Angel Teachers: Educators Who Care About Kids

There has always been a divide between teachers who view their job description solely as academic teachers and those who see their job as both academic teachers and advisng students on personal and well being problems. A dual role that is much in demand to help the increasing number of troubled teens in our large secondary schools. I call these dual-role educators " angel teachers." I have found angel teachers in almost every secodary school I observed as a teacher trainer, student assistsnce counselor, and writer/observer of secondary school life.

Angel teachers carry out their intervention in a quiet, trusting , and private manner with little interest in their own noteriety and stardom. In fact that's why students in need are attracted to them and lineup outside their classroom door for help. Students are very savvy about where they can find an open door for help. They quickly learn through the school grapevine which teachers are the " go to" educators. Yet angel teachers fly below the radar, doing their helping work quietly. They like it that way. And in their helping role angel teachers try to protect needy students from teachers, I call them " messiah teachers." who often cross professional lines and become " too" involved , serving as a parent figure, friend, and sometimes a lover. See my book, Sexual Misconduct by Teachers and Coaches, for more information on this sensitive topic. R&L publishers, www.rowmaneducation.com.

Secondary schools can be challenging, lonely, and risky places for many teens. It can wear them down, find themselves in a slump. As Dr. Seuss suggests in " Oh, the Places You'll Go," "un-slumping yourself is not easily done. You'll will come to a place where the streets are not marked. Some windows will be lighted. But mostly they're darked. Simple it's not, I'm afraid you will find, for a mind-maker-upper to make up his mind. You are headed , I fear, towards a useless place.

Angel teachers who make themselves available for slumping students who find themselves in a useless place are at the forefront of the intervention system in our large secondary schools. Yet their helping skills and successful interventions , so valued by students , are often given little postive attention by the designated helpers in the school such as counselors, social workers, and school pyschologist. Professionals who may be reluctant to give up their helping turf for fear of losing their powerful role or even their jobs. While I understand their unease, unfortunately by circling the wagons to protect their turf these professioinals are missing the opportunity to create more open doors for help in the schools and take the lead in creating a new role for themselves in training teachers, students, parents, and even administrators as helpers. Opportunity knocks an they don't see it. They need a wake-up call!

It's time for these designated helpers to embrace and enlist angel teachers as valued colleagues and contributors. And to lead an effort to sell, encourage, and train academic teacher,who for too long have avoided helping their students with personal problems, as helpers. In today's school world we need every skilled person onboard to help troubled teens. They have too many problems and there are not enough open doors in our schools to answer their calls for help. The days of simply defining onself as an" academic" teacher should be brought to a quick close, replaced with a job role in which "every" teacher is well trained as a helper with the job expectation of intervening when they observe a student, parent, or educator headed towards the margins of school life.

We are after all, or need to be, our brother's and sister's keeper. Looking the " other way" when we see teens in trouble may come home to roost when we find ourselves as professionals in the same position. No one escapes adversity and tough times, even we as educators.

No, not every academic teacher can become a skilled angel teacher, but at the least they should be equipped with basic helping/ referral skills and willing and able to serve as first responders for teens in trouble What is required in this new role is caring and support to help teens fnd a way out of their troubles. That doesn't take a M.A. or Ph.D in counseling!A team composed of angel teachers and designated helpers can provide this kind of training intervention for teachers.

See my forthcoming book, Angel Teachers: Educators Who Care About Kids, for more information. Published by R&L Education, www.rowmaneducation.com, March, 2012.

 

Wake Up Counselors: Here's how they can restore " counseling" services for troubled teens

Secondary school counselors can restore personal and group counseling to their mission by  adopting a differentiated staffing model. In most schools counselors are assigned to students by grade and alphabetical order of surname irregardless of their counseling skills, strenghts and weaknesse. In this outdated model the counselor supposedly is able to handle " all" the needs of students on his or her list. At least that's what the  school public relation brochures state.However the reality in today's schools is " counseling" students for class placement, college admissions and financial aid, , discipline , and managing the school's mandated testing programs is the number one priority. Personal and group counseling and launching intervention programs to help the increasing number of troubled  teens takes a back seat or is not offered at all by counselors.

This is a flawed  system that has for too long left teens in need of help to  search elsewhere. Unfortunately the counselor's office in today's schools is often not a go to place for help. And it has left many counselors who are well trained in personal and group counseling stuck in a quasi-adminstrative role.  We need to free these counselors who want to be personal counselos to do what they do best and let counselors who prefer to be quasi adminisrator's free to do scheduling for classes, college admissions, disciplining, and testing . Both groups serving an important and valuable functon.

A differentiated staffing model then would assign specific counselors to  a role with the primary mission of offering personal counseling, thus creating many open doors and  clear pathways for students, parents, and staff in need of help and intervention.  A helping and intervention delivery system that would include the following elements; individual counseling, group counseling, parent counseling, training teachers as helpers and advisors, training students as peer helpers,  training support staff as helpers, creating clear pathways for referral to community health, law enforcement, mental health, religious, recreation, alchohol/drug rehabilitation agencies. And most important serving as close advisors to school administrator's regarding student well-being.

This model offers guidance and counseling programs the opportunity to stay current and be a major player in helping teens successfully navigate through  the many risks they face in today's complex world.  Assigning counselors by grade and alphabet may have worked in the large high school counseling model conceived in the 1950s, but it is now a model impeding the personal intervention services counselors now need to offer. I urge counselor leaders to hear this wake up call  not only for their students and colleagues but also for themselves and their own survival.

In closing I urge counselors to remember that the original mandate for the guidance and counseling movement in the 1950s was for both " guidance" AND "counseling." Unfortunately many counselor leaders have have overtime abandoned the " counseling " element of their mission and settled for the quasi -administrator role. The growing personal needs of students, parents, and educators in today's school community now require that " counseling" be restored. I argue that if this wake up call is ignored counselors will become dinosaurs. And we know what happened to them!

For more information regarding new models for guidance and counseling programs see my article, " Taking Inventory of Your Guidance Program," Oct. 1999 issue of Schools in the Middle, my book, Students in Trouble: schools can help before failure, pg. 90-122, Rowman & Littlefield, http://www.rowmaneducation/, com, and my new book, May, 2012, Wake Up Counselors: Restoring Counseling Services for Troubled Teens. Also by Rowman and Littlefield.

The role of guidance counselors : Losing the trust of students because of too many administrative duties

A new report by Public Agenda," Graduates Fault Advice of Guidance Counselors" states that most young adults who go to college believe that the advice of their high school guidance counselor was inadequate and often impersonal and perfuctory. Most troubling for policy makers is that young people characterized their interactions with guidance counselors' as " anonymous and unhelpful. " Nearly half of those surveyed said their counselors made them feel " like I was just anothe face in the crowd."

The researchers noted that counselors responsibilities have only grown in recent years. They also reported that advising students on higher education choice is just one of the many things that guidance counselors do. Much of their efforts is devoted to discipline issues, scheduling students for classes, overseeing the mandated testing program, and other administrstive duties. Jim Jump, a high school counselor and president of the Nationmal Association of College Admissions, said in the report that " so many other things are tossed on counselors' plates that actual counselimg takes up a very small part of the time."

One of the important conclusions of the study is young people typically give their teachers and mentors much better rating than the dismal ratings assigned to counselors. Solid majorities of young adults from diverse ethnic and racial backgrounds report they had a " teacher who really took an interest in them and encouraged them to go to college." Most say that they had a teacher or coach who " really inspired them and motivated them to do their best."

I believe there is a vicious cycle going on in our large high schools. Many administrator's are being inundated with increased responsibilities. Unfortunately they are adding more of these increased reponsibilities to the counselors' role resulting in the diminishing, even eliminating, personal counseling services for students, parents,and at-risk educators.Result? A dramatic increase in at-risk students, parents, and educators seeking help but who now find the counselors'door closed. In my experience far too many leaders in the school counseling profession, including guidance directors, have accepted this diminished role of personal counseling and not opposed or challenged their administrator's decision to make the guidance and counseling department an extension of the administration. The Public Agenda report lays bare the results.

That being said, I believe that neither the overwhlemed administrators or passive guidance directors are the primary cause of this problem. Rather they are victims, as are students, parents, and at-risk educators, of a helping system conceived in the 1950s with the advent of the Conant large high school model. A model that has been out of date since the 1970s but persists as " the " model of choice for school guidance and counseling programs. A model that is incapable of delivering the services now needed.

What is needed is a change in the way school guidance and counseling programs are organized so that personal counseling can be restored as a priority service and the quasi-administrative counseling role of student scheduling, college admissions, and mandated testing necessary to keep the school organization running smoothly are mantained. A dual role in which the role of some counselors role is to offer "personal counseling: and a quasi-administrative role for other counselors who prefer to provide "guidance" on course selection, college choice, etc. For more on " how to" reorganize counseling programs see my blog, " Wake Up Counselors:Here's how they can restore counseling services for troubled teens."

However there is some hopeful news in the Public Agenda report. New open doors are being recognized as legitimate sources of help in the school organization.For example, there are teachers who now see their role as both an academic teacher and helper for student personal problems. A dual role that is much in need in our secondary schools and needs to be expanded. The Public Agenda report quotes a student from St. Louis who said he turned to his advanced biology teacher for help because " some teachers, they care...you can just tell."

A simple but eloquent reminder of what is important for teens as they try to navigate through adolescence.This is good news for teacher advisors who want to help teens. They are increasingly being recognized as " designated helpers" for students. Maybe their time has arrived. Necessity does bring invention.And maybe it's time for guidance counselors with a mission to offer personal counseling to embrace teacher advisor's as partners in the school communities outreach to troubled students, parents, and educators. For more information on how to create shared helping opportunities between teachers advisors and counselors see my forthcoming book, Angel Teachers: Teachers Who Care About Kids. Published in March 2012 by Rowman & Littlefield Publishers.

The demise of counseling services in secondary schools: Why there is a pressing need for more open doors of help for troubled teens

In many secondary schools guidance counselors are becoming quasi -administrators and being forced to abandon their personal counseling role. For example, a new state law in New Jersey, The Anti Bullying Bill of Rights, demands that beginning in September, 2011, all public schools adopt anti bullying policies, increase staff training, and adhere to tight deadlines for reporting episodes.The law requires that a school must designate an anti bullying specialists to investigate complaints and each district must have a bullying coordinator.

In most cases schools are tapping guidance counselors as the new anti bullying specialists, raising the question of whether they have the time to look into every complaint of harassment and write the detailed resports required. In my opinion one more step in the bureaucratizing of the guidance counselors' role and further distancing them from their role of counseling students.

Given this development it is critical that schools create other open doors for help such as reorganizing the assignment of counselors so there is a cadre who are designated as individual and group counselors' for students and parents, serve as trainers to ready teachers as advisors, and students as peer helpers. Many teens need intervention now and the pathways to sources of help must be easily accessible, welcoming, and trusting.

Tough calls for school administrators: Judging the fine line between what many high school, junior high, and middle school students view as " normal", albeit hostile, verbal exchanges and what some students view as sexual harassment and bullying

The role of administrators in helping teens with problems is never easy. They need help and support from many members of the school community, including counselors, teachers, coaches, students, support staff, parents, and community health, law, and social service programs, in order to provide many open doors for help. They can't get this job done on their own. There are too many students with problems and needs to be met arriving at the schoolhouse door each day.

But even when the helping resources of both the school and community are giving 100 percent there are some societal-based problems that can present a great challenge for them. Problems that outside experts and school reformers say the secondary schools have but, in my opinion, not high-priority problems for our already overburdened schools. Here's an example of the complex problems school leaders are facing.

According to New York Times reporter Jenny Anderson (07/11/2011), a national study by the National Association of University Women found widespread sexual harassment of students in grades 7 to 12. Nearly half of 7th to 12th graders experienced sexual harassment in the last school year, with 87 percent of those who had been harassed reporting negative effects such as absenteeism, poor sleep and stomachaches. Catherine Hill, the director of research at the association said, "It's pervasive, and almost a normal part of the school day." Holly Kearl, an author of the study, said "Bullying is getting a lot of attention. We don't want schools to forget about sexual harassment and not talk about it."

What's missing from this and many reports about sexual harassment and bullying in our secondary schools is that these schools are turbulent, hostile, and highly sexualized institutions. Settings with large student populations, many housing over 3000 students. Not places designed to help students form close pesonal relationships, be affirmed, given recognition, and acceptance. Many of our secondary schools are survial courses for students and are tough places for teens who are not skilled to stand their ground. They are at-risk because they lack the skills to ward off bullies and harassers who can easily spot their vulnerabilities.

Teens who are unable to defend themselves then are raw meat in a hostile school culture. Yes, there are caring administrators, counselors, teachers, coaches and support staff who daily try to protect at-risk kids. However, in some schools the ongoing, daily, demands of student troubles and conflicts can overwhelm them, particularly in urban communities.

While the school public relations announcements may state their is zero tolerance for sexual harassment and bullying, this proclamation has no real chance of succeeding. Our large secondary schools are not peaceable kingdoms and never will be. Nor will every student be a peacemaker. Suggesting these schools can be reorganized to be peaceable kingdoms is a wish, a prayer, a hope, but a denial of what these schools are really like.

Many of these schools were built and organized in the 1950s for a far different world and student/parent population. In today's world schools are facing many more complex student problems, bullying and sexual harassment being one of many. The student culture in today's schools is highly confrontational.

When Ms Hill says "it's pervasive, and almost a normal part of school life" she is right. But she has a false perception of secondary schools if she believes this is a school culture that is completely out of control and demands fixing. Her comment misses the point that the student culture of secondary schools is about surviving the daily battles and conflicts between individual students and peer groups. And it's a culture in which a major focus of student life and communication is on sex. It is a time of sexual awakening and much of the conversations between students are sexualy laden, provocative, and filld with wanted or unwanted sexual advances with words such as "you're so hot."

It's a culure in which there is a fine line between "normal," sometimes hostile, sometimes sexual, verbal exhanges between students and exchanges that can be labeled as sexual harassment and bullying. We live in tough times and many teens come to school angry with their world and the growing lack of opportunity for themselves and family members. And we live in a world that is highly sexual and many teens come to school to explore their sexuality and that exploration often begins with trial and error. And what may be seen as inappropriate sexual advances are really flirtations and a "normal" part of this process. And for students, making inappropriate , irrevent, and colorful comments are at the core of this process. Most students are not weak, defenseless and are able to deal with these uncomfortable and hostile situations. Our concern should be with those students who arrive at school as tender creatures, unable to deal with these uncomfortable and hostile conversations.

It is, as Ms. Hill decried, "a normal part of the school day." In these verbal exchanges some students will use what seems to be negative verbal labels to spar with peers. For example, casually using words such as slut, dick, homo, whore, piece of ass, built for speed, gay, so hot, shithead, fuckhead, piece of shit, ugly, wel-built, etc. Words that may appear as sexual harassment or bullying, but are in reality of school life, a normal part, for them, of the eveyday language used by teens to connect or disconnect from each other.

For students, it's all about developing communication skills that help them to be adept at dealing with uncomfortable and hostile encounters because that's what secondary school life is all about. Yes, hostile and sexual communications but not exchanges that cross the line into sexual harassment or bullying.

In the school culture of who survives and who becomes a victim, negative labels and words are the centerpiece of school life. No, for many outsiders such as school reformers and sexual harassment bullying experts, it is not a fair, peaceful, kind, accepting, or gentle use of dialogue. They envision a school world in which students are quiet, civilized, helpful and kind to each other, never rude or hostile, and sexually laden conversations are absent.

However, for many students it's "their" language and way of communicating. Inappropriate comments are championed. It's the law of the jungle in the school culture. Be prepared to battle and defend oneself or be victimized.

As adults the behaviors we may want for students are often not the behaviors students want for themselves. However, there is great adult pressure to get school leaders to create a wholly unhostile and sexually absent environment. This is a no-win situation for administrators who must walk a fine line between hearing critics who are calling for zero tolernace for sexual harassment and bullying and standing up for a school culture in which "normal" vebal exchanges between students are part of their world and do not cross the line into sexual harassment and bullying. Administrators who have the responsiblity for making the "right" judgement call in sexual harassment and bullying cases are presented with a fine, gray, line to navigate through.

These administrators have enough on their hands without the pressure to make their school environment unhostile, peaceful, and without sexual overtones. Many of their schools are overcrowded with outdated facilities, serving diverse student groups who are often in conflict with each other, and staff working in an environment in which student problems are always on the increase. There is no respite for them and few rewards. They're in a war that seems to never end. Adding proposals to their to do list to make their schools peaceable kingdoms seems so removed from the reality they face each day as to border on the absurd.

Instead I argue that the response to the charge of critics that there is an increase of sexual harassment and bullying in our large secondary schools, begins at home. Children need to learn early on to face and handle conflct succesfully, not turn the other cheek, stand their ground, and do battle on the playground when they are called names, pushed around, and isolated. They need to learn how to compete in the world not just academically but socially as well, knowing their own strenghts and weaknesses, learning to deal with failure, and finding their own special niche.

Parents who raise their children to be nice, quiet, peace loving, safe, to avoid conflict and like everyone, finding some good in them as the saying goes, are doing them no favor. These children are being raised without the skills to face conflct when it comes their way and it will when they enter middle school, junior high, and high school. They are raw meat and no school interventon program, albeit with good intentions, will save and help them avoid the conflicts that are waiting for them.

I say: parents teach your children the skills they will need in" their" life, not the life you are planning for them, inadvertently making them a victim. Schools can do their best to offer support for students who are raised in families like this by providing many open doors for help –– support groups, teacher advisors, individual counseling, etc. But in the end what is needed is an increased effort by parents to raise resilient children who can stand on their own. I believe to think that school leaders can do or should do more to make their schools peaceable kingdoms and their students peacemakers is is an unrealalistic goal in today's complex school world with its many demands. Instead let's give them credit for the help they are offering many troubled teens and not ask them to take on solving problems that are societal-based and not a prioity in our schools.