Glasser response

-- Anonymous, December 14, 1998

Answers

Response to "The Quality School-Managing Students Without Coercion" by William Glasser,M.D.

I did enjoy reading the book "The Quality Schoool" by Glasser. It was good to read his ideas again and think about how I implement them into my own teaching. The Proctor School District went through extensive outcome based education training in 1991-1992 with Al Mamary, former superintendent of schools, Johnson City, New York. He is a firm believer and supporter of Glasser. In fact, he is quoted on the back of this book. Mamary combined his outcomes program with many of Glasser's ideas. Our district has since backed up from total OBE but I still use some of the best practices. Many of the best ideas come from Glasser.

I do believe that in order to get students to do the quality work we would like, they need to see the value in it. Students need to agree that something is worth learning. They need to see connections between their own lives and what they are learning. Students also want to feel that they have some control over what they learn and do. I also like Glasser's idea about boss-management vs. lead-management. I believe that students will work harder for someone they feel cares about them. He says that a good leader "develops friendships, laughs, expresses themselves, gives students freedom to learn and listens." I strive to provide a warm, caring environment where my students feel valued, comfortable and important. I do have students participate in decision making as much as possible including setting the rules for our classroom. I also believe that quality does not have a time limit. Students in my room can raise any low grade by demonstrating that they know more than they did before. I am not concerned with how long it takes someone to learn something. I just want the learning process to continue. It is great to see this working so well with my fifth grade students. If they are not satisfied with a grade on a test or assignment they ask to retest or complete an enrichment project. One of the most important ideas presented in this book is the importance of self-evaluation. Self-evaluation is a life-long skill that students need to practice daily so it becomes automatic. We know that quality can never be graded or evaluated by machines so we need to train students to pursue quality and recognize it for themselves.

-- Anonymous, December 27, 1998

Shelly,I agree that our experiences with OBE and the Glasser ideas did have a positive affect on us. It was a time when we(Proctor teachers) were talking and listening to each other about what we teach and how we teach it. I was happy to read how you are effectively using many Glasser ideas in your fifth grade classroom. Thinking about OBE and what might have been is like a visit from an old friend. You always wish that they could have stayed longer.

-- Anonymous, December 30, 1998

Shelly,

I thought that self-evaluation was the most practical part of this book, too. I allow my third graders an opportunity to improve on an assignment. My students need to be reminded about this often. I am comfortable with the idea and it is great to know that other teachers believe in second chances, too!

Ci

-- Anonymous, January 03, 1999