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The GraduTors consist of a group of 5-6 special education students that are graduating within the year. The students will be seniors or juniors that have enough credits to graduate High School in the Spring. These students have been identified by their district to have low college and career readiness rate. The selected students will focus on college and career readiness prep sessions to help them succeed after graduation

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Teachers and Administrators:
To disseminate the information for my GraduTors group I will ask the principal to give me a 15-20 minute block at our monthly staff meeting. During the staff meeting, I can discuss the purpose and description of my small group action plan and ask teachers to think of students that would benefit from this counseling group. I would also sit during weekly PLC's, this would give me the opportunity to meet with each teacher individually so that I can provide more detailed information about my GraduTors group. I would also send out a mass email to follow up with teachers and make sure they understand the purpose of the group and what students would benefit from the group.
Parents and Students:
To disseminate the information to parents and students I would send home notes to all of my students that are enrolled in Special Education classes. The notes would include information about the GraduTors Group and the purpose of the group. I would also post flyers around the school so that parents and students could see the purpose and information about the GraduTors.

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My plans to inform students of the group would be to have flyers posted around the school and to send information home to students that meet the criteria for the group. Teachers and administrators can also evaluate and refer students who they think will benefit from the GraduTors group. For the students that have been selected or have shown interest in being a part of the GraduTors group I would assess the students readiness to participate and interest individually prior to selecting the members of the group. I would also implement the TAP-in process to help me determine the selection of the group. I think that by individually meeting with students and explaining the guidelines, expectations, and addressing the purpose of confidentiality I would recieve more honest responses from the students rather than have them screened as a group.

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The Lamesa ISD campus requires parents to fill out all the necessary information for student consent prior to enrollment. Parents must complete all registration forms including consent forms during their child registration. Students will also give verbal consent to be able to talk with counselor before beginning any counseling sessions.

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The following guidelines are predetermined by me and are the expectations I have set for the group. We will review the guidelines/rules of the group prior to each meeting
1. What happens in the GraduTors stays in the GraduTors
2. We will be respectful of each other's time and decisions
3. We will encourage each other
4. We will work hard to achieve our goals

I plan to utilize this resource by having the students that will be in the GraduTors review the form and collaborate on how each of the guidelines "look like" and "sounds like". The group will work together to determine the criteria for each question and agree on them. As the counselor I will simply guide the discussion and help students to determine what decisions work best for them. Once the students have worked through each of the questions and filled out the "looks like" and "sounds like" columns, each student will then sign their consent form. We will use the consent form throughout our meetings so that we can always refer back to it as needed.

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In order to create a positive relationship and build trust within the group members and myself, I plan to integrate trust building icebreakers or mini-lessons. Prior to each meeting we would review the guidelines/rules expectations of our group. I would emphasize that confidentiality is essential to our group members. I would talk to my group and explain that even though confidentiality is not guaranteed within our group it is important to develop that trusting relationship with each other and I would advise my students to keep the groups business only within the members of our group. As a member of the group it is our responsibility to be respectful of each other and respect the dynamics of the group.

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Implementing the icebreakers and the trusting exercises will help to create a strong and supportive bond within the group members. I believe that incorporating this will help the group members to believe in themselves and encourage themselves to continue to work towards their ultimate goal. I will be able to gauge progress throughout the group by checking in with members individually or during group settings to make sure they are actively and on track toward that final goal. According to the action plan each group member will create and ultimate goal and will also have the steps that will lead them to their ultimate goal by checking in with the students weekly I will be able to see that the students are on track with achieving their goal.

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During every group interaction I would review the guidelines and rules for the group and emphasize on the importance of confidentiality for our group. For our group closure I would like each member to write a paragraph about how they feel about the group ending and their favorite part about the group meetings. I would also like the students to continue to have communication beyond the closing of the group. I would have the students create a group chat so that they will be able to continue to communicate and check in with each other and encourage each other after graduation.

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The leadership style that would be effective for this group would be participative and transformational leadership. The participative leadership style would be effective because I would act as guide for the students and allow them to collaborate with each other about different ideas. However, because the goal for our GraduTors is to be college and career ready I will not be able to have the final say on their decision after graduation. Along with guiding the students towards their final goal the purpose of our sessions would be to inspire and motivate these students towards their dreams. For this leadership style I would use the transformational leadership. Both these leadership styles would work with this specific population because I would be able to guide their discussions and ideas, as well as motivating and inspiring them to believe in themselves. The special education population faces a lot of obstacles so they need that guidance and motivation.

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Based on Yalom's Therapeutic Factors I believe that my group could display the development of socializing techniques. One of the major focuses of this group is to develop skills that could be implemented beyond the educational setting. The students will work on gaining different sets of skills, and I know I will be able to see my students displaying a variety of interpersonal and socializing techniques.

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I think that most of the students that are in the special education population tend to think of themselves as helpless or "unwanted". Because special education students tend to be "different" they tend to get labeled a certain way. This causes students to feel like outsiders, and feel useless. The purpose of the GraduTors is to help these students become successful after graduation by giving them the tools and resources that are necessary. If the students work hard during our sessions I believe that they can think of themselves as someone important and useful. By having the students collaborate and create ideas for after graduation will give each student a sense of belonging. Working together will also give them a sense of pride from being supportive with one another.

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SECTION 3.  Section 11.252
(a), Education Code, is amended
(a)  Each school district shall have a district improvement
plan that is developed, evaluated, and revised annually, in
accordance with district policy

The purpose of this requirement is for students to be given every necessary opportunity to achieve success. According to our district's data, the Special Education population has a low college and career readiness percentage compared to the overall states. This requirement would be helpful to me as a counselor because it gives me the opportunity to provide instructional methods to students who are not achieving their full potential. This bill supports the GraduTors because it modifies their instructional methods to receive the help that is required for them to achieve their full potential.

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According to rule  §239.15 Standard I (4) of the Texas Administrative Code, the role and responsibility of the comprehensive school counseling program emphasizes students for college and career readiness. The purpose of the GraduTors is to get students ready for their future and also focuses on college and career readiness goals. This rule gives me the support to work with students who need help in achieving their full potential. I will be serving the purpose of the comprehensive school counseling program by working with the GraduTors.  This code supports the GraduTors because it is a part of the comprehensive school counseling program.

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19 Tex. Admin. Code §239.15

S. bill 11. Cong. https://capitol.texas.gov/tlodocs/86R/billtext/html/SB00011I.htm

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86(R) SB 11 - Introduced version - Bill Text

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relating to policies, procedures, and measures for school safety

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Upon completing the group I believe the students will have mastered the following ASCA Mindsets and Behaviors:

M3. Positive attitude toward work and learning
M4. Self confidence in ability to succeed
M5. Belief in using abilities to their fullest to achieve high quality results and outcomes

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One of my personal goals for this group is to create a safe and healthy learning environment for my students. I think that by having students introduce themselves and participate in icebreaking activities could help build positive relationships that will also encourage students to have a positive attitudes towards our learning.

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My students will gain self-confidence in their ability to succeed by completing task that are required to reach their overall goal. By helping my students create a attainable goal, complete financial aid/scholarship applications and college applications will help them to feel more at ease about the future, therefore giving them a sense of self-confidence.

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My students will believe in themselves because they will work on improving their SAT/ACT/ASVAB scores and retaking or scheduling test. They will also learn how to complete financial aid, college applications, and resumes which will help them to build their independence. Once students learn that they are accountable for their own scores, and applications, I believe they will have a sense of accomplishment and satisfaction in being able to do these things by themselves.