• M 1. Belief in development of whole self, including a healthy balance of mental, social/emotional and physical well-being

• B-SMS 1. Responsibility for self and actions

• B-SMS 2. Self-discipline and self-control

• B-SMS 6. Ability to identify and overcome barriers

• B-SS4. Empathy

(American School Counselor Association, 2021)

I would begin with informing the classroom teachers about the students who have the potential for selection and what the group focus would be. I would then get feedback on if the group would be beneficial to those students.

If teachers are in agreement, parent phone calls would be made followed by sending an informational letter home.

Then students would be made aware of the group formation. They would each receive information about each week of the group and what the main focus will be.

Each of these students will be met with individually to be informed of the group, what we would focus on, and what will be expected of them. Through this conversation, I would gauge interest and commitment level.

From these individual conversations, I could then select the two students from each grade level who would contribute to the effectiveness of the group. I would also be able to see students who are wanting to actively work to meet their goals.

(Missouri Professional School Counselors and Counselor Educators, 2015)

For this group, I would send an additional consent form for the student to receive group counseling. In this consent form, I would give details about what the main focus of the counseling group will be.

When students first meet in the group together, I would explain the importance of confidentiality with the students. Everyone would need to agree or give assent to keep things confidential and to participate in the group.

(Dodge, M. 2021)

This specific document gives rules as suggestions with the opportunity for the group to generate other ground rules as needed. I would use this document as the foundation to make an anchor chart of the rules so it can be easily referred back to for each session. We would utilize the "Looks Like" and "Sounds Like" columns for students to give their own version of the rules.

These 10 rules that are in the document would be the rules predetermined by me, but then I would allow for students to make suggestions of other rules, if needed. The aspects of "Looks Like" and "Sounds Like" gives participants the space to determine what each rule means to them.

(Missouri Professional School Counselors and Counselor Educators, 2015).

In Stage 1, group participants are getting to know each other, establish norms and rules, and build trust with the leader and other participants. For my group, Get in the Zone!, students would do an ice breaker and a common ground activity where they would find out that they are all there for similar reasons. I would then get an anchor chart and go into explaining the non-negotiable norms of the group which are:

• Speak from the heart

• Listen from the heart

• Trust the Process

• Be mindful of time

Then I will ask students if there are any other norms they would like to establish and we will add that to the poster. After this, we will discuss confidentiality, and how what is said in group, needs to remain in the group. There are exceptions to confidentiality and I will explain those to the group. I will then ask the group members if they agree with the norms and have the students sign the anchor chart as acknowledgement of their agreement.

In Stage 2, participants are working together to meet individual and group goals. The desired group outcomes are for students to develop a sense of self-awareness as well as self-management skills. I also want them to be able to identify the Zones of Regulation and utilize them to improve behavior. Since this group is at school, I will be checking in with group members individually in class to see how they are doing with self-awareness and self-management. While working with them in the group setting, each session will start with a self rating survey of how they feel they have done for the week with self-awareness and self-management. Participants will share the ratings with each other to be able to encourage the other participants to keep working towards meeting their goals.

In Stage 3, the group will come to an end and participants will be given time to reflect on where they were when the group began, and where they are now that the group is coming to a close. We will review what they have learned about self-awareness, self-management, and the Zones of Regulation. I would lead the students to develop a plan of action and individual goals they want to meet in the weeks following the closure of the group. I will lead this last session with the hope of encouraging the students to continue to meet their goals. I will also remind them that just because our group is ending, does not mean that we can now share everyone's secrets. There must still be confidentiality when it comes to talking about others and situations from the group.

(Missouri Professional School Counselors and Counselor Educators, 2015).

I would be Authoritarian in the sense that I know the direction that the group needs to go and I would be dictating who does what when. I would be Participative or Democratic in the sense that the students would have the ability to help establish the norms and ground rules for our group. I would also be an active participant and answer the questions for myself and provide my own examples to the group. I would want to share in the learning with the participants.

These leadership styles would work best with this group because the group members are 8, 9, and 10 years old and they would need to have someone to take charge of this group to help them gain the skills they are needing to access.

(Cherry, K. 2023)

As the counselor, I would be Imparting Information to the group relating to self-awareness, self-management, and the Zones of Regulation.

The students could also have the potential to Develop Socializing Techniques through the process of relating with other people. Many students who have extreme behavior problems in the classroom, do not typically have many friends or are able to socialize well. Through being in this group, students might be able to develop those socializing skills because they are with people who are similar to them.

Since I have different grade levels within the group, I might be able to see some Imitative Behaviors. The third graders in the group may feel the need to imitate the fourth or fifth graders if they feel the need to show some maturity.

The students might also show or give Direct Advice to other participants. Direct Advice would definitely be given to participants from the counselor as well.

(Yalom, ID, 1995)

This standard and competency shows that a school counselor must collect data to be able to identify which students are in need of intervention. With my plan of gathering teacher feedback, incident report data and observation data, I would be utilizing different forms of data to select the students in need of intervention.

(American School Counselor Association, 2019)

The students that participate in my group will be screened through an interview process to make sure that the student's goals are similar to the goals of the group. Having this interview or screening process will ensure that the right students are selected and they will not be a hindrance to themselves or others.

(American Counseling Association, 2014)

American School Counselor Association. (2019). ASCA School Counselor Professional Standards & Competencies. Alexandria, VA: Author. 

American Counseling Association. (2014). ACA code of ethics. Alexandria, VA: Author. counseling.org 

Cherry, K. (27 June 2023). How to lead: 6 leadership styles and frameworks. Verywell Mind. Retrieved from: https://www.verywellmind.com/leadership-styles-2795312 

Dodge, M. (29 September 2021). Consent to participate in school-based counseling. Lubbock ISD Professional Development. 

Missouri Professional School Counselors and Counselor Educators. (2015). Professional school counselor small group counseling guide: A professional school counselor’s guide to planning, implementing, and evaluating school-based counseling groups. 

Yalom ID. (1995). The theory and practice of group psychotherapy (4th ed.). New York: Basic Books.