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Professional Growth and Development

Jazmin Quintana

College Name, Grand Canyon University

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Laura Cohen

11/07/2021
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Professional Growth and Development

The professional dispositions I displayed while working at my practicum site were

curiosity, honesty, compassion, and professional conduct. These dispositions I feel come to me

naturally and are characteristics of my personality and ones that I often display in my everyday

life. Curiosity and compassion are characteristics I displayed by asking questions discussing

different scenarios that may come up and some that are seldom seen to have a better

understanding of how a school counselor would respond. I displayed compassion while working

with the students to help better understand where the students are coming from, and to help

provide better support by understanding their background and working to put myself in their

position. The dispositions I can work on would be advocacy, and high expectations of students. I

can work on advocacy by ensuring I compile information which can advocate for the school

counselor position, and to advocate for the students needs by ensuring I collect information to

help provide the support students need. I can also work on high expectations by working to

create realistic goals for students which help promote progress but are not overly difficult for the

students wot achieve. My site supervisor exhibited compassion, professional conduct, fairness,

and honesty. She would be sure to be fair with students and provided the students with choices

when working to help redirect them if a student was acting out. My site-supervisor would also be

compassionate and understanding with students while being honest about their progress and

reasons for attending school counseling.

I demonstrated school counselors’ skills with students by collaborating with them to

create lessons based on their interests, and by working to create goals the students wanted to

focus on, but which aligned with the lessons we were working on. I ensured parents were

informed when I worked with their child and have ensured communication was made if the
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parents needed to be contacted in situations of crisis. When working with staff and

administration I ensured the teachers or principal were informed of lesson times and the number

of sessions students would be participating in. I also had conversations with the students’

teachers to find out areas of concerns to focus on to help provide support for not only the

students but also the teachers. Having constant communication is key skill a counselor needs to

possess, and I feel it is one that I display when working with students, staff, families, and

administration.

The dispositions that are most important for a school counselor to possess would be

compassion, fairness, respect for the diversity of others, and advocacy. These dispositions are

extremely important for school counselors to possess as we work with students who are learning

about themselves, navigating making friends, and working to develop an academic identity and

personal identity. A school counselor must be able to understand a student’s situation and display

a caring and compassionate attitude, while also ensuring we are being fair based on the situation

which brought the student to the counselor. A school counselor must also understand the cultural

differences and diversity of others to ensure we respect and incorporate these differences when

working with students, families, and co-workers. As a school counselor they must be able to

advocate for the program and demonstrate how school counselor impact the lives of students and

how they help support their academic career, as well as aide them in navigating their own

personal journey emotionally, socially, and academically.

I plan to work on continued growth throughout my careers by continuing to learn and

possibly through attending professional development, reading additional texts on ways to support

students, and ways to become a better school counselor. I also intend to attend different seminars

which are offered through GCU while I’m continuing my education, and those through the
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ASCA network which are offered to members. I also plan to utilize my resources such as my

site-supervisor to ask questions or discuss scenarios that may come up and work on ways to

address these situations.

The disposition of dedication applies to my future as a school counselor as I am the type

of person who is always reaching for knowledge to help me be the best possible version of

myself. I pride myself on continuing to take each opportunity as a chance to learn and improve. I

am dedicated to learning as much as I possibly can to be able to provide students with the

support, they need in a way that grabs their attention and gives them choices to implement in

their lives that can help the students. I am dedicated to learning and finding what works for me to

be a strong school counselor who can make a difference.

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