Section  V

Hanna Springs Counseling Program Curriculum

The Hanna Springs Counseling Program follows the Texas Model for Comprehensive School Counseling. The program is driven by needs assessments from students (3rd-5th), teachers, and parents that are willing to share the needs of their students, and what they see from peer interactions. The Texas Model is used to guide student needs and lessons through education, career, personal, and social development. Lessons include bibliotherapy, music, small groups or partner breakout sessions, student-led discussions, and modeling. 

The Texas Model establishes four content areas:

• Interpersonal Effectiveness

• Intrapersonal Effectiveness

• Personal Health and Safety

• Post-Secondary Education and Career Readiness

At Hanna Springs Elementary, Mrs. Brown spends most of her time working directly within the main components of the Comprehensive School Counseling Program, engaging direct student interactions. Through campus wide initiatives, including teacher supported SEL, Leader in Me, and schoolwide counseling initiatives, the Hanna Springs Counseling Department is able to support students needs. The Hanna Springs Online Counseling Center is another component that is crucial for school-wide systems and procedures that allows access to resources and advocacy for all students. 

The HSE Counseling Advisory Committee and Campus Leadership Team regularly reviews and evaluates the CSCP to identify and address student needs. The HSE Year-at-a-Glance (YAG) is continuously refined to align with insights from needs assessment data, teacher feedback, leadership input, and emerging opportunities. 

Scope and Sequence: Post-Secondary Education and Career Readiness

Data from the Hanna Springs Elementary Needs Assessment, (shared below) along with specific feedback from teachers and parents, indicated that many students did not have a clear grasp of the long-term benefits of academic planning or the connection between their current learning and future college or career opportunities. Based on this information, the HSE Campus Advisory Council (CAC) identified a need for more intentional instruction for this content area. The goal was to help students explore their personal strengths, build connections between education and future goals, and develop foundational skills that support long-term career awareness and readiness. 

Using the results from the needs assessments, the CAC developed a Post-Secondary Education and Career Readiness Scope and Sequence aligned with the Comprehensive School Counseling Program (CSCP) and the Texas Model framework. The initial focus begins with fifth grade students to strengthen alignment as they transition to middle school. This approach helps students determine how their current academic efforts directly influence future academic and career opportunities.

This data-driven framework ensures the counseling program remains responsive to student needs while supporting personal and academic success. It promotes the development of lifelong learners who are equipped to plan for success beyond elementary school.

The CSCP SMART Goal for the Individual Planning component was derived from this same data, targeting improved student understanding and engagement in long-term academic goal setting. Through individual meetings, Mrs. Brown guided fifth-grade students in reviewing their academic progress and understanding how current performance could influence future class placement, academic goals, and career opportunities. These individual sessions helped students recognize the cause-and-effect relationship between setting goals and achieving them.

Additionally, the campus-wide Career Exploration was designed to expand students’ awareness of diverse careers in age-appropriate ways, highlighting how their unique strengths and interests can connect to potential future paths. By tiering lesson content across grade levels, younger students began developing natural awareness of careers, while upper-grade students engaged in deeper reflection and goal setting.

The long-term objective is to build a comprehensive elementary scope and sequence that naturally progresses each year, helping all students form meaningful connections to Post-Secondary Education and Career Readiness.

Stakeholder Collaboration

The Hanna Springs Comprehensive School Counseling Program (CSCP) has grown and thrived over the last two years and has been possible because of the lense the stakeholders share. The Counseling Advisory Committee, Campus Leadership, Classroom Teachers, Parents, Community Members and even student leaders allow for true reflection and equity to be instilled through every content area of the CSCP. Committee discussions, data collection, and regular engagement of all stakeholders allowed goals to be formed for Mrs. Brown to implement within each domain: interpersonal, intrapersonal, postsecondary planning and readiness, and personal health and safety.     

Mrs. Brown meets weekly with the Hotspots Team which includes administration and behavior support staff. During this time the stakeholders discuss student behaviors to determine how to best support every student where they are, and determine how to set them up for success. For the Hanna Family CSCP, this includes individual counseling opportunities, small group supports, and any needs for grade level focuses. 

Constant contact, follow through and building connections with parents, teachers and other staff members has been a key component for Mrs. Brown to build relationships with the families at Hanna Springs. This component alone has allowed for Stakeholders on campus, the families and the community to understand the validity and importance of a fully engaged CSCP.

Artifact #8 Lesson Plan or Activity

Interpersonal Effectiveness: The Compliments Project

24-25 HSE Guidance Lesson Plans: Round 5 

In February 2025, Mrs. Brown provided interpersonal effectiveness skills on giving and receiving compliments in age appropriate instruction for all PK-5 grade students. The 24-25 MOY Needs assessment indicated that teachers saw the need for students to practice communication skills. Pairing this with an ongoing opportunity of growth for seeing and including others, the Compliments Project was crafted. Students learned through bibliotherapy, student-led discussions, videos, and student-led collaborations how to effectively see others and utilize compliments as a communication tool. 

For the lessons, Mrs. Brown read, “The Invisible Boy” by Trudy Ludwig, to get an understanding of how pertinent it is to include others and how a basic opportunity of just seeing someone can make a difference. The story led to real-life practice allowing students to share situations where they felt seen by someone, and how it made them feel, especially when a compliment was given. Students then turned the conversation into an opportunity to communicate with those around them to ensure they felt valued, seen and empowered by their interactions with those around them. 

PK- Kinder students were able to share their personal experiences of feeling seen and how they communicate with those around them. 1st and 2nd graders were able to collaborate with peers on what they see in each other. Students were then asked to model how to make each other feel seen within their collaborations, by basic communication, including compliments. They were able to give age appropriate praise towards their peers and provide surface level compliments. 

For 3rd through 5th grade students, the collaborative efforts were more in depth. Students were asked to look past any obvious or superficial compliments (i.e. clothing or hair style). Students were asked to think about how the person made them feel or how they positively affected them. These genuine compliments allowed for a deeper understanding of their peers, built compassion, and allowed a true connection to happen. Students then watched the Ripple Effect, a short video that ties connections made in the world, through things like compliments, and how they can return to you in a positive way. Students thoroughly enjoyed the "lightbulb- aha" moments and were able to tie it to the collaborative efforts that they had just practiced to the video. 

With all grade levels, after students learned the interpersonal skill of complimenting others, we put the skill to use for their teachers and the HSE staff. Students discussed things that they have noticed about their teachers but more importantly what they appreciate, love and are grateful for of what their teachers and staff pour into them daily. Every staff member was lifted up by the students of Hanna Springs for the amazing things that they do each and every day to lead students, provide opportunities for learning and empower amazing opportunities for student led engagement. Each compliment was written on a strip of paper that reflected a ray of the Compliments Project 'sun' that hung in the main hallway of the campus (Fig 1). 

The amazing outcome of the lessons and project was seeing the real life ripple effect within the community of Hanna Springs. Students stopped to talk about the rays, while sharing their own personal stories and compliments of the staff members. Staff members took the time to share personal compliments of their colleagues and ensured that every staff member knew where their strip was and what it said. They even shared how their strips made an impact on their day, within their classrooms, and on their personal social media (Fig 2 & 3). Students loved being able to show and share the compliments with their teachers and the staff of Hanna. This full circle project enabled true conversations across the campus and it was an amazing opportunity to lift up everyone within the Hanna Family. 

You cannot get through a single day without having an impact on the world around you. What you do makes a difference, and you have to decide what kind of difference you want to make.      ~Jane Goodall

Artifact #9: Evaluation of Learning Outcomes 

The overall impact of the Compliments Project extended beyond individual student growth and reached the entire Hanna Family community. The genuine, heartwarming exchanges between students and staff strengthened existing relationships and built new connections across grade levels and professional roles.

Following the lessons, all classes participated in reflection activities to consider how the communication skills they practiced influenced their personal interactions. Through an exit ticket, 85% of students in grades 3–5 were able to generate compliments that moved beyond surface-level observations, demonstrating their ability to recognize and articulate deeper personal qualities in others. For example: "your smile brings me joy" and "I look forward to playing with you at recess everyday". 

Additionally, a follow-up “bonus check” revealed that the majority of students polled could explain why positive communication matters and how it contributes to stronger relationships—a level of reflection and empathy that many adults find challenging.