Taking a Listen

by John S. Steere, Ed.D, Former MASCA Vice President-Secondary

Listening to another person tell their story is at the heart of the what a school counselor does on a daily basis. Nowadays, many people are plugging air pods or headsets into technological devices and listening to a whole host of new audio programming from the very comical to the very serious. Many of these audio formats share one thing in common, they are essentially people sharing their stories with anyone who is willing to listen.

I love listening to people share their stories with me! It is one of the many skills that I have that I am actually pretty good at. So, when the opportunity through my work with the MASCA Ethics Committee discussed an opportunity to produce a podcast. I jumped right on board! It also may have been that so many people in my past have told me that I have the per- January 2022 fect voice for radio.

In this article, I hope to introduce Awareness Dates you to the Massachusetts Association of School Counselor’s (MAS CA) new podcast, “MASCA MUS Get Organized Month INGS”. Each month, Mindy Cripps National Mentoring Month and I interview different members of the school counseling world about National Thank You Month their backgrounds and how they incorporate the concepts of ethics and 1 Emancipation Proclamation “doing what is right” into their dai- Anniversary ly practice. “MASCA MUSINGS” came from an idea about how best to 1 Global Family Day reach school counselors in this ever changing technological landscape. 17 World Religion Day However, since Mindy and I have no formal training in audio or video 18-22 No Name-Calling Week production, the format and plan for each episode is really simple. We ask 18 Martin Luther King, Jr., the expert some simple questions and Day of Service then listen to their story. It is basically putting the job of school counselor on display for all of the world to hear. Furthermore, with the title of musing on the marque, we wanted each listener to pause and reflect on what they are hearing and see if it informs one’s daily practice about their practice as a school counselor.

Lastly, the main thing that this “MASCA MUSING” aims to do is to a John Steere, celebrate of the work of the school counselors. School counseling at times can be at times a pretty thankless job, where it is the goal of this podcast to say, we thank you school counselors and would love to hear your story!

Check out “MASCA MUSINGS” with Mindy Cripps and John Steere on Spotify or on the MASCA webpage each month.