilled and
destructive forces of resisters and to learn that good ideas and
calls for change are not enough. Reformers need to learn how to
overcome these entrenched forces and muster new skills with the
will to win, courage, and the persistence required. Resistance has
been given little attention for far too long considering the huge
cost and the loss of programs we desperately need. Fibkins argues
that reformers often accept defeat when they should be discovering
new ways to win. As an education reformer Fibkins has observed far
too many necessary programs meet an untimely death due to the
naivety of reformers. By reviewing lessons learned from other
failed reforms and analyzing successful reforms, Fibkins new book
addresses issues and presents doable models for reformers to
succeed and deliver what administrators, staff, parents, students,
and community members need to make their schools the best they can
be.
|
You may like...
Cold People
Tom Rob Smith
Paperback
R350
R280
Discovery Miles 2 800
|