Counselor Corner: Playing Games in Counseling

Our Philosophy

Elementary School Counseling services are an integral part of the total school program and complement learning in the classroom. A school guidance program reaches every student and will focus on the knowledge, skills, and attitudes needed for successful academic achievement, career development, and personal/social growth. Services are child-centered, proactive, and developmental. Our professional school counselors spend their time working directly with students to maximize the benefits every student will receive from the program. This will be accomplished through the use of School Counseling Curriculum, Individual Student Planning, Responsive Services, and System Support. School counseling services are comprehensive in scope, preventative in design, developmental in nature, and intended to enhance the potential of ALL elementary students.

Therefore, as an educational system we believe we can teach all children and all children can learn. We believe accessing knowledge, reasoning, questioning, and problem solving are the foundations for learning in an ever-changing world. We believe education enables students to recognize and strive for higher standards. Consequently, we will commit our efforts to help students acquire knowledge and attitudes considered valuable in order to develop their potential and/or their career and lifetime aspirations.

Wednesday, April 25, 2012

Playing Games in Counseling

"Do you want me to let you win or try my best?" I ask students this question before we play a non-counseling "skill" game (like Connect 4, checkers, etc.) in individual counseling sessions. I got the idea several years ago from the book Playful Parenting by Lawrence Cohen, and it has helped my students who struggle with not-always-winning. Because they chose my level of play at the beginning of the game, they are less likely to become upset if they say, "try your best" and lose....and if they WIN when I'm trying my best, then they feel especially proud of their effort. Of course it has been a great springboard for talking about sportsmanship skills in general, too.

What kinds of strategies do you use to increase the therapeutic function of games in counseling?

1 comment:

Anonymous said...: I emphasize the sportsmanship aspect just about everytime we play a classroom game where someone is "out" at some point. My slogan is, "Go out with grace, with a smile on your face." I teach that prior to playing so they know that is the expectation. It makes a big difference in the attitude when they go out!; April 27, 2012 at 11:45 AM