Shells of Counseling

Breaking Out of Reading Shells Shells of Assistive Technology Shells of Failure As A Tool Shells of Generalization Shells of Independence Shells of My Students' Favorite Books Shells of Teacher Responses Shells of a Blog Shells of Help for Online Learners Shells of Reading and Learning Quotes Shells of a Guestbook Shells of Graphic Organizers Shells of Books I Read Shells of Article Reflections Shells of Reading Strategies Shells of What Students Like or Don't Like About Reading Shells of Helpful Reading Websites Shells of Reading, Teaching and Learning Poetry Shells of Writing Shells of Student Comments on Twilight and Other Books Shells of My Life As A Reader Shells of More Reading Quotes Shells of Dyslexia Shells of Thoughts on Reading Shells of Turtle Poems Shells of Turtle Games and Activities Shells of What Makes a Good Reader Shells of Teaching Shells of Turtle Stories and Lessons Shells of Reading Help Shells of Social Issues Shells of Counseling Shells of Remediation Shells of Twilight Shells of Educational Turtle Games Shells of Vocabulary Shells of Memory/Test Taking Strategies Shells of Spelling Shells of Turtle Stories Shells of More Turtle Poems Shells of How Twilight is the New Harry Potter Shells of Twilight Lesson Plans and Ideas Shells of My Reading/Teaching Improvement Plan Shells of Vampires Shells of Shells

Counseling Students Through Reading

Reading offers a great opportunity to counsel your students regarding their concerns.  Often the books that you choose can help students with particular problems or issues they are having in their lives or even difficulties or issues that they are having with their reading without you even having to mention the problem. 

How to Discuss Issues Students Have Through Literature

Teachers can choose books to use in the classroom either for whole group or independent reading that cover issues students are having or could confront in their lives.  Doing things like this with literature can make sensitive issues stay out of the picture so that students do not have to worry about other students knowing about their problems.  Also issues such as morality or social problems can be covered through the use of such reading materials.

Be sensitive when offering counsel to students.

Employ empathy when dealing with sensitive subjects or counseling students.  Reading is a great opportunity to offer students so that they do not feel embarassed about their issues.

Refer students who have issues that you cannot tackle to outside counselors or to the school counselor as appropriate.  Work with these people and those in the greater community through reading materials that can be provided either to your students or to others.  This can help to develop community awareness of issues that affect entire classrooms or communities, yet confidentiality can still be kept.  Encourage support groups on issues that affect many students in your classroom environment.

Teach students through positive characters in the stories that you read together in class.

Comparing and contrasting characters and their actions in the text will help students to see differences between right and wrong and will give them a good understanding of character and will help them better comprehend the literature they confront.  Use character webs and Venn diagrams to do this.  Also looking at comparing and contrasting of stories and the characters in them will provide students with great insight into such matters as well.

Hold individual reading conferences with your students.  Counsel them according to their needs.  Meet often with students and encourage them to keep reading logs as well as reading journals.  Students may feel more comfortable writing down personal thoughts versus verbally expressing them.  This also will help with their vocabulary, spelling and writing skills.

Counsel students about their reading privately and never in front of other students.  This is why individual reading conferences are so important.  Students do not want their peers to know how they are doing or about the issues they confront with their literacy abilities.  Be sensitive to these issues and practice empathy to their reading struggles.  Your students will appreciate this and all will benefit as a result.