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Action planning is where the group will break down their large goals into chunks that they can accomplish one step at a time. This will create a sense of success and confidence and will be a great strategy to help them to reach their goals. This week the students will focus on what steps they can take to make their goals more achievable. The activity they will be participating in will be focused around writing actions or goals that they have and then breaking them down into manageable steps.

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The activity for this week is called Plan of Action.  In this activity, students will be given 2 index cards in which they will write 2 different goals and a step that they can take to achieve that goal.  After they write their goals. they will split into 3 groups where they will share their goals.  The groups will then decide what cards they want to share with the rest of the group and they will elaborate more on the goals that they chose.  After each goal is shared, students will then come back together as a large group and will discuss what ideas they each have for how they can accomplish their own personal goals along with how they can continue to apply this concept to their life to achieve success.

References
Fun Retrospectives. (2013). Plan of action. Retrieved from http://www.funretrospectives.com/plan-of-action/

This article provides details of an activity that can be used with students to develop a plan of action.  It gives an idea of how a student can write down their goals and how they can achieve them in a way that they can continue to do on a day-to-day basis.

The image below depicts how the activity will be set up. Each student will discuss what was on one of their groups' index cards. After it has been discussed, the students will then go around the room to discuss goals that will be written on the board. After they are written on the board, students will collaborate and work together on ways that could help this student to achieve their goal by breaking it down into manageable steps.

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Autism Live. (2013). Teaching problem solving. [Video file] Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VLu5iSTtREU

This video gives an idea of different ways that a counselor can work with students on different problem solving techniques. To teach students these techniques, the counselor can develop an activity in which different scenarios are given to the student where they are then taught proper problem solving techniques to use in those scenarios.

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In this topic, it is important to consider how to collaborate with teachers to come up with action plans as well.  Collaboration is huge when developing action plans regarding academics.  For the student to be successful, especially if they struggle academically, it is important to work with teachers so that they can understand the student and help them to develop a plan of action for how to accomplish their school tasks in a manageable way.  This collaboration can help to promote positive behaviors outside of the group and a greater likelihood of the student applying the concept in a classroom setting (Sink, Edwards, & Eppler, 2012).

References
Sink, C. A., Edwards, C., & Eppler, C. (2012). School based group counseling. Belmont, CA: Brooks/Cole.

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As the opening session for the counseling group, our first activity will be an introductory activity. This will be one where students get to know basics about one another, anything that might be relevant to knowing each person. Next, the school counselor will take time to explain trust to the students and developmentally explain confidentiality, as well. Then, the counselor can ask for volunteers to share how they have felt trusted by other children and discuss how they can make each other feel trusted. Finally, the last part of this introduction week’s activity is to practice mindful breathing (Relaxation, n.d.).

Reference

Relaxation. (n.d.) Relaxation: Adolescents and adults. Retrieved from https://www.adolescentwellness.org/wp-content/uploads/2011/06/Relaxation_Exercises_for_Adolescents_and_Adults.pdf
The above document is one that gives multiple examples of mindful activities, like the one this session would use to help people calm down and let go of worry. Students need that, too, especially in a new situation like this one.

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These activities are designed to keep from forcing students to be close to one another, while still pushing members who are there and want to be close and successful as a group to open up to those around them. Explaining trust and confidentiality to them is important because they will not assume either of those things. Students do not understand the idea of not sharing others’ secrets, but they do understand not wanting others to know their own secrets. The mindful breathing at the end of the session is designed to help the students who came into the group counseling with much anxiety about the process. This is also an awesome example for students to see how it’s good for both adolescents and adults to take care of themselves, too (Relaxation, n.d.).

Reference

Relaxation. (n.d.) Relaxation: Adolescents and adults. Retrieved from https://www.adolescentwellness.org/wp-content/uploads/2011/06/Relaxation_Exercises_for_Adolescents_and_Adults.pdf
The above document is one that gives multiple examples of mindful activities, like the one this session would use to help people calm down and let go of worry. Students need that, too, especially in a new situation like this one.

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The leader in a group like this, namely a school counselor, needs to consider specifics to populations of students like this one, junior high students with mild disabilities. This group of students is particularly vulnerable, especially in their first group counseling meeting. The students will most likely be used to distrusting those around them, and not wanting to be the center of attention out of embarrassment and a belief that they will not be accepted.

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Going off the last week of discussing behaviors that will help them reach their goals, as well as ways to change their thoughts and behavior around, this week’s activity will continue to help students with reaching their goals. This activity is designed to transform students’ thought processes. First, they draw their hand on a paper (Counselor Keri, 2017). Then, through discussion as a group, we write things they can control inside their hand, such as their reactions (Counselor Keri, 2017). We also write things they cannot control outside their hand (Counselor Keri, 2017). After finished, we discuss what realizing these things means for our lives, and the students take the finished projects with them to remind them of their work to let go of things they can’t control and focus on what they can control and change.

Reference
[Counselor Keri]. (2017, October 6). In my control school counseling activity [Video file]. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nxacynVqWd8&t=2s
This counseling activity is an excellent example of a way to get students to think differently about what they get upset about, as well as what they can do in situations they don't like.

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In My Control School Counseling Activity

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This activity helps students reach their goals and gain self-management skills by helping re-write their thought processes. By having the students think about what they can versus cannot control in their lives, this activity both helps them let go of things they can’t control while helping them realize things they do have control over and can change (Counselor Keri, 2017). This activity will hopefully have tangible applications for students, especially those working toward self-management in their emotions. After working through what they can’t control, when those things come up in life and upset them, the students can think about things they can control in relation to what’s going on and focus on changing what they can, like their attitudes, rather than focusing on what’s upsetting them. This activity will be the start of giving students these tools necessary for happiness and peace in adulthood amidst a world of pain outside of our control.

Reference
[Counselor Keri]. (2017, October 6). In my control school counseling activity [Video file]. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nxacynVqWd8&t=2s
This counseling activity is an excellent example of a way to get students to think differently about what they get upset about, as well as what they can do in situations they don't like.

The picture below displays how students begin to change their thought process from negative to positive, much like this activity is designed to lead to in reference to things inside versus outside of their control.

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This is going to be an abstract lesson and activity for students who will possibly struggle to think in such a way. Therefore, the school counselor leading the counseling group will need to be more directive in his or her approach at this stage in the group counseling than he or she might have been with other groups. Specifically, in this activity, junior high students with mild disabilities may not be able to name multiple things they do or do not have control over without helpful discussion getting them to think in a way that comes up with answers. They will most likely answer with incorrect answers at first, so it is vital for the school counselor to lead this activity with a spirit of support and continually remind the students to support one another, as well.

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This week will start by reviewing the goals the students created the week before. Two specific things that will be reviewed are what we discussed about what it takes to reach a goal and what defers us from reaching our goals. We will introduce the tracking sheet for students to keep track of their weekly activities in order to see their progress toward their goal (Gao & Gurd, 2019). The columns can be changed for students whose goals are emotional rather than academic, but the idea is the same. Then, we will use the strategy put forth by Dummer (2000), which includes students identifying actions that do not help them reach their goals. “Students realistically act out scenarios illustrating students who are not organized to hand in homework, clean their rooms, plan ahead, prioritize long-term project, etc.” (Dummer, 2000, p. 69). This activity can be taken further for students in this counseling group, having them act out scenarios where students fail to control their temper when they don’t like something, struggle to get along with other students, fail to control their impulses, etc. Then, we will have the students reflect: how can we change these scenarios with our actions? Finally, we will give them Stop and Think strategies (Counselor Keri, n.d.) and facilitate conversation that starts to have them thinking about who they want to be.

References
[Counselor Keri]. (n.d.) Thought stopping strategies for kids. Retrieved from https://www.counselorkeri.com/2019/05/12/thought-stopping-strategies-for-kids/
This blog post gives multiple strategies for students to use when they have negative trains of thought. It fits well with this population of students as they often fail at taking productive actions and making wise choices due to their inability to get out of negative tailspins.

Dummer, K. (2000). Student workshop: get a grip! Self-management skills. School Library Journal, 46(11), 69. Retrieved from https://eds-a-ebscohost-com.ezp.waldenulibrary.org/eds/pdfviewer/pdfviewer?vid=2&sid=1526c90d-e233-488b-8095-3d8360badcc9%40sdc-v-sessmgr01
The activity suggested in this short paper is an excellent one for this counseling group. Junior high students are high energy, and acting something out is helpful for energy, as well as for understanding what they are discussing.

Gao, T., & Gurd, B. (2019). Organizational issues for the lean success in China: exploring a change strategy for lean success. BMC Health Services Research, 19(1), 1–11. https://doi-org.ezp.waldenulibrary.org/10.1186/s12913-019-3907-6
This document (as shown below) is a great example of a tracking sheet for students with mild disabilities to use to keep track of their actions in relation to a SMART goal they set.

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These activities are all designed for the purpose of giving students concrete examples of how to reach their goals. This week gives them the how behind their goals for behavior change. These activities also help students feel like they can be who they want to be, now that they know how to act. It also gives them tools for how to change their behavior around instead of staying stuck in negative thought processes that make negative actions (Counselor Keri, n.d.). According to Counselor Keri (n.d.), "intentionally teaching kids thought-stopping strategies is a great way to help them get a handle on thoughts and break the spiral."

Reference
[Counselor Keri]. (n.d.) Thought stopping strategies for kids. Retrieved from https://www.counselorkeri.com/2019/05/12/thought-stopping-strategies-for-kids/
This blog post gives multiple strategies for students to use when they have negative trains of thought. It fits well with this population of students as they often fail at taking productive actions and making wise choices due to their inability to get out of negative tailspins.

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This group of students really needs the concrete examples because otherwise they will not understand how to go from point A to point B. School counselors need to consider students’ developmental levels when working with them in groups (ASCA, 2014). This is especially true of this student population, which includes students with mild disabilities who might be further behind developmentally than others their age. Additionally, we need to make sure to consider that this lesson can help students work together in a supportive way. But, in order for that to happen the group leader needs to be intentional about communicating that to the students and helping them understand how to do so.

Reference
American School Counselor Association. (2014). The school counselor and group counseling. Retrieved from https://www.schoolcounselor.org/asca/media/asca/PositionStatements/PS_Group-Counseling.pdf
This document describes school counselors in the counseling groups they lead and what is essential in those groups.

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This meeting will involve an activity of students setting SMART goals for themselves in relation to their own self-management. This can be in the area of academics, emotions or both. This activity was developed from a lesson plan over SMART goals (OKMM, n.d.). We tweaked this lesson plan to fit a small counseling group setting. In the counseling group, this activity will involve dialoguing with students over goals, as well as what makes people reach or fail at their goals (OKMM, n.d.). Then, we will “define each letter of the acronym SMART,” having each student lead the discussion for one letter (OKMM, n.d., p. 1). Finally, students will fill in the worksheet below (OKMM, n.d., p. 11) with their SMART goal, the group approving what they write down or helping them revise it to make it fit the SMART goal guidelines.

Reference
Oklahoma Money Matters (OKMM). (n.d.). Creating SMART goals. In Oklahoma Money Matters, Middle school lesson plan: SMART goals. Retrieved from http://www.oklahomamoneymatters.org/K-12/documents/Smart-Goals-MS.pdf
This document includes a lesson plan and activities for students to learn and set SMART goals.

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https://coggle.it/diagram/XQDv817zMFKM6Hol/t/open-or-closed

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https://www.canva.com/design/DADc71wq5E4/gzR4Q_OJMQe3h9Oxjjs-Ug/edit

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https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/Z77DW8V

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This counseling group is a junior high group for students with mild disabilities.

The group focuses on self-management, specifically helping students with emotional and academic responsibility.

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According to ASCA (2014), “group counseling involves students working on shared tasks and developing supportive relationships in a group setting.” This session and activity is designed to further such working, supportive relationships among students. The activity has them discussing goals, learning what SMART goals are and how to set them together in order to do so, rather than just having the students make their own goals (OKMM, n.d.). It also sets the stage for students to regularly check in with one another on their goals in a supportive way, which builds their trust with one another. According to the article by Briesch DuBois, et. al. (2017), this awareness and regulation among students on their behaviors and choices, from students to students, causes success within the levels of trust in counseling groups. Furthermore, that trust is the backbone of a successful group (Briesch DuBois, et. al., 2017).

References

American School Counselor Association. (2014). The school counselor and group counseling. Retrieved from https://www.schoolcounselor.org/asca/media/asca/PositionStatements/PS_Group-Counseling.pdf
This document describes school counselors in the counseling groups they lead and what is essential in those groups.

Briesch DuBois, J. M., Briesch, A. M., Hoffman, J. A., Struzziero, J., & Toback, R. (2017). Implementing self-management within a group counseling context: Effects on academic enabling behaviors. Psychology in the Schools, 54(8), 852–867. https://doi-org.ezp.waldenulibrary.org/10.1002/pits.22029

This article describes the positive effects of a student counseling group that included goals and checking-in with students.

Oklahoma Money Matters (OKMM). (n.d.). Creating SMART goals. In Oklahoma Money Matters, Middle school lesson plan: SMART goals. Retrieved from http://www.oklahomamoneymatters.org/K-12/documents/Smart-Goals-MS.pdf
This document includes a lesson plan and activities for students to learn and set SMART goals.

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For this student population, school counselors need to consider the students' disabilities, some of which may be intellectual. This may create a situation where the students need more tiered support, specifically in this activity during the SMART acronym explanation. Rather than having each student explain one letter, maybe have the students pair up to discuss, then explain them. This consideration should last throughout the entire activity and session, making sure students are understanding and participating because they understand and do not feel embarrassed.

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Our group's student population is that of special populations. This includes a diverse amount of different groups of students. We picked a group of students with mild disabilities as students with special needs can be overlooked in things like counseling groups. We are both passionate about middle school students, so we picked this special population within a junior high school, specifically eighth grade students.

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This week the students will go over different ways that they can become more organized to support their efforts of being successful.  The kids will play a game called Director and Builder (Benac, 2018).  and then will discuss what they thought of the game and how it applies to the lesson that is being trying to be taught.  This week we will also give students a challenge of going home and applying different organization methods that were suggested within the group.  The students will then come meet with the counselor to talk about the methods that they applied too their life and how they positively or negatively impacted them.

References
Benac, E. (2018). Games for organizational skills. Retrieved from https://careertrend.com/list-6524726-games-organizational-skills.html

This reference gives a few different examples of games and activities that can be used to help students with organization. This game that is suggested would be used to help students think of how they can apply this same technique to their schoolwork and life outside of school.

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This activity will be used in the large group.  The activity will involve the counselor giving the students different scenarios in which they will work together to come up with ways that they could effectively solve the problem being presented to them.  When the activity is taking place, students will take turns speaking on what they think would be the most effective way to solve the problem and why.  After the counselor has given a few examples, the students will be given a chance to speak up and talk about situations they have experienced where they have had to use a problem-solving technique or they will discuss what they could have done differently.

The image below depicts how the students will sit during this activity. The students will sit in a semi circle so that the counselor can sit in front while discussing the scenarios. The students will then be capable of feeding off of each others reactions and interacting more with each other.

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The setting for this group would most likely look something like this: school setting, students in a circle with the group leader(s), etc.

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This week is focused on closing and wrapping up everything that has been discussed thus far. For the closing session, the group will focus on everything they have learned throughout the 6 different topics that were discussed.  Students will reflect on what they learned, discuss what and how they have applied new techniques to their everyday life, and how they will engage in these techniques in the future to maintain success.

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This activity is designed to help individuals to become more organized as different things are thrown their way.  In this activity, there will be 2 different groups where each group will have 10 blocks to build a base.  After each group builds their base, they write step by step instructions on how they built it.  After writing the instructions, they will shuffle the cards and one individual will bring the cards to the other group.  The other group is then responsible for organizing the cards to build the same base that the opposing group built.  The lesson in this is that becoming organized and getting things organized before starting will ultimately lead to success.  The group will then discuss how this relates to their life and what they can do at home to apply this concept.

References
Benac, E. (2018). Games for organizational skills. Retrieved from https://careertrend.com/list-6524726-games-organizational-skills.html

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When working on problem-solving, it is important to take into consideration the student's willingness to confront problems or develop solutions.  Some students may feel unsure of themselves or lack confidence which can cause them to not speak up when they are struggling (Vanderbilt University, 2019).

References
Vanderbilt University. (2019). Teaching problem solving. Retrieved from https://cft.vanderbilt.edu/guides-sub-pages/problem-solving/

This article discusses different tips and techniques that can be used when teaching problem solving to students. These techniques include identifying problems, how to work through them, and what to be considerate of when working through different problems.

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The activity for this session will be a short closing activity.  Students will go around the room to discuss what they have learned, how they have applied it, and how they plan to continue applying it to their day-to-day life.  Each student will discuss along with provide new ideas. They will also talk about their favorite thing about the group, what could be changed, and if they would like to reconvene and have another group similar to this one.

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A consideration to take into account when working with these students on organization is how willing parents will be to work with their students on attempting these tactics.  It is important to collaborate with parents and families to ensure that the student will see success and they are not only pushed at school to be successful, but that their academic success and organization techniques to gravitate towards success is supported at home (Sink, Edwards, & Eppler, 2012).

References
Sink, C. A., Edwards, C., & Eppler, C. (2012). School based group counseling. Belmont, CA: Brooks/Cole.

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As the counselor, we must consider that many of these students may need to continue with counseling to make sure that they are keeping themselves accountable. Many students will feel that they need to consider just to maintain accountability so they can continue to be successful and work towards a successful future in high school and beyond.