Western Middle School Counseling

The counselors at Western Middle School would like to welcome you to the Counseling Corner. Middle school is a time of great change and discovery and we are here to help all WMS students navigate this journey successfully. The Counseling Corner is designed to be a resource for students and parents in dealing with the academic, social and emotional concerns that arise. Here you will find information about the counseling program at WMS, valuable resources for students and parents, and information about a variety of topics and issues relevant to the middle school years.

If you have questions or concerns, need additional information, or want to schedule an appointment, please contact us by email or phone. We look forward to a successful year!

Internet Safety

For many students, the Internet is an important part of their daily lives. Although it can be a useful tool to support learning, it can also be a source of temptation and potential trouble. Students need to be taught the rules about being serious and smart in cyberspace while still allowing them to have fun.

Three questions teens should ask themselves when deciding whether or not something should be posted on a site are:

1.  Could I share this with my parents or a teacher?
2.  Would I want a college recruiter or job interviewer to see this?
3.  Could this allow someone to find me and put me in danger?
Listed below are several Internet safety resources for students and parents:

Be Net Savvy
This is a comprehensive Internet safety website that provides up-to-date information about online trends and behavior and offers practical cyber safety tools for use in the home and school. Their goal is to help parents and educators guide children towards the safe and savvy use of social technology.

Center for Safe and Responsible Internet Use
The Center provides research and outreach services to address issues of the safe and responsible use of the Internet. They provide guidance to parents, educators, librarians, policy-makers, and others regarding effective strategies to assist young people in gaining the knowledge, skills, motivation, and self-control to use the Internet and other information technologies in a safe and responsible manner.

NetSmartz
The NetSmartz Workshop is an interactive, educational safety resource from the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children® (NCMEC) and Boys & Girls Clubs of America (BGCA) for children ages 5 to 17, parents, guardians, educators, and law enforcement. It uses age-appropriate activities such as videos, cartoons and real life stories to teach children and parents how to stay safe on the Internet.

Protect Kids.com
This is an Internet safety site to protect children in cyberspace. MOUSECLICK, made in the image of a computer mouse, is your friendly guide to help you navigate this website to find out about safe surfing and understanding the dark side of the Internet. MOUSECLICK can also be used as a tool by parents to guide their children throughout the maze to safety information, resources, big cheese sites and the other areas parents deem appropriate in their efforts to educate children about the importance of online safety.

Web Safety 4 Kids
Internet safety for children, parents, teachers, and community.

Web Wise Kids
This website is about empowering today’s youth to make wise choices online. Through state-of-the-art Internet Safety computer games (based on real-life scenarios) as well as Internet Safety tips for kids, teens and parents, Web Wise Kids creates a safer, friendlier internet experience.

Wired Kids
The ultimate online safety project for kids, tweens, and teens.

Wired Safety
This website is known as the world’s largest Internet safety, help and education resource.

Educational Development Plan (EDP)

What is an Education Development Plan (EDP)?

An Education Development Plan (EDP) documents an ongoing process in which a student identifies both career goals and a plan of action to achieve them.

The purpose of the EDP is for each student to develop, document, and periodically updated a unique plan of career and educational preparation, based on thoughtfully selected and attainable career goals and educational options that align with their aptitudes, interests and strengths.

Michigan law requires that every student must be provided with the opportunity to begin developing an EDP in the seventh grade and update it in the eighth grade as preparation for high school. By developing EDPs, middle school students become engaged in a process which they can continue to explore and examine their interests, skills, and abilities, and begin to make decisions about selecting a career pathway for the future.

How does an EDP benefit students?

Students who complete an EDP plan their course schedules in high school to prepare them for whatever postsecondary training they will need to prepare for career choices that interest them.\

Students attending the Bay City Public Schools currently use Career Cruising as the web-based storage system for their EDP. Students are issued a log-in and password in middle school that they will use to access their EDP in **Xello until they graduate. Students (and parents) can access Career Cruising from home or school at https://xello.world/en/

Career Cruising

Career Cruising is an interactive career resource designed for people of all ages. With Career Cruising you can find the right career, explore different career options, or plan future education and training.
Career Cruising offers several modules including:

  • Career Matchmaker - Use an online career assessment tool to see how your interests and personality match up with different occupations.
  • Explore Careers - Find careers that match your interest in terms of income, working conditions, education and many other important factors. Also, view multimedia interviews with real people in every career.
  • Explore colleges and universities - Learn about colleges and universities across the country and find a list of colleges where you can get the education you need to start your career.\

Middle and high school students and parents are encouraged to use Career Cruising at home. If your 8th - 12th grade student does not remember the passwords to login, please contact the student’s counselor.

Career Pathways

Career Pathways are broad groupings of careers that share similar characteristics and whose employment requirements call for many common interests, strengths and competencies. The goal in middle school is for students to select a career pathway that interests them.

Michigan’s six career pathways are:

Arts and CommunicationsCareers related to the humanities and the performing, visual, literary, and media arts. These include graphic, interior and fashion design, writing, film, fine arts, journalism, languages, media, advertising and public relations.

Business, Management, Marketing, and Technology
Careers related to all aspects of business including accounting, business administration, computer/information systems, economics, entrepreneur, finance, marketing, personnel and sales.

Engineering/Manufacturing and Industrial Technology
Careers related to technologies necessary to design, develop, install, or maintain physical systems. These include engineering, manufacturing, construction, service, and related technologies.

Health Sciences
Careers related to the promotion of health as well as the treatment of injuries, conditions, and disease. These include research, prevention, treatment, and related health technologies.

Human Services
Careers in this path are related to economic, political, and social systems. These include education, government, law and law enforcement, leisure and recreation, military, religion, child care, hospitality, and social and personal services.

Natural Resources and Agriscience
Careers related to natural resources, agriculture, and the environment. These include agricultural sciences, environmental sciences, fisheries, forestry, horticulture and wildlife.

Cyber Bullying

Who are the new bullies?

90% of middle school students have had their feelings hurt online
75% have visited a web site bashing another student
40% have had their passwords stolen and changed by a bully
Only 15% of parents polled knew what cyber-bullying was.

(Source:wiredsafety.organd Parade Magazine, Sunday, February 25, 2007.)

Cyber-bullies are the new bullies who use instant messages, cell phones, text messages and social networking sites to threaten others. Not only can cyber-bullying be done anonymously, it can also reach a huge audience. Because of anonymity, students are more likely to participate in cyber-bullying than simply bullying other students in the school setting where they are more likely to be found out and perhaps disciplined.

Some suggestions for parents to prevent cyber-bullying:

  • Move the computer out of your child’s bedroom and into a family room or location that is open and accessible so you can monitor use and activities.
  • Teach your child not to share passwords.
  • Monitor your child’s screen name and web sites.
  • If your child is cyber-bullied, save and print out any evidence and discuss this with your child.
  • Install monitoring and filtering software on your computer. Programs are available for free fromk9webprotection.comandsafefamilies.org.

Cyber-bullying consists of an individual or individuals using email, instant messaging or some form of communication technology to threaten, embarrass, belittle or intimidate for the purpose of gaining power and/or control.

Cyber-bullies are often motivated by the same things that motivate school-yard bullies: personal anger, boredom, or by the possibility of improving their social status, among others.

What separates cyber-bullying from more traditional forms of bullying is the phenomenon of disinhibition…. “I can’t see you, you can’t see me.” Students who cyber-bully do not witness the consequences of their behavior. As a result, they do not receive the necessary feedback and feel empowered to continue their hurtful behavior. Since the cyber-bully is not receiving normal social cues such as communication through body language, they lack empathetic responses. They often tend to take on various roles or identities on the internet. This lowers their inhibitions and adds to their sense of safety.

The websites listed below focus on cyber-bullying:

Center for Safe and Responsible Internet Use
Cyber-bullying is sending or posting harmful or cruel text or images using the Internet or other digital communication devices. It is emerging as one of the more challenging issues facing educators and parents as young people embrace the Internet and other mobile communication technologies. Be sure to check out the resources for parents and students.

Net Bullies
Find out how to prevent and handle cyber-bullying and harassment.

Stop Cyber-bullying
This website explains what cyber-bullying is, how it works, why kids do it, how to take action, and how to prevent it.