“Twenty-first-century teaching demands new tools and techniques that are relevant in the current context. What worked in the past may not work in the future.” —Professor M.S. Rao

Vision 2030: One Million Global Leaders

“When you exploit your body, you will observe abnormal changes. When you exploit your climate, you will observe abnormal changes. It is known as climate change.” —Professor M.S. Rao

Vision 2030: One Million Global Leaders

Educational guidance School counselor

A school counselor is a counselor and an educator who works in elementary, middle, and high schools to provide academic, career, college readiness, and personal/social competencies to all K-12 students through a school counseling program. The four main school counseling program interventions used include: developmental school counseling core curriculum classroom lessons and annual academic, career/college readiness, and personal/social planning for every student; and group and individual counsel for some students.

Older, outdated terms for the profession were \”guidance counselor\” or \”educational counselor\” but \”school counselor\” is preferred due to professional school counselors\’ advocating for every child\’s academic, career, and personal/social success in every elementary, middle, and high school

School counselor roles, school counseling program framework, professional associations, and ethics

Professional school counselors ideally implement a school counseling program that promotes and enhances student achievement.

School counselors, in most USA states, usually have a Master\’s degree in school counseling from a Counselor Education graduate program.

In Canada, they must be licensed teachers with additional school counseling training and focus on academic, career, and personal/social issues.

China requires at least three years of college experience.

In Japan, school counselors were added in the mid-1990s, part-time, primarily focused on behavioral issues.

In Taiwan, they are often teachers with recent legislation requiring school counseling licensure focused on individual and group counseling for academic, career, and personal issues.

In Korea, school counselors are mandated in middle and high schools.

School counselors are employed in elementary, middle, and high schools, and in district supervisory settings and in counselor education faculty positions (usually with an earned Ph.D. in Counselor Education in the USA or related graduate doctorates abroad), and post-secondary settings doing academic, career, college readiness, and personal/social counseling, consultation, and program coordination. Their work includes a focus on developmental stages of student growth, including the needs, tasks, and student interests related to those stages.

Professional school counselors meet the needs of student in three basic domains: academic development, career development, and personal/social development with an increased emphasis on college access.

Knowledge, understanding and skill in these domains are developed through classroom instruction, appraisal^,consultation, counseling, coordination, and collaboration. For example, in appraisal, school counselors may use a variety of personality and career assessment methods to help students explore career and college needs and interests.

School counselor interventions include individual and group counseling for some students. For example, if a student\’s behavior is interfering with his or her achievement, the school counselor may observe that student in a class, provide consultation to teachers and other stakeholders to develop (with the student) a plan to address the behavioral issue(s), and then collaborate to implement and evaluate the plan. They also provide consultation services to family members such as college access, career development, parenting skills, study skills, child and adolescent development, and help with school-home transitions.

School counselor interventions for all students include annual academic/career/college access planning K-12 and leading classroom developmental lessons on academic, career/college, and personal/social topics. The topics ofcharacter education, diversity and multiculturalism and school safety are important areas of focus for school counselors. Often school counselors will coordinate outside groups that wish to help with student needs such as academics, or coordinate a program that teaches aboutchild abuse or drugs, through on-stage drama.

School counselors develop, implement, and evaluate school counseling programs that deliver academic, career, college access, and personal/social competencies to all students in their schools.

For example, the ASCA National Model (Hatch & Bowers, 2003, 2005; ASCA, 2012) ^[56] includes the following four main areas:

· Foundation – a school counseling program mission statement, a beliefs/vision statement, SMART Goals; ASCA Student Standards & ASCA Code of Ethics;

· Delivery System – how school counseling core curriculum lessons, planning for every student, and individual and group counseling are delivered in direct and indirect services to students (80% of school counselor time);

· Management System – calendars; use of data tool; use of time tool; administrator-school counselor agreement; advisory council; small group, school counseling core curriculum, and closing the gap action plans; and

· Accountability System – school counseling program assessment; small group, school counseling core curriculum, and closing-the-gap results reports; and school counselor performance evaluations based on school counselor competencies.

· Elementary school counseling

· Elementary school counselors provide, academic, career, college access, and personal and social competencies and planning to all students, and individual and group counseling for some students and their families to meet the developmental needs of young children K-6.

· Transitions from pre-school to elementary school and from elementary school to middle school are an important focus for elementary school counselors. Increased emphasis is placed on accountability for closing achievement and opportunity gaps at the elementary level as more school counseling programs move to evidence-based work with data and specific results.

· School counseling programs that deliver specific competencies to all students help to close achievement and opportunity gaps. To facilitate individual and group school counseling interventions, school counselors use developmental, cognitive-behavioral, person-centered listening and influencing skills, systemic, family, multicultural, narrative, and play therapy theories and techniques.

· Middle school counseling

· Middle school counselors provide school counseling curriculum lessonson academic, career, college access, and personal and social competencies, advising and academic/career/college access planning to all students and individual and group counseling for some students and their families to meet the needs of older children/early adolescents in grades 7 and 8.

· Middle School College Access curricula have been developed by The College Board to assist students and their families well before reaching high school. To facilitate the school counseling process, school counselors use theories and techniques including developmental, cognitive-behavioral, person-centered listening and influencing skills, systemic, family, multicultural, narrative, and play therapy. Transitional issues to ensure successful transitions to high school are a key area including career exploration and assessment with seventh and eighth grade students.

· High school counseling

· High school counselors provide, academic, career, college access, and personal and social competencies with developmental classroom lessons and planning to all students, and individual and group counseling for some students and their families to meet the developmental needs of adolescents. Emphasis is on college access counseling at the early high school level as more school counseling programs move to evidence-based work with data and specific resultsthat show how school counseling programs help to close achievement, opportunity, and attainment gaps ensuring all students have access to school counseling programs and early college access activities. The breadth of demands high school counselors face, from educational attainment (high school graduation and some students\’ preparation for careers and college) to student social and mental health, has led to ambiguous role definition.

· Summarizing a 2011 national survey of more than 5,300 middle school and high school counselors, researchers argued: \”Despite the aspirations of counselors to effectively help students succeed in school and fulfill their dreams, the mission and roles of counselors in the education system must be more clearly defined; schools must create measures of accountability to track their effectiveness; and policymakers and key stakeholders must integrate counselors into reform efforts to maximize their impact in schools across America\”

· Transitional issues to ensure successful transitions to college, other post-secondary educational options, and careers are a key area. The high school counselor helps students and their families prepare for post-secondary education including college and careers (e.g. college,careers) by engaging students and their families in accessing and evaluating accurate information on what the National Office for School Counselor Advocacy calls the 8 essential elements of college and career counseling: (1) College Aspirations, (2) Academic Planning for Career and College Readiness, (3) Enrichment and Extracurricular Engagement, (4) College and Career Exploration and Selection Processes, (5) College and Career Assessments, (6) College Affordability Planning, (7) College and Career Admission Processes, and (8) Transition from High School Graduation to College Enrollment.^[76] Some students turn to private college admissions advisors but there is no research evidence that private college admissions advisors have any effectiveness in assisting students attain selective college admissions.

Flexible learning and the expression – You can bring a horse to a float but you can\’t make it go in or stay inside

The online class session which Sarah and Helen requested was really good. There were six of us including one of the alumni from the very first course, Tony. A couple of people did not have mics and they also managed to contribute a lot. It was great to hear about the video -ipod approach of Tony\’s team and how their work with video is expanding into automotive engineering and sports with their help. Their programme website with lots of neat recipes and videos is at: http://otagocookeryl4.blogspot.com/ And there is a degree in cookery on the way.

I found the session stimulated me to speak about my past learning experiences. For example, the Diploma of Teaching in which the learning was all done through self-directed and mentored assignments. Half the 120 credits were allowed to be attributed to RPL. The oral presentation at the end was where I had to present reflections about my learning journey and my teaching framework to a panel. That was scary.

The most memorable thing for me regarding flexible learning in my past life, was in the Certificate in Clinical Teaching because a facilitator from Christchurch used to travel to Dunedin to run two and three day workshops as part of the programme. Not only was the timing of her teaching innovative, her style was flexible because it was very experiential and she facilitated our learning rather than just lecturing us. She did a mixture of presentation, activities and discussion, self-directed activities, teleconference, block courses and peer work. Her assessments were also innovative, for example, a poster was the main assessment.

Since I started working at Otago Polytechnic in 1992 as a bioscience lecturer, I have seen a huge number of changes in the type of assessments offered to students right across the polytechnic. Now it is not just essays, quizzes and exams, there are a multitude of things offered to students. There are also a huge number of ways in which teachers communicate with their students. Once upon a time, lecturers used to be aghast at the idea of emailing students and now it is a given. Some are also using texting to communicate and chat and skype as well as web and video conferencing.

I am interested to hear how participants in the Flexible learning course assess and communicate flexibly. These are very important aspects of flexible learning, and even more important than content in my opinion. What do you think?

The horse analogy and flexible learning
The title of this post has come about due to the number of hours I have spent recently helping my daughter to teach a horse to get in a float. There was a lot of work involved to get it to even enter and then a lot more to get it to stay in the float. The experience reminds me of my work at Otago Polytechnic. Perhaps this sounds a bit silly, and you are thinking what has a horse got to do with teaching at a tertiary institution? Well I can see several similarities. Let me set the scene first.

Over the years as a staff developer and educational developer, I have spent many, many hours assisting staff – academic and general – with the use of technology in the workplace. I have also taught Health Informatics to health students with the aim of up-skilling them in computing for their practice. I have also spent a lot of energy leading people to the big eLearning pond, trying to get them to dabble their toes on the edge, walk out a bit even though it was chilly and scary and then swimming with them when they decided to take the plunge. Sometimes I pushed the occasional person in, but hey I did rescue them, mostly. Some I could not catch as they swam away to distant horizons once they found their flippers. 🙂 It\’s been like swimming with the dolphins – fun, scary, challenging and playful and also like swimming with the sharks – terrifying, serious, exhilarating. It is also very similar to the work required to get a scared horse to enter a float.
Image: Pond at Autumn – Teich im Herbst by Tobi_2008
Thinking back on my experiences over the last nine years, and about my experiences recently with the horse float, I realise that there is also a lot of merit in the expression, \”you can lead a horse to water but you cannot make it drink\”. Just as we led the horse to the float and could not get him to go in..for ages…but with some repetition, gentle and firm persuasion, guiding ropes (structure) and patience, we got him in and we got him to stay longer each time. This is much like my experiences in getting teachers to accept flexible ways of offering learning.

And to continue with the analogy of the float. Some back off before they get even close, others walk up to it and watch, others walk up, sniff and turn round, others walk right on in and stay and never leave, others walk in halfway, and some go in, back out, go back in and so on, and some only ever keep one foot on the door, always looking side to side and behind… My motto is to keep trying, so if you see me coming towards you with a horse whip I promise to be gentle.

Flexible learning and the expression – You can bring a horse to a float but you can\’t make it go in or stay inside

\’Assignment in Life Insurance Policy\’ (197 Words)

In a life insurance policy, when the policy money becomes due for payment on the death of the policyholder or maturity, it can be paid only to the person who is legally entitled to give a valid discharge to the Life Insurance Company.

If the policy is assigned, the assignee receives the claim amount as per rules. It should be noted that an assignment of a policy automatically cancels the existing nomination.

Hence, when such a policy is reassigned in favour of the policyholder, it is necessary to make a fresh nomination to avoid delay in payment of the claim.

Assignment:

Assignment means transfer of rights, title and interest.
When an assignment is executed, all rights, title and interest in respect of the property assigned are immediately transferred to the Assignee/s and the Assignee/s become the owner/s of the policy subject to any lawful condition made in the assignment.
Assignment can be either conditional or absolute.
On assignment, Nomination automatically stands cancelled.
Hence, when such a policy is reassigned, the policyholder will have to make a fresh nomination to avoid delay in settlement of claim.

\’Assignment in Life Insurance Policy\’ (197 Words)

Assignment means transfer of rights, title and interest.
When an assignment is executed, all rights, title and interest in respect of the property assigned are immediately transferred to the Assignee/s and the Assignee/s become the owner/s of the policy subject to any lawful condition made in the assignment.
Assignment can be either conditional or absolute.
On assignment, Nomination automatically stands cancelled.
Hence, when such a policy is reassigned, the policyholder will have to make a fresh nomination to avoid delay in settlement of claim.

\’Assignment in Life Insurance Policy\’ (197 Words)

Assignment means transfer of rights, title and interest.
When an assignment is executed, all rights, title and interest in respect of the property assigned are immediately transferred to the Assignee/s and the Assignee/s become the owner/s of the policy subject to any lawful condition made in the assignment.
Assignment can be either conditional or absolute.
On assignment, Nomination automatically stands cancelled.
Hence, when such a policy is reassigned, the policyholder will have to make a fresh nomination to avoid delay in settlement of claim.

Teaching Students About The Iowa Caucus – 8 Animated Explainer Videos

Source: Mic

After months of polls, predictions, and prognostications, the citizens of Iowa will finally render the first actual votes of the 2016 presidential campaign. The process, though, is far from simple. The Iowa caucuses are notoriously obtuse affairs, especially on the Democratic side. The details of the caucuses may be familiar to Iowans and political science junkies, but the precise steps in selecting delegates are enormously important for all citizens to know. Students especially should be aware of how a caucus works, because it is a true instance of civics-in-action and because one of the candidates will go on to become the next leader of the free world.

Source: MSNBC

The explainer videos featured below are all terrific tools in teaching students about the first-in-the-nation voting process. As animated motion graphics, they can effectively reach learners of all ages. They would be ideal for both in-class or flipped learning, as they outline the history and the methodology behind Iowa\’s quirky tradition of caucus-going.

How A Caucus Works, Explained With Lego – by Mic

What Is A Caucus? – by MSNBC

How The Iowa Democratic Caucus Works, Featuring Legos – by VPR

How The Iowa Caucus Works – by Vox

So What\’s A Caucus, Anyway? – by AJ+

Iowa Caucuses Explained – by ABC News

Why Does Iowa Go First?! History Of The Iowa Caucus Explained 2016 – by Political News Junkie

Primary Elections Explained – by CGP Grey

For more posts about the 2016 election, check out:

Short Biography of ‘Bhimrao Ramji Ambedkar’ (Dr. B.R. Ambedkar) (130 Words)

‘Bhimrao Ramji Ambedkar’ was born on 14 April 1891 in Mhow town of Madhya Pradesh, India. He was the son of Ramji Maloji Sakpal and Bhimabai. His father served in the Indian Army at the Mhow cantonment. He became one of the first Dalit (untouchables) to obtain a college education in India. Eventually earning a law degree and doctorates for his study and research in law, economics and political science.

Bhimrao Ramji Ambedkar is popularly known as ‘Babasaheb’. He was an Indian jurist, political leader, philosopher, anthropologist, historian, orator, economist, teacher, editor, prolific writer, revolutionary and a revivalist for Buddhism in India. He became the 1st Law Minister of India. He became the Chairman of the Constitution Drafting Committee. For his contributions, he was awarded with ‘Bharat Ratna’.

Ambedkar died on 6 December 1956 at his home in Delhi.

Short Essay on ‘Madhu Limaye’ (100 Words)

‘Madhu Limaye’ was born on 1st May, 1922 at Pune, India. His father’s name was Ramchandra Mahadev Limaye. He was educated at Fergusson College, Pune, India. He was married to Professor Smt. Champa Limaye.

Madhu Limaye was an Indian Socialist essayist and activist. He was the follower of Ram Manohar Lohia. He played an active part in the JP movement. Madhu Limaye was a freedom fighter. In 1955, Portugese put him in jail from where he wrote letters to his little son, Aniruddha, also called Popat. In retirement, through the 1980s, he continued to write. He was especially caustic on Constitutional issues.

Short Essay on \’Govardhan Puja\’ (100 Words)

\’Govardhan Puja\’ is a famous festival of Hindus. It is widely celebrated in the northern part of India. This is the fourth day of Diwali. It is celebrated on the first day of Shukla Paksha of Karthik month according to Hindu Calendar. It is celebrated on the next day of Diwali festival.

Govardhan Puja is a festival to worship Lord Krishna and Mount Govardhan popularly known as Govardhan Parvat. It is celebrated in commemoration of lifting the mountain Govardhan by Lord Krishna on his finger tip. The day is to worship Govardhan Parvat which is said to have saved its’ inhabitants from incessant rains. It symbolizes the importance of nature in our lives.

Short Essay on \’Govardhan Puja\’ (100 Words)

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How A Caucus Works, Explained With Lego – by Mic

What Is A Caucus? – by MSNBC

How The Iowa Democratic Caucus Works, Featuring Legos – by VPR

How The Iowa Caucus Works – by Vox

So What\’s A Caucus, Anyway? – by AJ+

Iowa Caucuses Explained – by ABC News

Why Does Iowa Go First?! History Of The Iowa Caucus Explained 2016 – by Political News Junkie

Primary Elections Explained – by CGP Grey

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