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Assignment #3: Social Emotional Learning Assignment

Brenda Tirado

Concordia University Irvine - MAED School Counseling

EDSC 514: Growth, Development & Learning

Casey Kunde

February 12, 2023

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Assignment #3: Social Emotional Learning Assignment

Part 1 Synthesizing

Applying to college is the cause of stress for many high school students, and for a fair

reason! It’s quite stressful to decide and commit to a university at the age of eighteen. Even

though students don’t begin applying to college until their senior year, the college search begins

much earlier for many. Parents and educators begin to expose students to college awareness and

the different types of schools available post high school as early as sixth grade. During those

years of brainstorming students are told to think about whether they want a large vs small school,

private vs public, and what they may want to major in. Once these factors have all been taken

into consideration, students begin forming a list for where they want to apply and begin

preparing to submit their applications during the fall of their senior year.

Working as an admissions counselor has given me a front row seat to working with all

different types of students and guiding them through the process of applying to college. I get to

work with students who achieve a 4.7 GPA in high school and score really high in their SAT’s as

well as the students who don’t score as high academically. One particular case that made an

impact on me was the case of a student, who we will call Anthony. Anthony had a very strong

desire to attend a rigorous four-year university straight out of college. I had a conversation with

him prior to submitting his application and he was extremely personable and engaging. He

articulated his hopes and dreams in a nice manner, and I made assumptions that he would be a

great fit for the school and highly encouraged him to apply. However, when I received his

application and reviewed his transcripts it turned out that his GPA was not very well-rounded.

Anthony did great in his extracurriculars, but he didn’t do as great in his academic courses.
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This makes me believe his cognitive ability to academically succeed at the university I

work at may not be very high, and as his counselor, I did not feel comfortable extending an offer

of admission. I’m a big advocate of not setting my students up for failure. When I officially

decided to not admit him, I reached out to Anthony and explicitly communicated the decision

and reasoning behind it. I let him know that he was not being offered admission, but it wasn’t

because I didn’t think he would do well at my institution, but because I wanted him to get some

more preparation by attending a community college first. I advised him to take some college

courses and then reapply as a transfer with stronger academic grades under his belt. Because this

student was socially mature, he was able to cope with the news and begin taking action. He

asked me for help in choosing his courses and we stayed in contact. When he reapplied it was

clear that he was indeed more focused on his academics and he’s now confirmed for this fall!

Part 2 Self-Regulation, Self-Efficacy, & Metacognition

Hello class of 2023! We’re all so close to the end of the year and you’ve been doing such

great work this semester. I know it may feel long - between getting your college applications

submitted, your final exams, and now hearing back from your schools and preparing for the next

steps you’ve had a lot to balance! I can tell these things are taking a toll on some of you and

you’re beginning to get a little lazy on me. I know this is the point in the semester where the

weather is also getting nicer, and it gets more difficult to focus on your academics. However, I

ask that you just hang in there a little while longer and don’t let that motivation leave you quite

yet! Even though some of you have already been accepted to the schools you applied to, that

doesn’t give you permission to start slacking on your classes. You still need to show the

admissions office that you passed this semester and keep your overall high school GPA up. Not

only do you need to keep those grades up to pass the class, but it’s also in your personal interest
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to continue putting in that effort! If you begin to allow yourself to slack off and lose the study

habits that are embedded into yourself, you may struggle more to get back into that mentality

when you enter college.

We really want all our seniors to finish this semester off strong! This is one of the reasons

we have our fun senior night at disneyland. Grad night is a way to celebrate all you have done

and send you out into the real world in a celebratory way. You should feel proud of yourself for

making it this far! Please keep that mentality of working hard and maintain that same momentum

to finish off your senior year. If you would like some resources or support feel free to come find

me and I’ll be happy to help set you up for success.

Part 3 Applying Theory to Practice

One of my favorite things about high school students is that they’re young adults who are

able to experience social cognition, which is the ability to “speculate what others are thinking,

feeling, or wanting to do” (McDevitt & Ormrod, 2020). This is great because it gives students

the ability to relate and empathize towards others. High school is such a pivotal time when

students are experiencing break-ups, college decisions, and processing their sense of self and

who they want to be in this world. Having the ability to have these conversations with peers who

are able to emphasize is crucial to the development of young adults. As social cognition is being

developed it’s also important to educate about social cognitive bias and prejudice. These two

things are shortcuts that our brains take in order to understand the world. It’s rooted in

stereotypes and prejudices that we gather from our surroundings. These are generally untrue and

can be harmful to the receiver. High school is a great time to expose students to different cultures

and ways of viewing the world, so they can overcome those cognitive biases and choose to see

each person as an individual with a story.

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Part 4 of 4 – Locating Resources on Social & Emotional Health

Topic Website Description URL Implementation

Alcohol Council on Delivers programs and services focused on the education, https://cad I would educate on the risks of
Abuse Alcoholism & prevention, and treatment of substance abuse and asb.org/ alcohol in particular and educate
Drug Abuse co-occurring mental health conditions affecting youth, on the importance of avoiding
risky behavior.
(CADA) adults, and families throughout Santa Barbara County.

Anxiety Community Counselors in Santa Barbara county who offer https://cce I would educate about what it
Counseling & opportunities for learning, healing, and growing. csb.org/ne looks like to have anxiety and
Education Center w-page-2 what to do if they show
symptoms.

Child Abuse Calm Organization that aims to prevent childhood trauma, heal https://cal I would teach kids what abuse
children and families, and build resilient communities m4kids.or looks like and tell them what
throughout Santa Barbara County. g/ they should do if tis is
happening at home.

Death Hospice of Santa A non-profit in Santa Barbara that provides resources to https://w I would talk about the cycle of
Barbara those experiencing grief caused by death. ww.hospi life and give this resource to
ceofsb.or students and families.
g/support
groups

Depression Community Counselors in Santa Barbara county who offer https://cce I would make students aware of
Counseling & opportunities for learning, healing, and growing. csb.org/ne the effects of depression and
Education Center w-page-2 what to be aware of in
themselves or others.

Drug Abuse Council on Delivers programs and services focused on the education, https://cad I would educate on the risks of
Alcoholism & prevention, and treatment of substance abuse and asb.org/ drugs in particular and educate
Drug Abuse co-occurring mental health conditions affecting youth, on the importance of avoiding
risky behavior.
(CADA) adults, and families throughout Santa Barbara County.

Rape Standing together Non-profit organization that provides confidential https://sbs I would educate about students
to end sexual counseling and support services to survivors of sexual tesa.org/ about rape and tell teach that
assault assault and their loved ones. they should never feel ashamed
or like they can’t talk to
someone.

Self-harm County of SB Santa Barbara county website to support people in the time https://w I would teach students about the
Behavioral of crisis. ww.count importance of reaching out for
Wellness yofsb.org/ support if they have thoughts of
self-harm or if they are
399/Servi
self-harming.
ces

Suicide Suicide.org National website filled with resources. It has a ton of http://ww I would teach students about the
different numbers to call, as well as encouraging words w.suicide. reality of suicide and make it
that may have the ability to affect the viewer. org/ seem okay for them to get
support.

9-1-1 If you are experiencing an emergency please call 9-1-1 for immediate assistance.
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References

McDevitt, T. M., Ormrod. (2020). Child Development & Education (7th ed.) [e-Book edition].

Pearson.