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As I speak with elementary counselors across the country, the elimination of the position all together is becoming the norm. With budgets slashed and available dollars being tight – the school counselor’s role is being phased out. Counselors play a vital role in the social, emotional, academic, and personal success of our young PK-6 children and without their frontline support – many kids will pay the price for our severe budget shortfalls.
I have many concerns about the future of our schools without counselors, but one of my greatest worries about the elimination of the elementary position is that the majority of our kids aren’t getting basic virtues taught (or for that matter even modeled) at home. Too many times, our nation’s children only receive character education training by school counselors in our classrooms. Honestly, I’d rather that Spongebob Squarepants NOT be the primary source of character values for our students!
Without the continued benefit of the counselor on campus, schools must find new ways of presenting character education curriculum to students. Additionally, any character program put in place must greatly limit the amount of implementation time required of teachers who they themselves already have their plates full! Our schools simply cannot depend upon over burdened teachers to present quality character education programming.
With limited personnel to deliver school wide programming, tight budgets for the purchase of materials, and highly restricted time schedules, a great new method of implementing a character education program is the use of the school PA system. With the single touch of a button, programs like Achiever McBeaver and The College Crew allow schools the ability to reach an entire campus (no matter the size) on a regular weekly basis with high action 8 minute episodes.
Designed by educators, the “cartoon style” radio program does a great job of holding student attention and developing student listening skills. With good “old fashioned” radio style formatting, students are actively engaged in the material as they use their imagination, creativity, critical thinking, interpretive reasoning, and listening skills. Having been an active participant in the program instead of a just passive bystander in the action, lessons are better internalized, digested, and become much more of an integral part of a student's individual daily habits. Just ask any classroom teacher why they still choose to read books aloud to their students … so many important and basic skills are developed with the listening process!
Despite cuts in budgets and personnel, schools can still provide students with low cost, high quality, and easy to implement character education. To learn more about this effective program, you can visit www.achievermcbeaver.com.
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