Notes from the

TSCA Professional Development Chairperson, Carolyn Brewer

March 10 2007

I would like to extend my deepest appreciation for the opportunity to serve as a TSCA Board member. My involvement with TSCA has been one of the highlights of my year. In my work with the board, I have found you to represent advocacy and excellence in school counselor professional development. It is my hope and wish that your good work and enthusiasm will continue to inspire counselors across our state. I would like to share with you my observations of TSCA programs, the initiatives launched during the past months in professional development, and future recommendations for consideration.

Observations of Programs

The leadership training provided for each of us as board members was a unique opportunity to learn the work of the board, as well as to develop professional bonds in an effort to strengthen school counseling programs across our state. The setting and the atmosphere were superior for this type of training.

The TCA Conference in Chattanooga was a tremendous opportunity for professional development. The range of presentation topics was representative of many counseling areas and needs. The preconference workshop sponsored by TSCA was filled with information, techniques, and new strategies to use in counseling, classroom guidance and group work, and professional in-service and training opportunities. The participants were involved in the activities of the workshop and appeared to enjoy the numerous strategies for increasing group involvement. From the professional development perspective, the TSCA luncheon provided a spirit of community, energy, enthusiasm, and empowerment. Congratulations on such a quality professional endeavor.

The Counselor Institute in February was a tremendous opportunity to focus on topics of interest to school programs and needs. The selection of sessions enabled counselors to receive information that could be immediately utilized in school counseling programs across the state. The large attendance at the conference was evidence of the need for such training and the willingness of so many professionals to take the time to attend the institute.

Initiatives in Professional Development

One of the major initiatives discussed at the leadership conference was the inclusion of articles and materials in the TSCA newsletters designed to meet specific counselor needs and concerns. The first article in this series was published in the February newsletter. This article featured specific resolutions for school counselors for 2007. A section of the article also incorporated a way for counselors to share ideas and strategies with other counselors across the state. The next article will feature guidelines on increasing total community support for your school counseling programs.

As your professional development chairperson, I requested the opportunity to chair the Idea Exchange session at the TCA conference in November to carry on the tradition of Dr. Charles Thompson. This session was officially sponsored by TACES. I was allowed to chair the session. The room was packed and many of the attendees did not realize that Dr. Thompson had died. The session featured a tribute to him and a wonderful sharing of ideas and strategies. From this session it became clear that the counselors would like to have more time for sharing and that they would like to have the opportunity to share by specific groups and age levels. This will be considered and used in the development of the session proposal for next year’s conference. In addition, I presented the idea of counselors contributing ideas to be featured on our website. This is one process that is now in planning and will hopefully be implemented before the end of this school year. The procedures for this were included in the professional development article in the February newsletter. They will be featured in upcoming newsletter.

Recommendations for Your Consideration

Continue the focus on professional development article in each newsletter. Utilize this as an opportunity to address counselor needs and concerns.

Chair and work with the Idea Exchange session of the TCA Conference (I will be happy to submit and chair this session and would like to work with two or three other TSCA board members in this effort to make this a major highlight of the conference). Consideration may be given to requesting a longer session and dividing the session into two time periods. One time period would address general counseling strategies and ideas and the other would address ideas and strategies for specific age levels or areas of counseling.

Put the Idea Exchange on our website on a monthly basis. Use this as an opportunity to feature counselors from across our state and to create use of our website and encourage TSCA membership.

Professional Development Chair needs to work closely with Nicole Cobb to disseminate information to school counselors and create interest in the work of TSCA. In addition, the Professional Development Chairperson needs to be involved in the collection and analysis of data collected on the role of the school counselor in Tennessee and the use of the Tennessee model and the ASCA model for school counseling.

The Professional Development Chair has the opportunity to begin initiatives for service to the community and the profession through TSCA. Some suggested workshops or training by region or area are: Uniting Communities for Youth, Families in Crisis, and Classroom Guidance Management Strategies for Beginning Counselors. Our community members are in need of workshops for healing and stress management. TSCA has much professional expertise and many members who would be willing to collaborate in the presentation of area training for communities. This is an area that may present opportunities previously untapped.

Summary

Serving as Professional Development Chairperson has been a wonderful opportunity for me to examine much of the essence of my school counseling career and the needs of school counselors across our state. Please accept my deepest thanks and my dedication to working with the board in any way possible to continue advocacy for and provision of quality professional development across our state.