USCA 2017

No feeling compares to the inadequacy one feels when facing the first day of school as a new teacher. With such an emphasis on high-stakes testing and college and career readiness, the importance of students’ emotional and mental health becomes secondary or non-existent. Coursework in lesson planning, backwards design, scaffolding, and classroom management prepares an educator for the invisible classroom, but few classes exist to prepare one for the invisible classroom. According to Dr. Kirke Olson, the invisible classroom is “the web of neurological and human connections that create the context for teaching, learning, and living” (2014, xiii). This session is designed to help counselors enable educators or other school personnel build an effective invisible classroom environment (even through non-classroom interactions).