Choice Theory Classroom

After reading the book Choice Theory in the Classroom, it opened my eyes to many aspects in the classroom that change from the use of choice theory as oppose to external control psychology. External Control Psychology is when one is more likely to believe that his or her fate is determined by chance or outside forces that are beyond their own personal control. Whereas, Choice Theory states that a person’s behavior is inspired by what the person wants or needs at this particular time, not an outside stimulus. In the book, Glasser discusses his belief on how all humans control and chose their behaviors to fulfill their need for satisfaction. These terms of psychology helped me learn more about myself and working with others to become more …show more content…
Glasser’s “Choice Theory” can be used to solve many daily problems by asking several questions to evaluate the situation. The author emphasized that every person has the power to change their lives based on the choices they make. This stood out to me while reading the book because I began thinking of ways that I can implement that statement in my daily life. More specifically, in a simple situation such as when my phone is ringing, I chose to answer the phone in order to communicate, not because I reacted to the ring itself. Another example would be that when I stop at a red light, it’s because I chose to avoid risking a ticket or even an accident. After reading this examples, it put things into a perspective that I began learning about myself. For instance, even a quick action of mine is a choice that I make internally and it isn’t done automatically. This is done with everything I do in my life, it is all done as a choice to satisfy my basic needs. Throughout reading the book, Glasser explained what a human’s basic needs are. These needs consist of the need to survive, the need to belong, the need to gain power, the need to be free, and the need to have …show more content…
This was an interview between Dr. Glasser and a small group of middle school students. He asked them questions such as what they liked about school, they reluctantly said being with their friends. The next question was what the did not like about school, they answered with too much work, boring, and hard. Yet they continued to go into depth about how their teachers talked too much and did not listen to them. The more the conversation went on, the more Dr. Glasser discovered of how little say the students have in their learning and that they feel as if they had no importance. He said that the only source of importance the students had was due to their friends. As a way of changing this feeling, he brought up the idea of incorporating more group learning activites in the classroom. The students were all enthusiastic about the idea but also dissapointed that is isn’t incorporated more in their classes. As long as each group member is contributing an equal amount of effort then this will result as a part of the belief that the students are important in school. This whole section in the chapter really caught my eye because of the honesty from the kids. To me it was upsetting how the students feel a lack of importance in the school. If the teachers made the learning valuable to the students then they would chose to learn and when answering a question such as