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Introduction and Statement of Problem

Having taught in the public school system for almost five years I was in for a big surprise
when I moved to a new city and new school district. Grand Traverse Academy, a William
Glasser Quality School, is a quaint K-12 charter school on the southeast side of Traverse City
Michigan has changed my whole way of thinking about teaching, classroom management, and
discipline. The problem I am faced with is switching from a classroom discipline philosophy to
William Glassers Choice Theory in a secondary classroom.
At Grand Traverse Academy, where I have taught in both upper elementary (fourth
through sixth) and secondary multi-age classes, students and teachers wear uniforms. At any time
during the school day, you can see elementary students skipping down the hall. Teachers work in
multiage, cooperative teams. Hugging is encouraged. Most importantly, we practice a
philosophy called Choice Theory. The students are expected to follow and exhibit six character
traits: kindness, getting along, respect, responsibility, work ethic, and optimism.
The goal of this project is to better understand the philosophy of Choice Theory and how
to make it work in my secondary classrooms consisting of seventh through twelfth graders. I
want to be able to not have to discipline the students, but to create a classroom where students
are learning, loved and safe.

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Action Research
William Glasser said, When you study great teachersyou will learn much more from
their caring and hard work than from their style. This research will examine the basic principles
of Choice Theory, including what Glasser calls the five basic needs of all human beings. The
foundation of creating positive relationships with students as the basis of good classroom
management will be reflected upon. Then, I will relate it to my classroom management style and
how I can continue to improve in my goal of becoming an effective master teacher.
Choice Theory
Choice Theory is the idea that we choose everything we do and feel. This idea was
developed in the 1990s by psychiatrist and teacher, William Glasser. Accepting that you can
control only your own behavior is the most difficult lesson choice theory has to teach (Glasser,
1997, p. 17). When you realize that you are the one in control of how you feel and what you do,
it is very empowering not only for a student, but for a teacher as well.
Glassers Choice Theory can help teachers understand the components of internal
motivation and how we can apply it to build warm, positive classroom relationships (Erwin,
2003, p. 20). Glasser believes that most teachers have a stimulus/response psychology approach
to teaching. We hold out the carrot on a stick and expect students to reach for it. When students
do not meet our goals then we yell, nag, and punish.
If teachers reward for good behavior or grades (external motivation), then students are
not motivated to earn the grade or to act appropriate but rather earn the reward. Glasser asserts

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that this is coercion. This way of teaching is called bossing. Bosses use coercion freely to try
and make people they boss do what they want (Glasser, 1997, p. 18). In contrast to such
external motivation, use of internal motivation is the key to choice theory.
Quality World
One way to better understand a student and create a warm, positive relationship is to learn
about their quality world. According to Glasser, everyone has a picture in their mind of what
their perfect world would be like. Those pictures consist of people, things and ideas that are
important to them.
Glasser calls this our Quality World. This world is best thought of as a group of
pictures, stored in our brain, depicting with extreme precision the way we would like things to be
especially the way we want to be treated (Glasser, 1997, p. 18). When we adopt the Choice
Theory approach, this world becomes the standard for the way we want to live.
When we understand what is in our students quality world, we have a better
understanding of what is important to the child. That way we can create lessons that are
meaningful and are meeting their needs. Teachers need to learn and use the most important of
all choice theory concepts, the quality world (Glasser, 1997, p.17). To have a better
understanding of a students quality world, we need to understand Glassers five basic needs.

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The Five Basic Needs
According to Choice Theory, five basic needs constitute the source of all internal
motivation and guide all human behavior (Erwin, 2003, p. 20). Our five basic needs are the
basis for why we do the things that we do. Below, each one of them is discussed in terms of how
it applies to the classroom.
Survival
Survival is the basic of all human needs. To survive we need food, shelter and safety.
Students need to feel safe in the classroom, both physically and emotionally (Erwin, 2005). By
allowing our students to have water and snack breaks, this need is met. By having a routine and
classroom procedures, this need is met. The survival need not only entails basic physical
requirements, it also involves our desire for a sense of order and security in our lives (Erwin,
2004, p.23). Rules and guidelines that focus on respect and anti-bullying, also helps meet this
need. Lastly, having a classroom that creates a sense of safety and security is another method of
meeting our students need for survival.
Love and Belonging
Developing positive and healthy relationships with students not only encourages
academic success, it also prevents discipline incidents (Erwin, 2004, p. 47). When a student
feels a sense of love and belong, they are loved then they are more likely to have a stronger
connection with their teacher. This connection will help the student become a productive
member of the class. By greeting the students each morning with a smile, can meet this need for
love and belonging. By learning the students name as soon as possible, this need is met. By
letting the student work in cooperative groups, this need is met. By having family meetings were

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students can get to know what is in the teachers and other students quality worlds, this need is
met.
Power
People can meet their basic need for power through succeeding and being recognized for
successes (Ludwig & Mentley, 1997, p. 44). Self-worth creates a sense of power in a student.
Helping them recognize their self-worth will help them meet their need for power.
Education, knowledge, and achievement are skills that will increase that feeling of power
are self-worth. Another way of meeting this need is letting students have multiple chances to
demonstrate their knowledge with the assessments and assignments. By letting students have a
voice in classroom rules and procedures meets this need. Also, by letting students choose and
run a student business can provide another avenue of power.
Freedom
Freedom is one of our inalienable rights as humans. Freedom may be one of the more
difficult of the basic needs for students to meet in school; but if we hope to help students become
responsible members of a democratic society, then it is important that we allow them to
experience freedom (Erwin, 2004, p. 149-150). Allowing choices in the classroom, students are
given freedom. Students need to have freedom in the classroom, both freedom from and freedom
to. By allowing choosing cooperative group members, this need is met. By providing options
for essay topics, we are meeting this need. These are meeting the students need for freedom to
choose.

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Students also need to have freedom from avoidance of physical or emotional
discomfort, including fear, stress, disrespect, and monotony (Erwin, 2003, p. 21). By changing
locations of students desks, we are meeting this need. Using a variety of learning and
instructional strategies to meet students different learning needs, this need is met. Creating and
implementing team-building activities for the class meets this need.
Fun
Fun is a by product of having friends (love and belonging), being successful (power),
having autonomy (freedom), and feeling safe and secure (survival). By meeting the needs
survival, love and belonging, power, and freedom teachers will meet the need for fun (Erwin,
2003, p. 20). We are the only creatures who play all our lives. And because we do, we learn all
our lives (Glasser, 1998, p. 41). Fun is the easiest need to meet. Creating learning games to
play in the classroom meets this need for the students.
Replacing Classroom Discipline and Creating Classroom Management
As they are used in schools, discipline programs are totally external control because
inherent in the word discipline is do what has to be done to make students obey, essentially,
coerce or punish (Glasser, 2000, p. 151). Glasser suggests that both teachers and principals not
boss students around, but to lead the students. Set a good example of how a good leader leads by
no longer using external motivations like stickers and rewards or punishments. Good leaders and
teachers use internal motivation.
In my secondary classrooms, I have learned that you cannot get students to behave in a
way that you want by demands and lecture. Treating students the same that you want to be
treated, I have found is a much more effective way to manage a classroom. Student have to want

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to behave. The best way for students wanting to behave is to build positive relationships.
Choice theory explains that we will work harder for those we care for (belonging), for those we
respect and who respect us (power), for those with whom we laugh (fun), for those who allow us
to think and act for ourselves (freedom), and for those who help us to make our life secure
(survival). (Glasser, 1992, p. 24)
When Choice Theory is used correctly, the teacher has made a real connection and
relationship with the students in their classroom. If we want to manage students in ways that
develop and maintain trusting relationships, relying on external motivation is self-defeating
(Erwin, 2003, p. 20). Similarly, how a student feels has a direct bearing on learningif the
student does not feel emotionally, psychologically, and physically safe, learning will be
diminished (Marshall, 2004, p. 502). Glasser believes that when a connection has been
established, the student will want to produce quality work and have a quality attitude about
learning and school.
Conclusion
If teachers are intentional about creating an environment that addresses all of these basic
needs, they will tap into the intrinsic motivation that is essential for students to be successful in
this time of higher standardsthey will create an inspiring classroom (Erwin, 2005, p. 16).
Glassers approach to classroom management has created a whole new thinking for me. I spend
less time yelling in my classroom and more time laughing with my students. To motivate my
students I try to tap into their quality world and find out what their most important basic need is.
By doing this I have created a classroom where the students feel safe, loved and they are
learning.

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References
Erwin, J. (2005). Giving students what they need. Educational Leadership 61(1). 19-23
Erwin, J. (2005). Put fun back into the classroom. Educational Digest, 14-16.
Erwin, J. (2004). The classroom of Choice. Alexandria, VA: Association for Supervision and
Curriculum Development.
Glasser, W. (1990). The quality school. New York: Harper & Row0
Glasser, W. (1992). The quality school teacher. New York: Harper Perennial.
Glasser, W. (1997). "Choice Theory" and student success. Educational Digest, 63 (3), 16-21.
Glasser, W. (1998). Choice theory: A new psychology of personal freedom. New York: Harper
Perennial.
Glasser, W. (2000). Every child can succeed. Chatsworth, CA: William Glasser.
Lambie, G., Ngazimbi, E. & Walter, S. (2008). A Choice Theory Counseling Group Succeeds
with Middle School Students Who Displayed Disciplinary Problems. Middle School
Journal. Educational Digest, 40 (2), 4-12
Ludwig, S. & Mentley, K. (1997). Quality is the key: Stories from Huntington Woods School.
Wyoming, MI: KWMEducational Services.
Marshall, M., & Weisner, K. (2004). Using a discipline system to promote learning. Phi Delta
Kappen, 498-507. Retreived Oct. 4, 2014 from
http://cfbstaff.cfbisd.edu/jacksonp/Presentations/Discipline%20System%Article.pdf

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Walter, S. (2008). A choice theory counseling group succeedds with middle school students who
displayed disciplinary problems. Middle School Journal, 40, 4-12.
William Glasser Quotes. (n.d.). Retrieved November 12, 2014, from
https://www.goodreads.com/author/quotes/5254188.William_Glasser