William Glasser believes that students should be held responsible for their actions without the use of external controls.  He believes that students need to be given choices, alternatives, to act appropriately because it is the correct decision not because they will be punished if they don't comply.  I totally agree with this thinking.  It is similar to intrinsic motivation.  Students should do well in school because it feels good not because they will receive approval or a reward.  We need to move away from trying to control students by using rewards and punishments.  Glasser goes as far as to say that it is impossible for one person to control another.  That we can't make a student learn. ( Lennon) I've experienced this first hand as I'm sure most teachers have.  I can provide 30 minutes of uninterrupted quiet time for reading, but I can't make a student decide to read the words and pay attention to the content.  It makes sense that we begin to teach students that they are in control, control of their lives, their education, their future and that the decisions they make everyday will directly effect them.  I've tried to stress to my students that it is up to them how much they learn.  They are responsible for their own behavior but also for their own learning.

Glasser's figures pertaining to the percentage of high school students doing quality work is appalling but believable. Even at the fourth grade level I'm seeing many cases of student apathy toward schoolwork.  This is by far my biggest frustration. Recently I attended a conference containing information about teaching students to write.  I was impressed with the simplistic approach and immediately tried this in my room.  I had been trying to incorporate a flow of writing, editing, revising, rewriting, and finally publishing, but it wasn't working well.  It was a constant struggle to get students to revise their first draft.  The method demonstrated at the conference included a more natural progression.  Most importantly, it also provided motivation to write while creating a community setting.  I began by telling students about people from my past.  I told short stories about each.  I can honestly say that I had their complete attention, not because I was demanding it from them as often happens, but because they were enjoying listening to me tell about myself.  Glasser believes that students need freedom to choose and that their education should be fun and meaningful.  This type of lesson allows students to choose what they want to write about and creates a sense of belonging as they first tell about their story.  It was amazing to me the difference of attitude this lesson elicited.  I didn't hear questions like, "how long does it have to be?"  I wrote while they wrote and we shared the experience.

Glasser believes that students have specific needs that must be met.  One of them is the need to feel as if they belong.  This is a strong need especially in young adolescents.  It may be the missing factor that contributes to the many school shootings that are occurring throughout our country.  Students still single out those who are different and make them feel insignificant.  If we don't do anything else, we should listen to Glasser here and teach students acceptance of all others.  "People are not able to get along well enough with each other to satisfy their basic need for love and belonging. They deal with this frustration in a variety of ways: violence, drug abuse and addiction, sexual misconduct, and mental illness. "(Glasser) It makes me sad to see ten year olds already out of the "in" circle and wanting more than anything to be accepted by these callous few.

I don't remember ever reading about William Glasser before this assignment but his ideas are prominent. Leading students into learning instead of trying to pull them along seems to be a common notion today, similar to the "teacher as coach" concept. In the last few years we have started to hear more about the use of student self evaluations, and providing information to the student about "why" it is important to learn a specific skill.  I don't know if we are just starting to implement more of Glasser's ideas or if they are simply coming around again, but the ideas discussed in chapter 9 of Building Classroom Discipline seem crucial.  My class spends time at the beginning of the year discussing the rules that will be necessary.  Students begin to feel a part of the decision making process.  Next year I will be sure to stress to my students that the consequences obtained are not punishments I'm putting on them but they are the consequences for the actions they've chosen.

References:

Classroom Experiences

C.M. Charles, Building Classroom Discipline

Glasser Institute

Behaviour Management- Teacher Education

Lennon, Brian, GLASSER Choice Theory & Reality Therapy

Ghazali, Hamed Kansas State University School of Education, Glasser’s Reality Model