Amanda Garner of Warner, Oklahoma is a first-year counselor at Webbers Falls Schools serving children of Cherokee tribe who has “very little social emotional resources for my students.
“These students have had a few hard years,” she told us in her Dreamstarter Teacher application. “In May of 2019, the entire town of Webbers Falls was flooded. Many families lost their homes and business. In addition to personal loss, they lost their school and all summer activities.”
To help alleviate those issues, Amanda used her $500 Dreamstarter Teacher grant to purchase resources and materials, such as school counseling classroom guidance lessons to help teach her students life skills as well as addressing social and emotional issues which could be used in individual counseling sessions, group sessions or in a classroom setting.
“We have had the opportunity to better serve our students and community with the Social Emotional Resources and Curriculum we have purchased,” Amanda reported. “With the new legislation that has passed, these new resources have assisted us in meeting these guidelines.”
“I was able to use this curriculum in individual counseling sessions. The student seemed to respond in a positive manner.
“Our community has faced so much trauma as a whole and parents have had a difficult time dealing with it, I was able to use this material in a classroom setting to help students gain a better understanding of coping and social skills and how to utilize them.”
