Counselor's Corner

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Photo of the School Counselor, Nadien Allen

Hello Drew Families!

Welcome and welcome back to another great year at Dr. Charles R. Drew Elementary School. My name is Mrs. Nadine Allen and I am the School Counselor.

As a School Counselor, my primary responsibility is to promote the academic, personal, social, and career development of all students. At Drew these areas are addressed through the following ways:

Classroom lessons

I will visit each classroom K-5 at least once per month to teach lessons. One of these lessons will be MCPS mandated personal body safety lessons. These lessons will focus on keeping children safe. The remaining lessons will focus on mindfulness, social and emotional learning and conflict resolution. Our focus parallels the five-point social and emotional framework our county supports. These areas of competency are:

Self-Awareness-Assessing our feelings, interests, strengths; maintaining self-confidence.
Self-Management-Regulating emotions to handle stress, control impulses and preserver in overcoming obstacles.
Social Awareness-Understanding different perspectives, and empathizing with others; recognizing and appreciating similarities and differences; using family, school and community resources effectively.
Relationship Skills-Maintaining healthy relationships based on cooperation; resisting inappropriate social pressure; preventing, managing and resolving interpersonal conflicts; seeking help when needed.
Responsible Decision Making-Using a variety of considerations, including ethical, academic, and community related standards to make choices and decisions.

Small group counseling

When students are exhibiting difficulty in a particular area, teachers or parents can refer a child for group counseling. Topics may include: dealing with anger, improving social skills, using healthy conflict management techniques, coping with anxiety, and dealing with life changes and trauma. The groups generally range from 6-8 students. Students will meet with me once per week for 6-8 weeks for 30-40 minutes during the school day. Permission slips must be signed in order for a student to participate in a group.

Individual counseling

At one time or another almost all students need some extra support during their years at Drew. I see students for a variety of reasons including: changes in the home, conflicts with friends, difficulty with school work, self-esteem issues, anxiety, stress, making positive choices, death in the family, etc. Students may self-refer or be referred to me by teachers and/or parents. If I am seeing a student individually, I work closely with the parent and teacher to monitor progress. If the situation persists or requires long-term intervention, I will work with you to come up with a plan of action.

Consultation

I am available to have meetings with teachers, administrators, and/or parents to discuss the needs of students. I am here for all students and want to ensure that your child has a productive and positive school year. Please feel free to contact me to set up a meeting.

College and career exploration

Each school year, I organize a college visit and career day to promote college and career awareness. College visit takes place in late November where the 3rd, 4th, and 5th graders visit a local college/university. Permission slips must be signed in order to participate. Career day usually takes place in early December. Over 30 speakers from the community participate every year and share their expertise and experiences with the children.

School wide character program

Each quarter character assemblies will be held to introduce new character traits and to publicly reward those students who demonstrated the previously focused characters.

School wide behavior support (PBIS) program

PBIS (Positive Behavioral Interventions & Supports) is a school-wide system that teaches and reinforces positive behaviors. We have a team made up of staff members that creates, tailors, and changes the program to fit the current needs of the school. The goal of PBIS is to promote and instill positive behaviors for all students at Drew. The school-wide expectations at Drew are to be RESPECTFUL, RESPONSIBLE, and SAFE. There are posters in each area of the building explaining how to follow these expectations in the classroom, hallway, cafeteria, bathrooms, and playground.

Mentoring program

Our mentoring program pairs a student who may benefit from some extra attention with an adult in the building to serve as their mentor or buddy. The pair will eat lunch together, play games and talk. You may request for your child to have a mentor or we may invite them to join the program.

Please feel free to contact me if you have any questions, concerns or want to hear more about how I can support your child at school.

Warmly,

Nadine C. Allen, M.Ed

(301) 989-6030

Nadine_Allen@mcpsmd.org

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