Understanding the Role of School Counselors

School counselors are an integral part of the school system and they are there to help bridge the gap between parents, students, teachers and administrators. They hold an absolutely essential position in each school that is all too often taken for granted and, while the recommended ration of school counselors is 1:250, it’s closer to 1:500 in reality. School counseling has become a sophisticated role and most counselors are Master's-level professionals with specific training in dealing with the social and behavioral issues students experience.

What do school counselors do?

School counselors are there to resolve conflicts between students and teachers and between students on a one-to-one bases.

They work with teachers and administrators to counsel students on specific social or behavioral issues they are having and how to best resolve them.

Student appraisals are also a responsibility and they are tasked with determining student’s suitability for various programs.

Counselors must help students who are sports-oriented to balance their extra mural activities with the grades they need to move on to college.

School counselors are a wonderful resource for parents and they can help with everything from child development to specific behavioral problems. They also help parents understand new curriculum demands and how to get involved with their child’s school and homework.

Counselors are responsible for creating and implementing the anti-bullying policy at each school. Here they work with students, parents and administrators to ensure a safe, healthy environment at each school.

School counselors focus on career development by helping students to find a career path that suits them and the courses and grades they need to pursue their dream jobs.

Counselors also help with the college application process and with any referrals which may be required.

They may also be part of health education and have responsibilities to teach students about important issues like drug and alcohol abuse and other health issues.

In many schools, counselors also serve as test coordinators which mean that regular counseling services are not available to students at a time when they feel most stressed. With mental health becoming an increasingly important concern, it may be time to lend more support and funding to school counselors.

How to support your school counselors

The American School Counselor’s Association outlines which duties are appropriate to assign to counselors. If your school counselors have too many duties, petition your school to free up some of their time so that they can pay individual attention to students in need.

Support your student counselors' recommendations for programs and improvements to the schools structure that will make your school happier and healthier.

If your school doesn’t have enough counselors to adequately support the student body, find ways to raise funds or petition for more counselors.

Show your appreciation for the role that counselors play and use the services they offer to better navigate the academic and social processes that are part of school life. 

Is school difficult for your child? We provide one to one academic support which is ideal to build a tutor to student relationship in the low stress environment of your home. call us today! Jay at Tutor Doctor Longmont

What are Executive skills?

What are executive skills? by: Tutor Doctor Longmont The executive skills are so named as they oversee and manage the thinking functions of the brain. Does your student have problems thinking or focusing on tasks? Do they leave important projects to the last minute? Executive skills play a major role in information processing, abstract thinking, problem solving, initiation and inhibition. Executive skills are needed to organize, sequence, sort, group, relate, differentiate, combine, separate and many other operations with the data and information taken into the brain during class or outside of school. The student then uses this information to plan, reason and make decisions. Cognitive flexibility is a desirable attribute of executive functioning as it leads to better information processing and hypothesis generation. Better cognitive flexibility means better academic success!! The executive skills interplay with the attention skills in determining the target of focus and keeping track during attention shifting and divided attention. Does your student get distracted or "forget" their books at school? Many executive functions may begin in childhood and preadolescence. Yet, it is during adolescence when the different brain systems become better integrated. At this time, youth executive functions become more efficient and effective and improve throughout this time period. This skill emerges in childhood and improves over time, planning and goal-directed behavior. Likewise, functions such as attentional control, with a potential spurt at age 15, along with working memory, continue developing at this stage. This is the best time to hone skills for a lifetime of use. If you have trouble with executive function, these things are more difficult to do. You may also show a weakness with working memory. This is an important tool in achieving academic success. Need help to strengthen your executive skills for academic success? We can help with our program of executive coaching with executive skill building. Contact us today for a FREE consultation for academic success!

Reducing Stress for Adult Students

Thinking of going back to school but worried that you won’t have the time? We understand that families, jobs and time pressures make adult education a daunting task. That’s why our adult tutors help you to prioritize, organize and manage your time so that you have the opportunity for personal development and career advancement.

Causes of Stress

The job market is tough and more people are seeing the benefits of retooling. Getting a secondary education may mean a better job or a whole new career for you. Of course your life is busy and complicated and going back to school places an enormous amount of stress and pressure on the mature student.

There are a number of factors which contribute to the stress that students experience:

·         Work on a full or part-time basis.

·         Family responsibilities.

·         Lagging behind with technological advancements.

·         Haven’t kept up with advancements in the field.

·         Dated study techniques don’t fit with modern teaching methods.

·         Gaps in knowledge base.

·         Pressure to be the perfect student.

These concerns lead many adult learners to delay the start of their education while others feel pressured and overwhelmed by their new school environment.

The solution

When stress and pressure threaten to derail your academic aspirations, it’s time to get a tutor. Tutors understand that you are busy, that’s why they come to you so that they can teach you in the comfort of your home and fit in with your schedule.

One-on-one tutoring means that the tutor can find the gaps in your knowledge base and help you to fill in your foundation. This will help you to catch up and keep up with the rest of the class.

The tutor will assess your learning style and help you to record information in a way that you can use while helping you to organize and prioritize tasks so that you have enough time for everything. This means you are working smarter, not harder.

Tutors help you set realistic academic goals and formulate a game plan on how to achieve them. Tutors help you to complete your homework assignments and work with your curriculum rather than adding on additional tasks for you to complete.

If you have gaps in your communication and language skills, tutors can help you to effectively communicate your answers. Many students really do understand the course materials, but if they are not able to effectively communicate their understanding or they answer questions in the wrong way, they won’t get the marks they deserve.

Being an adult student and trying to balance life, work, family and studies is a very difficult task – we get that and that is why our adult tutors are trained to help with all aspects of academics from filling in missing gaps in your knowledge base to helping you with study skills, their holistic approach will help you to catch up and get ahead.

Call us today for a FREE consultation.  Tutoring occurs in your home and on your schedule.  contact  Jay at Tutor Doctor Longmont. 

How to Turn your Child into a Math Genius

“I’m not good at math” is a refrain most parents and teachers hear from students who struggle with this subject. The thinking here is generally that if you aren’t born with an aptitude for math, you will never be good at it. The good news? Studies show that while natural talent does give some students an advantage, all students can be great at math with a little bit of effort.

Math can be learned by everyone; however it’s one of those ‘one percent inspiration, 99% perspiration’ things which requires concerted effort to master. One of the biggest problems for students is missing fundamental building blocks. Each year, teachers assume that your child understands all of the math from their previous academic years. They just add on to these foundations so, if your child is missing some underlying building blocks, they just get further and further behind every year.

Hire an in-home tutor

One of the biggest downsides to an inability to master math is the lack of confidence it creates in kids. When they get one-on-one tutoring at home, they are in a safe environment where they can ask questions and speak out when they don’t understand.

Tutors can help to find those missing building blocks and fill in the gaps so your child can catch up and keep up.

Positive attitude

‘I can’t do math’ is simply not true; everyone can learn to do math so outlaw these sentences in your home. It may also be a good idea to show the practical applications of math in the real world as well as the opportunities having math presents for college applications. Students who feel like they will never use math after school will find it difficult to motivate themselves to learn.

In a study for Purdue University, Patricia Linehan found that students either believed that they could improve their math abilities through practice and study or that they were just ‘bad at math’. Studies show that students who practices math with a positive attitude will see an improvement so a change in thinking is the first step to success.

Use math every day

Whether you are getting your child to measure out ingredients for a recipe, calculate a tip on a restaurant bill or project the earnings they will make on their paper route, using math every day will help them to understand abstract concepts and will provide great opportunities for practicing their math skills.

Math apps

Free math apps abound for every grade and every new math concept that your child must master. You can get a really great overview of the apps from our blog here.

When it comes to math, natural ability does factor in to a small degree, but everyone can learn math and get great grades if they study hard and practice. Changing attitudes, filling in missing building blocks, daily practice and offering rewards for improvements will all contribute to turning your child into a math genius!

Call us today for a FREE consultation!! 303-653-5615  Tutor  Doctor Longmont