Will Choice Theory Work?

Nothing is more frustrating for a teacher than investing tons of time creating an engaging lesson, finding the right scaffolds, and providing relevant assignments, only for most of the students to do the work poorly, or ignore it entirely. Every year it seems that students take less and less ownership of their responsibilities and become increasingly accepting of failure.

The William Glasser Institute offers a suggestion (or a solution -- if you check out their website here, you might see it that way) in the form of a theory: Choice Theory. Choice Theory, which was first introduced by William Glasser in 1998, proposes the following ideas...

• Everything we do is a behavior.
• Every behavior is a choice.
• Every behavior is motivated by the desire to satisfy one of our five basic needs: love, survival, power, freedom, and fun.

In an article written for the NEA, teacher Charlotte Wellen suggests that this theory is quite applicable in the classroom environment.

It sounds very simple, and choice theory is simple. It seems counter-intuitive, or against common sense. Many adults feel that it is their job to "make" John get down to work. They'll often resort to threats like, "John, if you don't get to work, you're going to fail," or "John, if you don't get to work, I'll have to call your mother." 

They are trying to help John, but John often doesn't see it that way. His interpretation of these kinds of statements is often, "They're trying to make me do something I don't want to do and I'm not going to do it! What are they going to do about that!" And John doesn't do his work, or he does a mediocre piece of work, way below what he's capable of achieving, because he's in a power struggle with the teachers, administrators, and parents. In many schools, it's even become "cool" to resist, to act as if you don't care, to laugh when receiving an F grade, because it's a way to demonstrate that all the threats in the world can't make John do anything he doesn't want to do.

Wellen offers a sample script in the NEA article. At first it seems pretty Pollyanna-ish, but upon reflection, it is a great idea. At the heart of it is an assumption that the student is responsible for making a choice and the teacher's job is simply to provide encouragement and support. "Do you know why I came over here to check in on you?" "What would you like me to do to help you move forward?" It's an empowering technique, and at the end of the day removes conflict from the student-teacher interaction.

Will Choice Theory work in the CHS classroom? With all of our efforts towards becoming a PBIS school, it wouldn't be a bad idea to try out.

Sources: 

"Choice Theory." William Glasser Institute. William Glasser Institute, 2010. Web. 28 Oct. 2015.

Wellen, Charlotte. "Getting Students To Complete Their Work." NEA.org. National Education Association, 2013. Web. 28 Oct. 2015.