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1. The Scottie Motivation Counseling Group

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1. The Scottie Motivation Counseling Group

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The Scottie Motivation Counseling Group is to be a safe and welcoming environment where participants can collaborate and grow in their understanding of motivation and gain skills to enhance their personal motivation.

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Learning Strategies

B-LS 1 Exhibit critical-thinking skills when making informed choices

B-LS 2 Indicate creativity

B-LS 4 Utilize self-motivation and self-awareness to learning

B-LS 6 Place high standards of learning and quality

B-LS 7 Create long and short term goals

Self-Management Skills

B-SMS 1 Ability to assume responsibility

B-SMS 3 Ability to work alone

B-SMS 2 Utilize self-discipline  and self-control

B-SMS 6 Ability to conquer obstacles to learning

B-SMS 7 Produce sufficient coping skills when dealing with a problem

Social Skills

B-SS 1 Demonstrate ability to use oral and written verbal and listening skills

B-SS 2 Initiate and maintain positive and beneficial relationships with other students

B-SS 3 Create positive and supportive relationships with other students and adults

B-SS 4 Utilize empathy

B-SS 6 Use effective collaboration and cooperation skills

B-SS 9 Demonstrate social maturity and behaviors appropriate to the situation and environment

B-SS 6 Practice effective collaboration and participation skills

B-SS 9 Exhibit social maturity and behaviors in every situation and environment

(American School Counseling Association, 2014)

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The Scottie Motivation Counseling Group will be advertised in the following ways:

The school counselor will introduce and explain the group at the end of a guidance lesson.

All 6th grade students will be emailed an electronic information sheet.

Informational fliers will be placed in each teacher’s mailbox

An informational blurb will be announced during morning announcements

An informational blurb will be included in the Lamar newsletter

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To inform students of the Scottie Motivation Counseling Group,  the school counselor will provide a brief information session at the end of a guidance lesson. All 6th grade students will receive an electronic information sheet incase they were absent on the day of the information session.

In order to select students to participate in the Scottie Motivation Counseling Group the school counselor will conduct an electronic student survey to indicate their level of interest and measure other important aspects required to participate. These aspects include:

Their understanding of the group topic

Indication of why they would like to participate

If they are willing to abide by the guidelines of confidentiality

What their goals are for participating

Once the survey data has been analyzed, the school counselor will choose students who indicated a high interest in the group, explained their understanding and willingness to abide by confidentiality, and offered personal goals that relate to the group topic.

The school counselor will hold private interviews with the students selected to discuss the group in more detail and answer any questions the students may have.

The school counselor will select students from the interviews to participate in the group. The students who are not selected to participate will meet with the school counselor to discuss the reasons why they were not selected and will be offered alternative options, such as options for a possible future small counseling group or a small counseling group offered from an outside group or organization.

(Missouri School Counselors and Counselor Educators, 2015)

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In order to obtain informed consent, all students who participate in a small counseling group must receive written permission from their parent/guardian. Student assent is gained from verbal agreement between the school counselor and the student. Students will be informed the school counselor will maintain confidentiality unless they indicate they are being abused in any way either past or present, reveal they want to hurt themselves or others, or the school counselor is required to disclose information due to a court proceeding.
(Austin ISD, n.d.)

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The following steps will be implemented to inform students of the guidelines for the Scottie Motivation Counseling Group:

The school counselor will post the guidelines in a visible location

The school counselor will inform the students of the guidelines during the first session

The school counselor will review the guidelines with the students at the beginning of each session and reference the guidelines as needed throughout the sessions

The school counselor will ensure the following guidelines are in place:

All participants will understand and abide by confidentiality

All participants will wait until someone has finished talking before speaking

All participants will have an equal opportunity to participate

All participants will treat others with respect

All participants will report to the group on time to the best of their ability

All participants will be allowed to actively participate

All participants will have the right to skip a question if they so choose

All participants will be expected to have an open mind in regards to other’s development

Students will have the autonomy to determine certain guidelines. Some examples of student-created guidelines includes:

A method to remind participants to be quiet while others are speaking, such as having participants hold a teddy bear while talking and pass the teddy bear to the next participant when it is their turn to speak.

Participants may decide where to post the visual rules and guidelines.

The protocol students will follow if they arrive to the session late.

A system to remind participants of the rules and guidelines during each session. This may include students reading the guidelines to the group or demonstrating the guidelines to the group.

(Missouri School Counselors and Counselor Educators, 2015)

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Stage 1:

Building relationships between the school counselor and the students, and the students with their peers will take place in the form of an ice-breaker. An ice-breaker will occur at the beginning of each session and will involve each student interacting with each other and the school counselor.

Group norms will be established by a discussion of the session guidelines as well as the school counselor modeling the guidelines throughout the sessions. The school counselor should discuss and model respect, empathy, waiting for others to finish before speaking, and reporting to the group on time.

Confidentiality and its limitations will be explained at the beginning of the first session and students will be reminded of confidentiality at the beginning of each consecutive session. Students will be informed that no one can guarantee complete confidentiality and should take care to consider this whenever they speak to the group.

Stage 2:

The school counselor will ensure students are working cohesively and productivity through each lesson by monitoring student collaboration, recording session notes, and emphasizing student learning objectives.

The school counselor will check student progress at the beginning of each lesson by asking students to summarize major take-aways from the previous session.

Stage 3:

The school counselor will close the last session with a reminder that confidentiality does not end just because the group has ended. Students will be encouraged to continue utilizing the skills they gained from the sessions and will be informed of the follow-up session where they will be able to reconnect.

The school counselor will conduct a post-group follow up session four to six weeks after the final session. This follow-up session will occur to determine if students have utilized the knowledge and skills gained from the group’s sessions, celebrate student success, and encourage students in their future endeavors.

(Missouri School Counselors and Counselor Educators, 2015)

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The most effective leadership style for working with the Scottie Motivation Counseling Group is the participative or democratic leader. The democratic leader will best serve this group because participants will feel more engaged and creative. The democratic leader participates in the group, ensures relationship building between group members and the school counselor, and allows input from the participants, ensuring students feel engaged and motivated to participate.

The specific population of the Scottie Motivation Counseling Group are undermotivated middle school students. By utilizing a democratic leadership, students will feel motivated to participate and produce high quality work, which will serve them well in their search for motivation.

(Morin, 2020)

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Students may demonstrate altruism, which translates into their willingness to help someone else over themselves and feeling useful to others. Students may indicate a source of motivation in the ability to help others and a sense of being useful for a purpose than affects others rather than themselves.

Students may demonstrate direct advice, in both giving and receiving suggestions when experiencing a problem. The Scottie Motivation Counseling Group will utilize group discussion that allows students to give and receive suggestions regarding how to identify their source of motivation, what hinders their motivation, and how to track goals.

Students may demonstrate interpersonal learning from obtaining feedback from others and engaging in news ways of relating. Students will obtain feedback from their peers and the school counselor from participating in group discussion. Students will also engage in new ways of relating when they consider the motivating factors of others.

(Yalom, 1995)

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The Texas Education Code specifies the school counselor's role in ensuring responsive services meet the educational, career, personal, or social-developmental needs of any student who demonstrates they may require intervention (2 TEC § 33.005 (2)).

By conducting the Scottie Motivation Counseling Group, this legal requirement is being met by intervening on behalf of identified students whose personal and educational needs require additional support in the form of identifying and strengthening their understanding of how motivation affects their personal and educational lives. Additionally, students are being provided with the tools and skills necessary to advance their motivation, which will in turn benefit their personal and educational lives.

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11. Ethics: American School Counseling Association 

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11. Ethics: American School Counseling Association 

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The American School Counseling Association emphasizes selecting ASCA Mindsets & Behaviors for Student Success to deliver student needs indicated by data in B-PF 5. The Scottie Motivation Counseling Group aligns several of the ASCA Mindsets & Behaviors for Student Success in the development of the group, including B-SS 1 which calls for aligning small-group instruction to ASCA Mindsets & Behaviors for Student Success, B-SS 2 by producing appraisal and advisement in small-group settings, and B-SS 3 by providing short-term, small group counseling.

The Scottie Motivation Counseling Group is meeting these ethical guidelines by ensuring student success by conducting short-term, small-group counseling sessions with learning objectives that align with the ASCA Mindset & Behaviors for Student Success and appraising and advising students in regards to their personal motivation.

(American School Counseling Association, n.d.)

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Establishing the Group Padlet References