Control Choice Theory

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Control (Choice) Theory

• A Learning Technique
• By William Glasser

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What is control theory?

• Behavior is never caused by a response to an
  outside stimulus.
• Instead, behavior is inspired by what a person
  wants most at any given time survival, love,
  power, freedom, or any other basic human need.

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Basic needs that fuel wants

• To survive.
• To belong and be loved by others.
• To have power and importance.
• To have freedom and independence.
• To have fun.

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What is the choice?

• By understanding the drives for SURVIVAL, POWER,
  LOVE, BELONGING, FREEDOM, and FUN in people, we
  become more conscious of the need for our world
  to be a quality world of our choosing .

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10 Axioms of Control Theory

• The only person whose behavior we can control is
  our own.
• All we can give another person is information.
• All long-lasting psychological problems are
  relationship problems.
• The problem relationship is always part of our
  present life.
• What happened in the past has everything to do
  with what we are today, but we can only satisfy
  our basic needs right now and plan to continue
  satisfying them in the future.

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10 axioms of control theory

• We can only satisfy our needs by satisfying the
  pictures in our Quality World.
• All we do is behave.
• All behaviors are Total Behaviors and are made up
  of four components acting, thinking, feeling and
  physiology. All Total Behaviors are chosen, but
  we only have direct control over the acting and
  thinking components.
• We can only control our feeling and physiology
  indirectly through how we choose to act and
  think.
• All Total Behavior is designated by verbs and
  named by the part that is the most recognizable.

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How does it work?

• A person can take greater responsibility for his
  actions and make the proper behavior choices by
  examining the following questions
• What do you want?
• What are you doing to achieve what you want?
• Is it working?
• What are your plans or options?

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How it is applied in the classroom

• Two Types of Teachers
• Boss teachers Depends on the rules and
  consequences method and use rewards and
  punishment to get students to do what the teacher
  wants.
• Students are primarily motivated by rewards and
  avoiding punishment
• Students are secondarily motivated by their own
  desire to learn.

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How it is applied in the classroom

• Lead teachersMake aligning lessons and
  assignments with students' basic needs their
  primary business.
• They avoid the necessity of a reward system. A
  grading system is used for assessment, but only
  as a temporary indicator, not a reward.
• students are engaged, deeply motivated learners,
  and not just children completing busy work and
  pre-determined requirements.

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What are the results?

• Students have a say in what they learn, and
  teachers negotiate both content and method with
  them.
• How and what students learn stems directly stems
  from their basic needs.
• In instruction, teachers tend to use cooperative,
  active learning techniques that enhance the power
  of the students.

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Application of the theory

• Curriculum
• Teachers must negotiate both content and method
  with students. Students' basic needs literally
  help shape how and what they are taught.
• Instruction
• Teachers rely on cooperative, active learning
  techniques that enhance the power of the
  learners. Lead teachers make sure that all
  assignments meet some degree of their students'
  need satisfaction. This secures student loyalty,
  which carries the class through whatever
  relatively meaningless tasks might be necessary
  to satisfy official requirements.

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Application of the theory

• Assessment
• Instructors only give "good grades those that
  certify quality work. This satisfies some
  students' need for power
• Courses for which a student doesn't earn a "good
  grade" are not recorded on that student's
  transcript.
• Teachers grade students using an absolute
  standard, rather than a relative "curve."

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Goals of the control theory?

• From the words of Glasser himself
• To teach prospective teachers how to relate to
  their students so that the students feel the
  teachers care about them and respect them.
  Without pay, no human being will work up to
  their ability if he or she is not cared for and
  respected.
• To teach prospective teachers to introduce the
  concept of competency into their classrooms. No
  human being will work hard at anything unless
  they believe that they are working for
  competence.