Sarah Rawson Smith Elementary School
SCHOOL GUIDANCE PLAN
2010-2011
Atlanta Public Schools
Dr. Beverly Hall
Superintendent
Dr. Sidney E. Baker
Principal
Mr. S. Leigh Mayerson
Guidance Counselor
VISION
The vision of Sarah Smith Elementary School is a community where
learning is a passion, excellence is achieved, and dreams are realized.
SCHOOL MISSION
The mission of Sarah Smith Elementary School is to promote a safe,
nurturing environment grounded in a relevant, comprehensive curriculum. With
a commitment to excellence, our staff will strive to ensure that students
become critical thinkers, life-long learners, and responsible citizens in a
global community.
GUIDANCE PROGRAM MISSION
The mission of Sarah Smith Elementary School’s guidance and counseling
program is to strive to ensure that students become critical thinkers, life-
long learners, and responsible citizens in a global community.
BELIEFS
- Students are our focus.
- Individuals are unique and valueable and must be treated with equality,
dignity and respect.
- Every student has the ability to learn and the right to a quality
education.
- A quality education meets the needs of individual learners.
- All members of the school community serve as role models by practicing
professional ethics.
- Learning is a life-long process.
- Children are our greatest resource and the key to our future.
ACADEMIC DEVELOPMENT
from American School Counselors Association
Students will acquire the attitudes, knowledge and skills that
contribute to effective learning in school and across the life span.
Students will understand the relationship of academics to the
world of work and to life at home and in the community.
CAREER DEVELOPMENT
from American School Counselors Association
Students will employ strategies to achieve future career goals
with success and satisfaction.
Students will understand the relationship between personal
qualities, education, training and the world of work.
PERSONAL/SOCIAL DEVELOPMENT
from American School Counselors Association
Students will acquire the knowledge, attitudes and interpersonal
skills to help them understand and respect self & others.
Students will make decisions, set goals and take necessary action
to achieve goals.
OBJECTIVES
Create and maintain a unified and sequential curriculum scope and sequence
that will ensure the content of the Quality Core Curriculum objectives is
delivered in challenging and developmentally appropriate methods, while using
the IB PYP framework.
Enhance the passion for learning through a curriculum that addresses the
whole child.
The International Baccalaureate initiative is school-wide at Sarah Smith
Elementary with 22 character education concepts woven throughout the school’s
culture and curriculum. These concepts consist of the IB learner profiles
and the PYP attitudes. The learner profiles are: Inquirers; Knowledgeable;
Thinkers; Communicators; Principled; Open-minded; Caring; Risk-takers;
Balanced; and Reflective. The PYP attitudes are: Appreciation; Commitment;
Confidence; Cooperation; Creativity; Curiosity; Empathy; Enthusiasm;
Independence; Integrity; Respect; and Tolerance.
Daily Lesson Focus
from School Achievement Plan
Research indicates that to be consistently effective, teachers need to plan
and deliver their lessons in ways that: (a) incorporate all of the following
elements of an effective lesson, all of the time, and (b) assure that all
elements are linked. The guidance counselor, Mr. Leigh Mayerson, will
incorporate the following elements in each lesson.
1. Appropriate and effectively communicated instructional objectives.
2. Instructional activities that are aligned with the appropriate level
of complexity of the academic standards and objectives.
3. A mix of instructional activities that include meaningful amounts of
active student learning.
4. Questioning that goes beyond simple recall, causing students to
think, synthesize, evaluate, and conclude.
5. A variety of assessment data to document student performance and
monitor instructional effectiveness.
6. Closure that brings back to the instructional objective and previews
the next lesson.
Sarah Rawson Smith Elementary School’s guidance and counseling program
supports the school-wide International Baccalaureate initiative through the
delivery of classroom guidance targeting the PYP transdisciplinary skill of
Social skills:
1. Accepting responsibility—taking on and completing tasks in an
appropriate manner; being willing to assume a share of the responsibility.
2. Respecting others—listening sensitively to others; making decisions
based on fairness and equality; recognizing that others’ beliefs,
viewpoints, religions and ideas may differ from one’s own; stating one’s
opinion without hurting others.
3. Cooperating—working cooperatively in a group; being courteous to
others; sharing materials; taking turns.
4. Resolving conflict—listening carefully to others; compromising;
reacting reasonably to the situation; accepting responsibility
appropriately; being fair.
5. Group decision-making—Listening to others; discussing ideas; asking
questions; working towards and obtaining consensus.
6. Adopting a variety of group roles—Understanding what behavior is
appropriate in a given situation and acting accordingly; being a leader in
some circumstances, a follower in others.
