Looks like a good one to read.

-- Anonymous, November 11, 1998

Answers

I'm about half way through with the book and like it. Glasser talks alot about teachers taking the students' needs and feelings into consideration. This is good, but it needs to be done with caution, I think. A teacher could spend too much time and energy trying to accommodate for and attend to all of his/her students in that way. I agree with Glasser about the basic needs everyone tries to fulfill in some way, shape or form, whether they are conscious of them or not. More to come...

-- Anonymous, November 30, 1998

I agree that it would be difficult to implement all areas of Glasser at once. Talking to our behavior interventionist at my school this year, she finds that using the part of Glasser about intrinsically motivating children with behavior problems is the most effective means to help them control their behavior. She has specific data from last year and this year to support her thoughts on this. So, I have actually seen some of his ideas work! :) Cindy

-- Anonymous, December 14, 1998

I finally finished the book! I liked some of it...some I didn't.

Glasser suggests that we need to reform by changing from the "boss-management" style to the "lead-management". This could happen easily, I believe with a staff and administration and school board, and community that was totally sold on the idea. It has to be accepted by the entire staff before it can work, because a quality school cannot come into being with some of the faculty using it's principles and some not. Students need consistency throughout their school day.

-- Anonymous, December 14, 1998

I finally finished the book! I liked some of it...some I didn't.

Glasser suggests that we need to reform by changing from the "boss-management" style to the "lead-management". This could happen easily, I believe with a staff and administration and school board, and community that was totally sold on the idea. A quality school cannot come into being with some of the players using and believing in it's principles and some not. Students need consistency throughout. Only in a perfect situation would you ever get such a multitude of people included in all of the mentioned groups to agree!

I did like some of Glasser's ideas. Helping students figure out what quality work is in the beginning of the year, will eliminate any unnecessary problems later on. Manipulating a misbehaving student's and your conversation into one that has the student figuring out why he/she is misbehaving eliminates coercion from the classroom. Chapter nine dealt with setting rules for your classroom. I liked the idea of having the students create and agree upon the rules. When one is broken, they will have to be reminded that they helped make the rules and did agree to follow them, so now they need to help figure out a consequence. I thought his was an interesting concept for a "time-out room": "The main thing is that this room be seen as an opportunity to solve a problem, not as punishment, and that the person in charge is a friend trying to help, not a boss trying to throw his weight around." page 147. Right now the feeling in our school is that ISS(in school suspension) is used for students who have broken some rules and need to go there as a punishment. In some cases, the student continues to be disruptive. This consequence needs to be revamped somewhat at our school! Also, I don't really feel comfortable with the idea that teachers and students need to become friends. Some of the respect and authority is lost in that kind of relationship. There were other ideas that I'm not so sure that I agree with. One such was that parents shouldn't be called in notification of their child misbehaving at school. I feel that as a parent, I need to know and want to know if my child is not acting appropriately in the school setting. Another idea brought out was the elimination of the grading system as we have known it for such a long time. It would take a long time for this to happen. To get rid of all grades except A's and B's and to have C as a temporary grade, is a bit much. I know and understand the frustration that a "below average" student feels when he/she gets only D's, C's or F's. This becomes a vicious circle which causes the student to pretty much give up on even trying to do any quality work any more. Teachers do need to be more excited about what they are teaching. I think that if a teacher is excited about what he/she is doing the students will catch that excitement. Glasser also said that "The quality school should not concern itself with outside measures of productivity...because these machine - scored tests do not measure quality." page 114 Interesting. We probably will not find a "quality school" in Minnesota for quite some time (in the public realm) with the Grad standards coming. Glasser did not address how or where students with severe mental disabilities fit in to a "quality school". I think that he needs to add a chapter when he revises and updates his thinking on the "quality school" to include them. It is the real world! A "quality school" would not be an easy thing to develop. It would take a lot of time, energy and a staff who are all willing to accept a major change in their conception of what a school should be.

-- Anonymous, December 15, 1998

Sue, I forgot about the concept of only having A's and B's for grades. I find this hard to except, but if it was slowly intergrated in, starting in kindergarten, I might be surprised. Also, I teach Algebra 1, as you know, and I do not have enough time in the school year as it is. Therfore, I have a difficult time in taking the time to have the students cooperatively make up the rules in my class. As a teacher and a parent, What do you think? Finally, I agree fully with you about the "Time Out Room" (ISS).

-- Anonymous, December 15, 1998

Sue I appreciated your thoughts on Glasser's book. I kept thinking that he over generalized in regard to his expectation that all students would react in a similar manner to a lead-managed school. As much as I would like to think all children could be convinced of the meaningfulness of school, I have my doubts. Glasser seems to forget that some children are burdened with problems that a school cannot fix and a child may not be able to put aside. Although I value many of the ideas presented in this book, I have a difficult time buying into the philosophy entirely. I'd like to visit some Quality Schools , wouldn't you?

-- Anonymous, January 18, 1999