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Cal-Kid On 10/16/12, MiddleSchoolIntern wrote: > Hello- I am a school counseling intern, working with an 8th > grade counselor this year. I have been asked to meet with > all the students in 8th grade who at the 5 week mark, have > failing grades in one or more classes. Many teachers have > expressed concerns that the students may not feel m...See MoreOn 10/16/12, MiddleSchoolIntern wrote: > Hello- I am a school counseling intern, working with an 8th > grade counselor this year. I have been asked to meet with > all the students in 8th grade who at the 5 week mark, have > failing grades in one or more classes. Many teachers have > expressed concerns that the students may not feel motivated > to get good grades bc middle school grades are not on their > transcripts so to them, they do not count. I want to work > with these students to help them not only improve their > grades, but hopefully work on improving whatever roadblocks > they may be facing in their lives which have gotten them to > this point. I was wondering if any other school counselors > have any pointers or suggestions for working with this > population? Such as specific goals/activities/etc to help > motivate and inspire students to improve their grades, etc..?

It really depends on how many students have one F, two F's, three F's, four F's, five F's or six F's. We could not even begin to think about counseling the 1,2,3 Fails. We had to start with the 6 Fails and maybe the 4 and 5 fails. The numbers were huge. We called out these kids, had the counselor (me) the VP and the Principal all gave advice and encourgement. We also had a letter sent home to the parent, had them sign in a roster that they attended the meeting. We encourged after school programs for tutoring.

Man alive if you have time to talk to the kids with just one Fail grade that would awesome.

You have to run the numbers to get an idea of what kind of meeting you want. I mean if you only had ten kids then you could contact each parent get permission to counsel the child, call the child out of class and do some intervention counseling.

But if you have a 120 fails then you will have to try some group meetings and do it that way. Send letters home. Call parent, leave message and document the call and or attempt. Many parents get really upset that the school did nothing. This is proof that you called.

You could break down the 120 into a couple of smaller groups or just set up the 120 in a meeting and get lots of help, like the Counselor, the VP the Principal all reflect on the seriousness of the meeting.

In middle school everything can and could be a joke for some of these kids. We had kids that would just wait for summer to pass a couple of classes and be promoted.

good luck

Nov 5, 2012

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Sara On 10/16/12, MiddleSchoolIntern wrote: > Hello- I am a school counseling intern, working with an 8th > grade counselor this year. I have been asked to meet with > all the students in 8th grade who at the 5 week mark, have > failing grades in one or more classes. Many teachers have > expressed concerns that the students may not feel m...See MoreOn 10/16/12, MiddleSchoolIntern wrote: > Hello- I am a school counseling intern, working with an 8th > grade counselor this year. I have been asked to meet with > all the students in 8th grade who at the 5 week mark, have > failing grades in one or more classes. Many teachers have > expressed concerns that the students may not feel motivated > to get good grades bc middle school grades are not on their > transcripts so to them, they do not count. I want to work > with these students to help them not only improve their > grades, but hopefully work on improving whatever roadblocks > they may be facing in their lives which have gotten them to > this point. I was wondering if any other school counselors > have any pointers or suggestions for working with this > population? Such as specific goals/activities/etc to help > motivate and inspire students to improve their grades, etc..?

You need histories on these kids. Have they always been failing? Or is this new? Those two different scenarios are indeed just that - if a student has always been failing or weak, then the transcript remark is a silly one.

In general, kids who fail have weak skills and as often they have undiagnosed learning differences. They can also be English as a Second Language kids or they can have fairly shattered home lives.

In all of those cases, the failure has Nothing to do with the fact that Middle School grades don't appear on their transcripts.

See yourself as physician - you have to work with these kids as individuals and often the deck is stacked against them. Their reading skills are weak and kids with weak reading skills can't do well in school. Schools look for pat answers like' their grades won't be on their transcripts' because it takes the onus of responsibility off the school and sees the issue as one of choice on the students' part.

If you want to help them, make time for them. Help them with homework. See what's being asked of them in their classes and help them to close to the gap between their skills and the tasks put on them.

Success breeds success. Most of these kids have lost hope and they put on a "I don't care" face but underneath they're in pain.

Nov 13, 2012

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Encourage Students to Make “The Choice”

by Teachers.Net Gazette

Oct 17, 2012

Encourage Students to Make “The Choice” by Steve Reifman

Every year I see students make significant learning gains, and without exception this progress is due to the fact that the kids decided that they wanted to do better in school and made the choice to dedicate themselves to becoming quality students.

Once children make �...See More

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Selective Mutism

by Katie

Oct 17, 2012

I have a student who suffers from selective mutism. He will only speak when he is at home. He will not speak to teachers, students, or even his own parents while at school. As his school counselor, what can I do to help him? techniques? therapeutic approaches? any ideas? HELP!

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Lisa On 10/17/12, Katie wrote: > I have a student who suffers from selective mutism. He will > only speak when he is at home. He will not speak to > teachers, students, or even his own parents while at > school. As his school counselor, what can I do to help him? > techniques? therapeutic approaches? any ideas? HELP!

I do a great...See More

Apr 2, 2013

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