Introspection and Reflection, Essay Example

Abstract

Introspection and reflection are important components of counseling and educational practices.  The points which will be reviewed for introspection are the reflections with regards to entering the community with the practicum of school psychology.  The personal reflections with regards to the perceptions will be discussed.  The sensations of collaborating with colleagues who possess greater experiential knowledge will be explored.  The characteristics of transactional and transformational leadership as exercised by the supervisor will be reviewed.  The activities of mentoring will be identified in order to establish a format of professional behavior toward the faculty and members of the student body.

Getting Started

An individual’s personality is formed by their nurturing.  Nurturing in an affectionate family environment  encourages the assistance of those who are in need.  Development in a nurturing environment  is one of the motivations for becoming a school psychologist.  Participating in a number of extracurricular activities  enables personal and professional growth.  The feeling of being able to improve the lives of others with knowledge is breath taking.  The intrinsic reward that is received from being able to help the needy by means of  psychological training is well worth the sacrifice that has been made.  Candidates of graduate school in education or psychology are aware that the conventional practices in pedagogy and counseling require reflection on the knowledge that has been gained.  The practice of introspective reflection is perceived to bring the practitioner closer to the field and to enhance their practice (Lewis et al., 2011).

The practice of collaborating with the psychologists who have more experience is a substantial challenge.  The collaboration with the psychologists who are at the school and have more time in their tenure requires significant interpersonal abilities.  These interpersonal abilities require the art of negotiation.  The core competencies of a school psychologist cause the development of exceptional communication skills and interpersonal abilities.  The best training with regards to interpersonal skills that has can be acquired in order to facilitate the interaction with my colleagues who are school psychologists with more experience is earned during educational interactions as a graduate student (LaFortune, 2009).  Attending university allowed the collaboration with others who had far more experience.  Most importantly, one is  able to learn from the experiences.  These experiences were integral in being able to adapt to interacting with new colleagues in the professional counseling environment of school psychology.

The supervisor is an excellent transactional and transformational leader.  An excellent transactional leader has the  attribute of making thecounselors  feel accepted, respected and valued.  Inclusion is perceived as a result of mentorship.  The qualities that the supervisor has demonstrated as a mentor are admirable.   Learning has taken place from the supervisor through the implementation of transactional and transformational leadership. Mentoring can be applied as a venue for assuring that those who are learning in the environment are made to perceive social inclusion (Eagly, 2013; Rombeau et al., 2010).

The qualities that the supervisor demonstrates that are excellent with regards to mentoring.  Mentoring can be referenced as a person to person, objective relationship where an individual mentor voluntarily delegates time and resources in order to encourage and support a colleague. Mentoring can be applied in order to enhance and to empower the school psychologist’s practice.  Currently, mentoring is applied in a diverse number of professions.  Traditionally, mentoring has been demonstrated to be effective in correlation to supplying a wide scope of issues which correspond with the daily activities of work and social life (Rombeau et al., 2010).

The professional development program at the school can be described as a form of mentoring.  The objective of the scholastic environment in which  assignment as a school psychologist  has been offered is the facilitating of an environment that is geared in order to develop the well- being and the abilities of youngsters. The enhancement of the adolescents occurs cognitively and socially by means of the input of another person who has attained greater experience in the field.  The mentoring aspect that is being  learned from the supervisor and the scholastic environment is directed toward enhancing the practitioner’s personal and professional production.  This quality of correspondence between colleagues is characterized as being a dyad. Dyads in the educational and therapeutic fields are composed of frequent consultations between the mentor and the trainee.

The mentoring process that is applied by the supervisor and the scholastic environment is informal and appears to have the capacity of producing itself naturally without external assistance.  The dyads that are formed in the scholastic organization between the supervisor and the personnel are formed on the concept of mutual identification and the fulfilment of professional requisites.  The adnministrator may extend the mentoring that is being imparted on the basis that the staff member is perceived as a younger less experienced colleague.  There is substantial respect for the supervisor from the personnel.  The support that the administratorand is providing by leading by example and mentoring is highly appreciated (Rombeau et al., 2010).

The steps that will be taken in the school community are to perpetuate the lessons that have been instructed by the supervisor and the colleagues.  These lessons have been to instruct  he interactions with the faculty and student body by providing professional counseling services that include leadership by example and mentoring support.  The facilitating of the mentoring to the students and faculty members who are in need is the responsibility of the counselor.  This is the experiential knowledge that has been imparted by the association with the personnel and the mission statement of the educational facility.

The social inclusion movement originated in the 1980s.  This social phenomenon initiated a mass movement of mentoring which transformed into a historical and social movement.  One of the primary ideas with regards to mentoring was applied to youth who were deemed to be at risk.  The therapists acknowledged several characteristics which cause the adolescents to be susceptible to maladaptive influences (Rhodes, 2004).  Consequently, the intention is to provide the professional counseling services to the members of the faculty and the student body as a component of the role as a school psychologist.

The sense of culture that is perceived to be predominant at the school is that the faculty and counseling personnel  have been made to feel accepted, respected and valued by the administrator.  Consequently, as the mentoring process is continuing between the administrators and the members of the therapeutic staff, the values which have been imparted will be communicated to the faculty and members of the student body  In this manner,  the members of the faculty and the student body can feel comfortable in coming to the school psychologist’s office in search of advice or professional counseling services.  The sense of respect that is a component of the scholastic environment is what is intended to be perpetuated (Dubois et al., 2014).  The perception of making all of the members of the student body and faculty feel respected, accepted and protected regardless of their cultural background is part of creating a well- adapted student body with members whom are prepared to optimize the educational curriculum imparted by the faculty members.

References

Du Bois, D. L. and Karcher, M. J. (2014). Handbook of youth mentoring. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications.

Eagly, A. (2013). Gender and work.  Harvard Business School.

LaFortune, L., Lapage, C, Persechino, F. and Aitken, A.  (2009). Professional competencies for accompanying change: A frame of reference. Québec, Canada: Presses de L’université de Québec.

Lewis, J., Lewis, M., Daniels, J. and D’Andrea, M. (2011). Community counseling: A multicultural- social justice perspective (4^th edition). Belmont, CA: Brooks Cole Cengage Learning.

Rombeau, J. L., Goldberg, A. and Loveland- Jones, C. (2010). Surgical mentoring: Building tomorrow’s leaders. New York: Springer Science and Business Media, LLC.