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| April 2005, Volume I, Issue 2 |
A Message from Kim |
This week is a special edition created for schools and educators due to a special request to address the needs of schools and to spread the word about the application of Dr. Glasser’s Choice Theory to our educational system. Those of you in the business world, however, will not find it difficult to take the ideas in the article, “Quality Schools” and relate them to “A Quality Workplace," replacing the word teachers with managers and students with workers. Please let me know if you have any question of this material to the workplace and I will discuss it in the next Business Edition of “Inside Out.” |
In This Issue |
Feature Article - Quality Schools |
Feature Article |
Quality Schools After presenting these ideas at the NAREN (National At-Risk Education Network) in Wisconsin last week, I was asked to write an article that would be able to reach more people to spread the exciting word about Dr. William Glasser’s work in the area of Quality Schools. There are many characteristics that are required in order for a school to be listed as a Quality School. There are currently 13 such schools in the country, with many more on their journey to become Quality Schools. In a Quality School , relationships are based upon trust and respect, and all discipline problems, not incidents, have been eliminated. Total Learning Competency is stressed and an evaluation that is below competence or what is now a "B" has been eliminated. All schooling as defined by Dr. William Glasser has been replaced by useful education. All students do some Quality Work each year that is significantly beyond competence. All such work receives an "A" grade or higher, such as an "A+". Students and staff are taught to use Choice Theory in their lives and in their work in school. Parents are encouraged to participate in study groups to become familiar with the ideas of Dr. William Glasser. Students do better on state proficiency tests and college entrance examinations. The importance of these tests is emphasized in the school. Staff, students, parents and administrators view the school as a joyful place. All of the above criterion must be in place to be listed as a Quality School. When a school is a Quality School, the dictates of “No Child Left Behind” take care of themselves. Now, of course there will be a few children who have totally rejected school who are unreachable, but for the majority, they will learn and do quality work. The way to achieve this is to implement the three conditions of quality. First, the school and each classroom must create an environment that will meet the needs of the students, and consequently of teachers. All humans are born with five basic human needs. We have the need for survival, connection/love, power, freedom and fun/learning. This is true of students and teachers. In order to help students meet their need for survival, the school and classroom must be safe. They must feel that they won’t be hurt physically or emotionally. When students feel safe, there is no need to threaten teachers or other students. In order for students to satisfy their need for connection/love, they must have a relationship with the teacher and the other students. They must believe that the teacher has their best interest at heart. The more you give love and connection away, the more they come back to you. In order to satisfy a student’s need for power, teachers must listen to and respect their students’ ideas and issues. This does not mean that teachers must agree with their students but they must at least let the students know that they are important. When students feel listened to and respected, they don’t disrespect their teachers and they tend to listen more. For students to have freedom, they must have choices. They must not be bogged down in rules and regulations. When students have choices, they won’t have the need to create destructive choices of their own. In school, learning should be fun. Learning is always fun when the learning is useful and the students want to learn what is being taught. Imagine students having fun learning! Isn’t that the dream of teachers everywhere? When your students are having fun, you do too. I know this sounds like an impossible task but there are many schools doing just that with training in Dr. William Glasser’s Choice Theory. Creating a need-satisfying environment is what actually eliminates discipline problems. If someone has a legitimate, appropriate way to get his/her needs met, then there is no reason to create discipline problems. Switching courses over to a competency-based approach is critical to the Quality School concept. Students are not permitted to get credit for less than B work and they have opportunities to improve their work until it meets the minimum standard for a B. Concepts are taught in such a way that reduces the need for memorizing facts that can be found in any encyclopedia or text. This and more speaks to the second condition of quality that students will only be asked to do useful work. It is the teacher’s job to convince students that what they are being asked to do is useful in the real world. If you are successful in that endeavor, you will have willing students. Wouldn’t that make your job more enjoyable for you? The final condition of quality is self-evaluation. Students are asked to grade their own work. There are two essential items that must be met in order to get accurate self-evaluations from students. First, they must have no fear that the teacher or anyone else will hurt them with an honest self-evaluation. Second, there must be a clear rubric in place that will give students a model against which to compare their own work. Self-evaluation does not replace the need of the teacher or teacher’s aide (another student already judged to be competent in that particular area) from corroborating the student’s self-evaluation. Students are not punished for less than competent work. Rather they are shown where their work is lacking and given the opportunity to fix it. This, again, is a skill that is seen everyday in the real world. Rarely do people actually lose their jobs for substandard work. They are told what is wrong and asked to fix it. Of course this is just a thumb-nail sketch of what is necessary to become a Quality School but if you or anyone you know is interested in learning more, click on the link below and sign up for our teleclass called, “How to Master the Challenges of ‘No Child Left Behind.’” Copyright © April, 2005 Kim Olver. All rights reserved. |
*Click here or on icon to read some of Kim's other articles*
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Upcoming Events |
Teleclasses (Times in EST) May 12, 2005 11:00 a.m. School Administrators who are having difficulty implementing the “No Child Left Behind” legislation. Are students getting more difficult to manage behaviorally? Do you have students who just don’t grasp or apply themselves in academic work? Are you trying to do more with an ever shrinking budget? What if there actually was a program that worked with your most difficult students and also helped the teachers to structure their classrooms to create an environment where everyone can learn? There is. 1) Teachers learn strategies for reducing and managing discipline problems in their classrooms with less stress. If these things were happening in your schools, think of how much easier your job would be. |
Book Review |
The Quality School by Dr. William Glasser The Quality School by Dr. William Glasser is the book to purchase if you are interested in implementing his ideas and transforming your school to a Quality School. Dr. Glasser discusses how teachers need to think of themselves as managers and manage the students as a good manager would his workers. Stephen Covey’s The 8th Habit also discusses this concept from the world of work perspective. Students are not the same as they were generations or even one generation ago. There are two main factors at work. Many students do not have any healthy, satisfying relationships with adults nor do they understand the usefulness of the learning they are asked to do at school. They have a difficult time figuring out how they will use the facts and figures they are asked to memorize anywhere beyond their test. If you are a teacher who is teaching students who generally want to learn the information you are teaching, then you are rare, truly blessed or lucky and really don’t need to concern yourself with the information in The Quality School. You are probably already doing many of the things recommended. When you are teaching willing students, then you can do pure, unadulterated teaching. This is such a joy for a teacher. Most kindergarten, first, second and some third grade teachers can say this is true, as can physical education, industrial arts, home economics and other teachers of elective courses in the middle and high schools. For the remainder of you, most of you are dealing with students who aren’t interested in learning your prescribed lesson plans. This means you are no longer teaching; you are a managing. Managers have an agenda that they want their workers to buy into. When this condition exists, the manager must spend a great deal of time creating an environment in which the workers enjoy working. This is the same for teachers who must spend time creating an environment in which the students enjoy learning. This is not a simple or easy task. In The Quality School, Dr. Glasser explains Choice Theory in detail and outlines the necessary conditions and requirements for a Quality School. He also addresses dealing with discipline problems in a place where students can go to discuss what is happening and make a plan for more responsible behavior in the classroom. Responsible behavior would include getting their needs met without interfering with other students learning what is being taught. Glasser makes a case for becoming aQuality School being easier if it is implemented from the Superintendent on down. If you are a teacher and would like to implement these concepts in your classroom but don’t think you will have the support of your district, then you should pick up Choice Theory in the Classroom and The Quality School Teacher, both written by Dr. Glasser. It is possible to use his ideas within the confines of the four walls of your classroom. It will be more difficult without the support of other teachers and the administration but it definitely can be done. If you are interested in training from the William Glasser Institute, you can contact kim@coachingforexcellence.biz for more information or go to www.wglasser.com for a trainer near you. Click here to order this book |
Quote of the Week |
“What people fight or resist isn’t education, |
| This quotation by Dr. William Glasser speaks to the problem in our education system today, mostly in our middle and high schools. If you ask young children, typically pre-K to third grade if they like school, they will say yes. When asked what it is they like about school, they will say their teacher. Once our children reach the fourth grade, many are no longer as willing to say they like school and rarely will say they like their teacher. This is not because teachers from the fourth grade up are mean or miserable people. This is generally because it is around the fourth grade that students are expected to complete more homework assignments and the learning ceases to be useful in anyway that the students understand and is no longer fun. There is a way to continue to make learning fun and to help students to understand the usefulness of what they are being asked to do. It is always accomplished through a positive relationship with the teacher. You can learn more about this during our teleclass scheduled for May 12th at 11 AM EST. Click here to register for this class. |
Business Q&A |
Question: What should I do with a student who is done early with his/her work and the rest of the class is still struggling to bring their work up to a competent (B) level? Answer: Often times, the student who has already demonstrated competence can be enlisted as a teacher’s assistant (TA) to tutor those who still require additional help. TAs can also be used to create test questions or to grade other student’s work. This would only occur in areas where the student was judged competent. It is more specifically laid out in The Quality School or in our teleclass on “How to Overcome the Challenges of "No Child Left Behind." |
About Kim Olver |
Kim Olver is a professional coach, specializing in the field of interpersonal skills, empowerment and leadership development. She has functioned in the role of supervisor and administrator for over 20 years. This column is for readers to submit their questions for Kim to answer. It could be a question about supervision skills, maximizing teamwork, customer service, interpersonal skills or client satisfaction and empowerment. No interpersonal question in the field of work is off limits. To ask your question, simply send it by email to Kim@CoachingforExcellence.biz and look for her response in future issues. |
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| Copyright © April, 2005 Kim Olver. All rights reserved. |
