Ott Elementary Counselors' Corner
with Mrs. Q Rodriguez
Guidance & Counseling Program
Our Vision
We the counselors, at Ott Elementary, serve our students so they can reach their full academic, social, and emotional potential. By doing this, we strive to build empathetic leaders with strong character, who respect themselves and others, and who will grow and continue to have life-long success and have a positive impact in their community.
Our Mission
As counselors at Ott Elmentary, it is our mission to provide a comprehensive and developmentally appropriate guidance program that addresses the academic, social, and emotional developmental needs of all students in a safe and nurturing environment. We are committed to partnering with parents, guardians, staff and other community members in order to provide necessary support to enable and empower all students to become successful productive cititzens and life-long learners in our diverse and ever changing world.
Guidance & Counseling Services
Since children may experience a variety of concerns at different developmental stages, Ott's Guidance & Counseling Program offers many services that assist students in acquiring knowledge and skills necessary for healthy emotional and social development. Guidance and counseling services are offered for all children in grades PreK- 5th grade.
The guidance and counseling program at Ott Elementary is designed to be proactive and preventative as well as developmental. The counselors at Ott work with students in three different settings:
- All students in PreK - 5 receive classroom guidance lessons.
- Students may be invited to participate in a small group counseling setting. In small group counseling, the counselor teaches specific skills to 3-6 students at a time. These groups meet during the school day for six to eight 30 minute sessions.
- The counselor sees individual students when they have a social or emotional concern, which may interfere with their ability to learn or concentrate in school. An appointment may be made to see the counselor by the student, teacher, parent or by invitation of the counselor.
Classroom Guidance
Guidance classes are a part of Northside's Comprehensive Guidance Program in which the counselors teach students skills to enrich their educational and social emotional lives. These skills are taught to entire classes. The guidance curriculum is intended to support the objectives of academic instruction and to help students develop to their full educational and personal potential.
Guidance Lessons are intended to cover the following four skill goals:
Intrapersonal Effectiveness:
- Positive student self-concept
- Effective executive functioning skills
- Appropriate behavior to the situation and environment
Interpersonal Effectiveness:
- Effective interactions with diverse populations
- Effective and appropriate communication skills
- Recognition of personal boundaries, individual rights and privacy needs of others
- Effective conflict resolution skills
- Development of healthy relationships
Post Secondary Planning and Career Readiness:
- Motivation to succeed in personal endeavors
- Demonstration of career exploration skills
- Possession of the knowledge and skills to gather information for the purpose of postsecondary education and career planning
- Demonstration of awareness of the importance of postsecondary education
- Understanding of the relationship of academics to the world of work and to life at home and in the community
Personal Health and Safety:
- Incorporation of wellness practices into daily living
- Demonstration of resilience and positive coping skills
- Possession of assertiveness skills necessary for personal protection
Small Group & Individual Counseling
The counselors at Ott Elementary offer two types of small group counseling. The first type is developmental. These groups address developmental topics such as friendship skills, time management, organizational skills, and other skills to help students succeed in school.
The second type of small group counseling offered is specific to a special concern or need. These groups are offered to students who share a common concern. Topics include, but are not limited to family changes, military deployment, managing feelings, adjusting to grief or loss, friendship and building self-confidence.
As part of our responsive services, we also provide individual counseling to help students resolve problems and cope with situations that may cause an interruption in their learning or functioning throughout the school day.
The following are some common issues school counselors may work with students in an individual setting:
- Stress
- Managing Feelings
- Anxiety
- Self-confidence issues
- Identity issues
- Body image
- Difficulty creating and developing healthy friendships or relationships
- Abuse
- Cultural issues
- Unhealthy or unsafe choices and behaviors
- Family issues
After an individual counseling session, the counselor may find the issue or concern beyond what they are able to provide in a school setting and may refer parents or guardians to outside services.
Students can be referred for small group or individual counseling by parents, teachers, counselors, administrators or through self-referral. Students will not be seen in a small counseling group without the written permission of a parent or guardian. All meetings with the school counselor are confidential.