William GlasserEmily Ellis

Danielle ElseySandy Giovannini

October 17, 2007

“Education is the process in which we discover that learning adds quality to our lives. Learning must be experienced.” -William Glasser

Background Information• Born 1925, raised in Cleveland, OH

• Psychiatrist• Developer of Reality Therapy & Choice Theory

•Ideas focus on:• Personal choice• Personal responsibility• Personal transformation

Personal Achievements/Awards

• 2003: American Counseling Association's Professional Development Award

• 2004: ACA's "A Legend in Counseling Award"

• 2005: Master Therapist designation by the American Psychotherapy Association

and the Life Achievement Award by the International Center for the Study of Psychiatry and Psychology

Choice Theory Summary• All behavior comes from within

• We choose our behavior.

•We are driven by our genes to satisfy five basic needs:• Survival• Love and belonging• Power• Freedom• Fun

•We must accept the consequences of our behavior.

Seven Caring Habits• Supporting

• Encouraging

• Listening

• Accepting

• Trusting

• Respecting

• Negotiating Differences

“If you want to change attitudes, start with a change in behavior” -William Glasser

Seven Deadly Habits• Criticizing

• Blaming

• Complaining

• Nagging

• Threatening

• Punishing

• Bribing, rewarding to control

“Effective teaching may be the hardest job there is.” -William Glasser

Classroom ApplicationGlasser Excuses Exercise

• More we perceive ourselves as externally controlled the higher the likelihood of making excuses.

• More we perceive that we have choices and can take control of our lives the less likely we are to make excuses.

“We almost always have choices, and the better the choice, the more we will be in control of our lives.” -William Glasser

Breakdown of Axioms• The only person whose behavior we can control is our own.

• All we can give another person is information.

• All long-lasting psychological problems are relationship problems.

• The problem relationship is always part of our present life.

Breakdown of Axioms• 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.

• We can only satisfy our needs by satisfying the pictures in our Quality World.

• All we do is behave.

Breakdown of Axioms• All behavior is Total Behavior and is made up of four components: acting, thinking, feeling and physiology.

• All Total Behavior is chosen, but we only have direct control over acting and thinking components. We can only control our feeling and physiology indirectly through how we choose to act and think.

• All Total Behavior is designated by verbs and named by the part that is most recognizable.

View on Education• Must know how to relate to students so that the students feel the teacher cares about them and respects them.

• Must introduce the concept of competency in the classroom.

• These standards exist in extracurricular activities.• desire to be competent or higher work,• don’t expect to be allowed to continue if they are incompetent

• Competition is how far above competency the student chooses to go. (competence is the floor and there is no ceiling)

View on Education• “The only seemingly drastic idea is getting rid of Cs, Ds and Fs. People worry that many students would be held back. But, in practice, it works just the opposite. Told that the passing grade is a B or competence and that we will help you to get there, students do competent work. The lowest passing grade in the real world is competence.”

Why do schools accept so much less?