Seminar - Overload

This week I had very little opportunity to work on my research project on the ED program. One of my classes required that I find a student to do some counseling with, so most of my day was focused on that. This next week I will have to do the same type of counseling activity and also present some of the literature review I have been working on.

The counseling part of my experience was very exciting. It was sort of weird having my supervisor there, but she played it off very well as if she was not listening. At the end of the counseling, she was able to give me so much feedback that I was not expecting her to give. One of the best pieces of advice that she gave me was to allow the client to explore the topic on their own to come to their own conclusions. I have been keeping this in mind as I've been talking with different people about their problems. I have been trying to give people less options and more opportunities to discover things on their own. It seems to be working more effectively and people then feel as if they have ownership over their problems.

While this experience and the one I am hoping to have tomorrow are very beneficial for my learning, I feel as though my research project is creeping up on me relatively quickly. I am hoping that once classes are over I can really work on a project proposal for the school. Probably the most frustrating part about being in a quarterly system is that there is very little time to reflect. Granted we have assignments to reflect on our experiences every week, but our reflections tend to point out daily occurrences more than the big picture ideas.

To really develop a philosophy about how we feel regarding the field and direction of school psychology, we need longer deadlines. Similar to how we are working on our research projects, it would be beneficial to me to have our personal philosophies developed each quarter bits at a time. It's true that we should be thinking about our philosophies throughout the program, but it would be helpful to break it down according to specific areas. For example, we could think about our overall perspectives on consultation, RTI, standardized testing, or behavioral assessments. And rather than having this philosophy due at the end of the quarter, we could spend time working out our ideas in class with a partner.

I don't particularly find it useful to discuss each person's idea in class every class. After awhile of doing the same activity, my eyes start to glaze. I find it much more helpful to get into group discussions about the big ideas and then into how to implement them.

I think I have detracted from my original idea, which was my research project. I am hoping to work on this project after classes have ended. It feels like my professors forgot about some of the larger projects due next week and now we're jumping into them with little explanation (research project excluded). Fortunately, Dr. Shinn extended our 10-page opinion/perspective paper, so that is one less thing to worry about. Regardless, the most interesting thing I am doing right now is related to my research project. I would like to spend more time putting together my ideas in the lab. If we could spend practicum time working on our own projects, that would make things much more doable, interesting, and helpful.