The Montessori Method in counselor educator training

¶ … Counselor Educator

In many ways, counselors are educators. They take tools for communication and growth and attempt to teach those goals to a diverse group of people in settings that are designed to increase dialogue and communication in an effort to enhance problem-solving. Therefore, for the counselor, dialogue is essential; the counselor has to learn from the client in order to address client needs and the client has to learn from the counselor. Likewise, in counselor-education, dialogue is important. Counselors in training will vary in ability, background, and intuitive knowledge. A teaching paradigm that fails to take into account individual differences will be destined for failure, because it will fail to model a give-and-take communication process. "Without dialogue there is no communication, and without communication there can be no true education" (Friere, 2000). Therefore, the counselor-educator must always keep the importance of communication in mind when teaching future counselors.

Major Learning Theory

To some, the major learning theory that I endorse will seem immature because of its association with teaching young children. However, those techniques that are effective with young children tend to be the techniques that are effective with older populations as well, and can be used quite successfully if tailored in an age-appropriate manner. The major learning theory that I endorse in training counselors is the Montessori Method. This method emphasizes the importance of active learning as compared to passive learning, and requires a hands-on approach and direct experience (Jeynes, 2007). Given that counseling is a hands-on profession and also requires a hands-on approach, using this teaching style to transmit skills to future counselors not only gives them the appropriate information that they need to be successful, but also develops a good tool kit for the future counselor.

In order to understand why I would choose the Montessori Method, it is important to understand my idea of leadership and how that relates to teaching. I believe in transformative leadership and that effective teachers should also be transformative. Teaching should transform the way that people look at the world, and I strive to be a charismatic and transformational teacher. A charismatic teacher uses charisma to persuade or influence their students (Fairholm & Fairholm, 2009). Furthermore, transformational leaders look forward to opportunities for change, rather than avoiding change. They seek to inspire idea in others, and transform their thinking about situations. In many ways, transformational leaders challenge the status quo. Looking at that statement, one sees a thumbnail description of the counseling profession as a whole, since, at the most basic levels, the challenge for practicing counselors is to help people transform their lives; people do not seek counseling when things are fine. Therefore, using this approach is important because it engages students, but it also models the type of behavior that they should use in their counseling practices. It is another way to teach by doing.

Key Solutions to those Problems

Because counseling really cannot be learned without practicing it, there is a danger that students will find themselves bored and distracted when learning underlying theory and approaches to counseling, but this underlying knowledge is as important, if not more important, than the hands-on learning that counselors must do. Therefore, one of the biggest challenges that counselor-educators face is keeping their students engaged up to the practice segment of their education. One way to do this is to make sure that students are aware of the practical uses of the information being taught (McKeachie & Svinicki, 2011). This helps encourage preparationand participation by students (McKeachie & Svinicki, 2011).

Furthermore, it is critical to openly address diversity and multicultural issues, particularly because different students will have different ideas of what those terms mean and how they should be handled in practice. In fact, the meaning the majority group places on the definition of "diversity" tends to be restricted and exclusive; the meaning the minority group gives to "diversity" tends to be expansive and inclusive (Unzueta & Binning, 2009). Many people want to make easy assumptions about people based on race and history, when emerging and changing culture may mean, for example, that a poor, white, gay male is far more alienated from mainstream society than an affluent, African-American female. Therefore, it is critical for the educator to examine diversity issues from the context of traditionally understood categories of multiculturalism, but also many others, such as socioeconomic class, sexual identity, trauma, unique physical characteristics, family, and community (Lee, 1997).

Personal Philosophy of Counselor Education and Learning Styles

My personal philosophy of counselor education is authentic, transformative visionary. I believe that education is one of the most critical callings a person can experience, and I believe that true educators can best be described as visionaries. Teaching is, at its essence, a way of communicating a vision to others, and transforming them in the process. As a teacher, I want to inspire ideas and inspire a desire to learn in the students. I also want to make students responsible and accountable for their own learning (Palmer, 2007). Furthermore, I feel like authenticity is a critical component for a counselor educator. I need to be myself and be real with my students, who, in turn, must be real when interacting with their clients. Authenticity is critical because authentic people can admit their faults, their mistakes, and their weaknesses, which is critical in counseling. Counselors have to embrace the idea that their careers are hopeful ones, rather than certain ones, and that there are gaps in knowledge about human nature. To me, this is the authentic approach; acknowledging that counseling and counselors are imperfect.

Techniques for Teaching Counselors in Training

In many ways, teaching counselors in training is the same as teaching any other learner, and using standard teaching methods is important. Professors should encourage reading as active learning, explaining the purpose of the reading and demonstrate how the reading complements other assignments (McKeachi & Svinicki, 2011). In fact, encouraging all components of active learning is critical: students should be encouraged and challenged to "think deeply" and beyond the surface levels of the text. Furthermore, as an instructor, I can bring the text to life by pulling in elements from outside the text and showing how the reading relates to life.

Another way to reinforce teaching is through quizzes and classroom participationg. Quizzes do not only test student knowledge, but also evaluate comprehension, which is a good measure of the job that the counselor educator is doing. Likewise, having students engage in classroom presentations and other peer-to-peer teaching is important because that opens up the opportunity for students to put theory into practice.

Techniques and Methods to Engage Students

Anything that can encourage students to discuss their experience is going to help get students engaged. There are several techniques that teachers can use to encourage that discussion including: assisting students to understand the subject matter by giving them practice in thinking; challenging students to evaluate logic of and evidence for their own and others' positions; giving students opportunities to formulate applications of principles; developing motivation for further learning; helping students articulate what they've learned; and getting prompt feedback on student understanding or misunderstanding (McKeachie & Svinicki, 2011).

One of the most lambasted and dreaded forms of education may be the Socratic method, but, as much as people find the Socratic method uncomfortable, it can actually be a really wonderful way of promoting learning. The Socratic method can allow the class to break a big problem into smaller problems that may be easier to understand and encourage them to engage in cooperative learning (McKeachie & Svinicki, 2011). Moreover, while the method is highly associated with anxiety, much of that anxiety may be due to an underlying lack of preparation rather than anything inherent in the discussion itself.

Finally, it is important not to forget the impact of the traditional lecture. Lectures give professors the opportunities to transmit enthusiasm about a subject. The lecture allows for the explanation of difficult concepts, and gives the professor the opportunity to see how students are responding to the material. Students will not always ask questions when they feel puzzled or challenged by new material, therefore seeing how students are responding to material may be the only way for a teacher to understand their comprehension levels. In fact, an interesting study by Xu and Jaggers demonstrated that first year students performed better in lecture environments than in online teaching environments, demonstrating that presentation style could be critical to information transmission (Xu & Jaggers, 2011). Furthemore, the lecture environment combines visual and audio elements for learners.

Personal Philosophy of Assessing the Needs of Counselors in Training

One of the most difficult parts of counselor training is understanding weaknesses and presenting challenges for learners. The educator must walk a tightrope between providing a thorough background for students and using that background for advanced knowledge. To me, the way that I can assess the needs of counselors in training is to establish and maintain a dialogue with them, and to always allow what I have learned in that dialogue to inform what I know about the students. Tests, projects, and research papers can give me insight into student knowledge, but a student can excel in those areas and still not be well prepared for a career as a counselor. Moreover, students may have difficulty in the coursework component, but be strongly intuitive as a counselor. Therefore, I will engage in both formal and informal evaluation of supervisees. I will provide direct feedback to students, giving them helpful information about their knowledge, processing ability, and performance of the supervisee (Campbell, 2006). Furthermore, I will use tape review and critique, role-play, review of clients, and examination of counseling skills and techniques. I must be able to engage in this type of formal evaluation and so that I can help them become better counselors. Formative evaluations evaluate the student over a period of time, and can be less intimidating for students. These type of evaluations do not critique a single performance, but discuss the overall approach, and are notable for the mentoring opportunities they provide, especially for novice and young intermediate therapists (Kaufman & Kaufman, 2006). Summative evaluations measure outcome-based performance and are not as helpful in the educational context, though they can be useful in later licensure or promotion contexts.

Techniques to Help Students Develop into Effective Counselors

Because counseling is an imperfect science and all counselors are individuals, it is impossible to give a laundry list of those techniques one can use to help students develop into effective counselors. However, it would be impossible to overstate the importance of developing dialogue for the student and teacher. Education is about communication. Counseling is about communication and education. Therefore, the most important thing that a teacher can do to help students develop into effective counselors is to teach them how to communicate. The teachers need to help students understand theory, because the theoretical underpinning is critical. Beyond that, counselors must be able to move from theory to practice. Therefore, having students work in mock or real clinical or practical scenarios is the critical element in developing into an effective counselor.

Conclusion

There is such a tremendous overlap between education and counseling, that discussing how to educate potential counselors one finds many of the same techniques in both counseling and education. Like educators, counselors must use tools for communication and growth and use them to increase dialogue and communication in an effort to enhance problem-solving. The key to education and counseling is dialogue.