School Counseling, School Psychology, and CACREP Standards covered in *STANDARD 10: Leadership and Advocacy. Certified counselors support practices and policies that promote academic rigor—skills for learning, living, and working; provide leadership that enhances student academic, career, and personal/social development and advocate for guidance as an integral part of a school's educational system; model practices that help students, parents, teachers, and policy makers understand how curriculum, instruction and assessment can help students see the relationship between effort, performance, and success beyond high school. Certified school counselors help promote understanding of graduation requirements, WASL scores, and development of the high school and beyond plan.Psychology 561: Group Counseling (4/6/06) Course Syllabus Rm 258, Psychology Spring Quarter 2007 Thursday, 5:00 – 8:00 pm Instructor: Jeff Penick, PhD Office: Rm 461, Psychology Bldg. Office Hours: Mon 11:00 – 1:00; Thurs. 10:00 – 12:00 Phone: 963-3669 / 963-2501 E-mail [email protected] Course Description: Group Counseling (3). Prerequisite, PSY 560. Theoretical approaches to group counseling, and introductory laboratory/demonstration experience. Required Textbooks: Yalom, I. D. & Leszcz, M. (2005). The theory and practice of group psychotherapy (5th ed.). New York: Basic Books. Jacobs, E. E., Masson R. L., & Harvill R. L. (2009). Group counseling: Strategies and skills (6th ed.). Pacific Grove, CA: Brooks/Cole. Supplemental Readings: These are available as a coursepack in the University Bookstore. Course Objectives and Method of Instruction: This course is designed to outline the basic issues, key concepts, and theories of group process and to provide students with information, and skills to apply these concepts in working with a variety of groups. In addition, students will be prepared for further training in group leadership, including a group practicum experience. Brief lectures will be used to present some specific content, however, most of class time will be spent in discussions in seminar format and practical experiential components involving role plays and modeling involving both the instructor and students. Specific Student Objectives: Upon completion of this course students should be able to: 1. Identify the history and trends of group counseling. 2. Identify the major principles of group dynamics. This includes differentiating the developmental stages of groups and the behavioral manifestations of these stages and the implications for group process. 3. Describe and apply various group leadership styles and approaches and identify the characteristics of effective group counselors. 4. Demonstrate an understanding of various theories of group counseling, including commonalities, distinguishing characteristics, and pertinent research and literature. 5. Describe and apply group counseling methods, including group counselor orientations and behaviors, appropriate selection criteria and methods, and methods of evaluation of effectiveness. 6. Describe approaches used for other types of group work, including task groups, psychoeducational groups, and therapy groups. 7. Demonstrate an understanding of the preparation standards for group leaders 8. Describe ethical and legal issues relevant to group counseling. 9. Identify multicultural considerations relevant to group counseling.Course Policies: 1. Students should come to class prepared to discuss all readings assigned for that week. 2. Students should familiarize themselves with the University policy on academic dishonesty. Please be aware that any instance of plagiarism in this course will result in an automatic grade of "F" for the entire course. 3. Unless otherwise specified, all written work for this course should be presented in APA style. 4. All papers and assignments are expected to be on time and complete. You will lose 10% off the assignment for each day late. 5. “Double dipping” (utilizing assignments or papers of identical or very similar content in more than one class) should not be done without consulting the instructors involved. 6. Attendance is important as this is often an experiential class. Unexcused absences will result in a loss of 5 percentage points from your final grade. Some or all of these points can be made up by completing a 5 page paper on a course-related topic agreed upon by the instructor. (For the paper a grade of 90-100=5pts, 80-89=4pts, etc.). 7. Makeup work. A makeup opportunity for missed exams or assignments may be given at the instructor's discretion, but only in those instances in which the absence is "excused." Excused absences include personal illness, emergencies in your immediate family, job interviews, and university sponsored trips, among others. If possible, check in advance before you make travel and other arrangements for planned absences; for unplanned absences, check with me as soon as possible after you can once again attend class to schedule makeup work. If you are ill, call or e-mail me before or during class and leave a message. I may require a doctor’s note to excuse absence due to illness. Makeup opportunities will not be allowed for unexcused absences, and I do not automatically excuse absences. 8. I cannot accept “electronic” excuses for work not turned in, e.g., “my computer/printer/disk/etc. wouldn’t work.” Please back up all work in case you or I need a second copy. Course Requirements: A. Contribute to the Blackboard discussion group (10% of grade). The intention here is to give our “learning group” (i.e., class) a place to reflect on the content and processes of the group. I’ll try to lead off with my own reflections as leader for you to respond to, but you may, of course, start your own thread with an entry or respond to each other in an open discussion format. For full credit, these entries should address aspects of our learning group’s process, dynamics or leadership, for instance: group process and content, planning, stage of the group, stages within a session, focus, tone, norms, use of exercises and the impact of those exercises, leadership behaviors and skills, etc. • Minimum 50 word entry or response B. Participate in a group outside of class. 10-hour / 7-session minimum (10% of grade). This means you should attend a minimum of 7 sessions and be involved for at least 10