Choice Theory Thoughts

What a busy week! I almost didn't succeed in getting my blog post in for this week, but I decided that instead of dusting, I'd fit this in. It's been a busy week at school with assignments, and also with my room mate. He and I decided that we needed a pet for our apartment. Since we're not allowed to have pets like a dog or cat (which we would prefer), we decided on two goldfish. They have been very distracting, and great for my procrastination.

One thing we've been learning about this week in my Counseling Skills for the Classroom Teacher is Choice Theory. This is a theory by William Glasser based on, as the title said, choices. We have been learning the basics of the theory, which is most easily understood through a diagram we were given in class. I couldn't find a very good image online, but below is one I found online that shows the entire diagram, just in a very small version.

The diagram shows the relationship between the Read World and our Quality World. Based on our values, beliefs, and life experiences, everyone's Quality Worlds are different. We all have images in our Quality Worlds that make up what we want in life. To obtain the things we want in our Quality World, we have to choose how we behave that will help us obtain what we want. The bottom part of the diagram shows that the scales are equal, so the behavior one has chosen is satisfactory to reaching what one believes to be the Quality World. In the top area of the diagram, the scales are unequal, and the person has chosen the wrong behavior, and therefore the arrow points back in, showing that another behavior needs to be chosen. It's almost like a "Try Again" option.

Glasser's Theory also focuses on the Five Basic Needs. These are Belonging, Power, Fun, Survival, and Freedom. These fit into what we want our Quality Worlds to be, as we all place these needs at difference important levels. In class, we all filled out forms showed each of the needs and asked where we would place their importance on a 1 to 5 scale. It was interesting to see where everyone's answers fell and how different everyone believed the importance of each need to be in our lives. Our professor reminded us after, that when we are counseling our students, that we need to think about what needs are most important to them, and think about their behavior and how to help them with this in mind.

I really like a lot of things about the Choice Theory model. I think it almost empowers people to think that their choices are making a difference in their happiness. As I've been reading the book, Choice Theory, written by Dr. William Glasser, I have come across a few things that I disagree with. The book says that we choose to be depressed, anxious, or happy. While I think in many cases, the choices we make can effect these, I do believe there is a scientific aspect that Glasser often ignores. Chemical imbalances are very real, and we can not choose to have a balance or unbalance. I don't want to take a stance on whether or not medication is right or not right, however, I think that in some cases people do need it and according to this theory, people do not need medications, just different choices.

We are only halfway through the course and I haven't completed the reading of the book yet, so as we continue on my views on this may change. However, this is my opinion to this point in the course. We are learning a lot of useful techniques of how to talk to students. I like that my professor has made the course very hands-on and applicable to the classroom. Even though role-playing the counseling situations is difficult, it's definitely going to be useful later on!

Textbooks: Useful or Not?

Second week, and here is my second blog post! I didn't know what I should make this blog post about this week, as it's been sort of a slow week at the university.

In my Reading, Writing, and Thinking Skills class we have been talking about text books and whether or not their use is appropriate in the classroom. We also learned methods about how to help our students read textbooks.

I found this discussion quite interesting because in university, I have actually used my textbooks a lot. The first few years of university I would buy my textbooks and never read them, and I was not a very good student. In my third year I started reading my textbooks and I found that I would take in the information and became a better student as a result of this.

In university, we are mostly choosing our classes, so most of the content we are reading is somewhat interesting to us. However, in high school a lot of classes are mandatory. I also found that when I highlighted information in my own textbooks I was able to connect to the information better. Because students don't own the textbooks, they do not have this information available to them.

This has made me think a lot about using textbooks in the classroom. Because I have mostly been in English classrooms, we haven't necessarily used a textbook in the usual sense. We have used plays and novels, however. It's easier for English teachers to use these "textbooks" in their classroom because they are often used to talk about a specific theme and discussions about students understanding of the novel is usually done in class.

I can definitely see how textbook use in classes such as math or science would be more difficult. It was definitely an interesting conversation, and one that I will think about when I go to use textbooks in the future. I will also be sure to try to recognize my students understanding of the vocabulary, which can definitely be confusing.

Giving this a Go!

This term in university all of my friends and I decided we would take Art Methods and learn more about being artistic. After the first class, two of my friends left me to take Internet for Educators, to gain more experience with technology. As much as I'm dreading having to show off my artistic skills (or lack thereof) and I am wishing that I could switch to Internet to Educators, I am going to stick out the Art class, because I honestly believe it will be beneficial to me in the long run.

However, I am going to start blogging and hopefully learn along with my friends in Internet for Educators. Hopefully they will be willing to share their knowledge of the internet with me! I have always wanted to start a blog, but I usually start and post twice maybe and get bored. I'm going to make a goal to make at least one blog post per week. That shouldn't be so bad, and if I get really into it, I can always blog more!

So as an introduction to myself, I am a second year Education student in small city in Manitoba. I am focusing on high school, but I would also teach middle school if there was an opening. I have student taught both, and loved both experience! My main subject areas are drama and English. I have the most experience teaching English, but I also had experience teaching math to a grade 7 class. I also taught them Art, hence wanting to take an Art Methods class!

I am very passionate about teaching, and would love to get a job where I was involved with working with At-Risk Youth. That being said, I am open to teaching anywhere, as long as I am doing what I love - teaching!

So there's my first blog post. That wasn't too painful, but we'll see where things go from here!