ED 4238 Question 1 William Glasser

William Glasser bases his management of children in the classroom on the meeting of their basic Drivers. Explain how you would act in a classroom to ensure that the 5 Drivers in Year 9 students are met and thus allow effective learning to take place.

Choice Theory At A Glance

The Choice Theory - Found at the William Glasser Institute website:

Choice Theory® is the basis for all programs taught by the Institute. It states that all we do is behave, that almost all behavior is chosen, and that we are driven by our genes to satisfy five basic needs: survival, love and belonging, power, freedom and fun. In practice, the most important need is love and belonging, as closeness and connectedness with the people we care about is a requisite for satisfying all of the needs. Choice Theory (and the Seven Caring Habits) is offered to replace external control psychology (and the Seven Deadly Habits), the present psychology of almost all the people in the world. Unfortunately, this forcing, punishing psychology is destructive to relationships. When used in a relationship it will always destroy the ability of one or both to find satisfaction in that relationship, and will result in people becoming disconnected from those with whom they want to be connected. Disconnectedness is the source of almost all human problems, such as what is called mental illness, drug addiction, violence, crime, school failure, spousal and child abuse, to mention a few. The 1998 book, Choice Theory: A New Psychology of Personal Freedom, is the primary text for all that is taught by the Institute.

Relationships and Our Habits

Seven Caring Habits	Seven Deadly habits
Supporting Encouraging Listening Accepting Trusting Respecting Negotiating differences	Criticizing Blaming Complaining Nagging Threatening Punishing Bribing or rewarding to control

The Ten Axioms of Choice Theory

1. The only person whose behavior we can control is our own.
   
2. All we can give another person is information.
   
3. All long-lasting psychological problems are relationship problems.
   
4. The problem relationship is always part of our present life.
   
5. What happened in the past has everything to do with what we are today, but we can only satisfy our basic needs right now and plan to continue satisfying them in the future.
   
6. We can only satisfy our needs by satisfying the pictures in our Quality World.
   
7. All we do is behave.
   
8. All behavior is Total Behavior and is made up of four components: acting, thinking, feeling and physiology.
   
9. All Total Behavior is chosen, but we only have direct control over the acting and thinking components. We can only control our feeling and physiology indirectly through how we choose to act and think.
   
10. All Total Behavior is designated by verbs and named by the part that is the most recognizable.
    

Implementation

After looking through the Glasser's theory and models, what is the most effective way to learn about choice theory? What practical ways can we implement the Glasser’s Choice (Control) Theory (behavior results from one of five basic needs needing to be met) into a classroom?

Here are a few examples for Secondary Levels.

In addition, Glasser shares what he believes are the Seven Caring Habits which includes: Supporting, Encouraging, Listening, Accepting, Trusting, Respecting, and Negotiating Differences and he shares his belief of the Seven Deadly Habits – Criticizing, Blaming, Complaining, Nagging, Threatening, Punishing, and Bribing or rewarding to control.

Students made creative representations to show the importance of choices. Three examples were: creating a “choice flower” – the petals on the flower were used to describe the things and people the student loved and what things or events made her feel “powerful and free.” A second example: a student created a book about her thoughts and feelings surrounding her choices. And a third example was a student who created posters of magazine cutouts about Glassers idea of how seven caring and deadly habits make or break relationships.

Secondary (Middle and High School)

Implementation of choice theory into secondary education would basically allow students the freedom of choice. Educators would only be supportive entities only to help the students make a better choice. Reaffirming that one can only control oneself would be the focus of teachers in this particular environment. Educators and students will recognize everyone’s basic needs and the necessity in fulfilling those needs in an environment that fosters caring and respect for all. Ensuring the students attain self-awareness and esteem to make better choices for themselves develops as a secondary goal. The primary goal of an educator is to prepare students for the “real world”. Real world skills that are needed are interpersonal skills and group problem solving. Secondary education would emphasize not blatant memorization but more on critical thinking skills and a problem-based learning. As in the real world, students are encouraged to seek help and help one another as necessary. Students will use all resources available, including parents, each other, texts, to demonstrate understanding. The grading system is based on competence and credit will be given only if competence is demonstrated (B). Student with an understanding above the competence level along with willingness to help others would earn an exemplary grade (A).

The following Glasser skit can be modified for elementary level students.

Skits to Help High School Student Learn Choice Theory

Explain how you would act in a classroom to ensure that the 5 Drivers in Year 9 students are met and thus allow effective learning to take place.

Survival Safety and Security.

Biological needs. As teachers we need to observe the behaviour of our students their health warmth, personal security. if our children are feeling a sense of safety and security there is more possibility of learning. Where on the other hand if our students don't have a sense of safety and security their learning is considerably impeded. as an assistant in the class room environment I try to observe and check those basic needs are met and our students are comfortable.

Love, Belonging and Acceptance.

Students need to be told over and over that they are loved, not because of what they do, not in spite of what they do, but just for who they are.
"No man is an island" and either are our students. many of our students come to their classes weighting the burdens of life on their shoulders. Year 9 can sometimes feel for the students a devalued year so it is even more important we build strong school communities, and the students claim ownership of their class and their place in it. students who are lonely or ignored need to are often not treated for their behaviour, not for the person they are, so again it's important we don't create more inappropriate by our inappropriate behaviour. teachers need to promote worth and value through relationships and understanding. create tasks that deal with the students feeling troubled about their lives that help them find a place eg. class meeting, camps displaying their works .

Personal Power,Competency and Achievement.

Students need a sense of control, mastery and achievement, to be and feel a sense of accomplishment. teachers play a critical role in helping students to achieve success. and satisfy "Power" with respect and importance we empower our students when they are challenged and achieve something difficult, that need to know that in some way we are important, accepted, capable and can achieve.

In short, fulfilling one's power need appropriately is not "power over others "but "power to oneself".Sullo 1997

Our programs must develop new skills and abilities enabling the students to take responsibility for their choices , stimulate deeper learning to promote deep and meaningful experiences.

Freedom,Independence and Autonomy.

Students need to be in control of own lives and free from the control of others. Freedom is a necessary component of learning to be responsible. through choices and decision making. As teachers we encourage group learning activities where the students use social interaction eg. Think pair share, jigsaw, ICT and digital media class meetings The teacher needs to allow the swing from teacher control to students autonomy so as the students choices accommodate the need for independence and Freedom

Fun and Learning

People of all ages desire it ( Glasser 1984) glasser believed that a relationship exists between learn and our genetic need for Fun.