SOCIAL & EMOTIONAL COUNSELING

Counselor’s Corner

Counselor's Corner is a moment designed for the intentional development of our student’s Social and Emotional skills and tools. During these sessions, the section Counselor and Homeroom Teacher will collaborate through storytelling, activities, and games in order to introduce and work on a set of skills that will help the development of a healthy identity, emotional literacy, and pro-social skills. Once the concepts are introduced, the educators will review and follow up on them throughout the week and the rest of the school year.

Currently, P3 students are engaged in the implementation of the International School Counselor Association (ISCA) counseling curriculum sequence. The Kindness in the Classroom Social and Emotional Learning (SEL) curriculum is used with our P4 to G5 students.

Advisory Program

At Pan American, the Advisory Program aims to offer mentorship and advocacy by a PAS faculty member (advisor) through structured time. The advisor is the reference teacher when a student needs help with the daily challenges they might face in Secondary School. Besides group sessions, advisors have short individual check-ins with students throughout the year, seeking to provide personalized guidance. The advisor will also help students to develop self-advocacy and self-confidence. The advisor has a key role in helping to build student-to-student affiliation through advisory sessions. We strongly believe in the importance of building community and a sense of belonging.

Structure
Components of the program

Structure

Components of the program

Life Skills Day: Every week, the students have one day dedicated on Life Skills. The students are taught lessons by the advisor and/or the counselor. In Middle School, the lessons are based on the Kindness in the Classroom Program (Random Acts of Kindness), an evidence-based method approved by the Collaborative for Academic, Social, and Emotional Learning (CASEL). Other lessons and activities may be used as the class shows different needs, such as reproductive health, substance use and abuse, etc.

Study Day: The Study Days are a supervised day in which students can: schedule meetings with teachers; meet other classmates to do group projects; have their quarter check-in with the advisor; complete homework, work on projects, prepare for tests, etc.

Community Day: Community days are dedicated to Town Halls, Assemblies, PAS Talks, and other cross-class activities.

Quarter check-in with the advisor: the advisor is responsible for the individual check-ins with students at least once a quarter. The check-in aims to gather academic information about the student as well as offer mentorship about their performance.

Career Guidance

Career Guidance is a process based on self-awareness and identification of interests. Throughout the High School years, the student is supported on their path through personality, interests, skills, and values awareness. The exploration of personal strengths and interests enhances the probability that students will make career choices that are meaningful and fulfilling, therefore, succeeding at their full potential. At Pan American, career guidance happens through psychological testing, group dynamics, PAS Career Talks, field trips, university representative visits, and much more.

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