Posts

Showing posts from 2013

If Dr. Glasser's Ideas Are So Great and Have Been Around for Fifty Years, Why Aren't All Schools Using Them?

A Murray High School Perspective         Recently, I received an email from a teacher who hopes to convince the administration and staff of her school to move in the direction of creating a Glasser Quality School.  She was asked the question that is the title of this article and she wanted my help to answer it.  Perhaps she sent this to many of the Glasser Quality Schools.  I found this a compelling question and I wanted to share my answer here because we have all given a lot of thought to our goal of teaching the world choice theory and we have often wondered why there aren't more Glasser Quality Schools.  Below is my answer to her question:             What a great question!  Actually, it has only been 20 years since Dr. Glasser put his ideas together into a form that could help people create an entire school.  He came out with The Quality School and Quality School Teacher in the mid-90's.  Also, this is not a program that can be started in a school at the beginning

The Loss of Our Teacher and Mentor

Dr Glasser It is with great sadness that we mourn the loss of our teacher, mentor and friend.  Dr William Glasser MD passed away peacefully in his home in Los Angeles on the 23 August, 2013. Glasser visited New Zealand on two occasions.  Each time he brought the energy of his teaching as he connected with many throughout the country.  His attendance at the conference in Christchurch was a standout time for those of us who attended. Gwen Sands and I had dinner with him following that conference, and we will both always have that memory etched in our quality worlds. I wish to pay tribute to him and what I think is some of what he has taught us. Dr Glasser - The Lens Maker The lens through which we view the world is the beliefs we have about how we live our lives.  Are we at the mercy of things and people outside ourselves or do we have control?  This lens impacts on how we interact with others, how we accept what is happening with us and those around us.    If we view th

Happy 88th Birthday Dr Glasser

It is fitting that this week , Teacher Appreciation Week , is the 88 th birthday of the originator of Choice Theory and its applications Dr William Glasser.   We have learned from this amazing man through his books, his trainings, his conference presentations and his videos.   We are so thankful for this knowledge, skills and understandings he has taught us.   The world is a better place for him being here. We wish you a very happy 88th birthday on May 11 Dr Glasser.   From Bette Blance and the members of the William Glasser Institute-New   Zealand.

Repeat Offenders

  According to the New Zealand Department of Corrections website,  one in every two prisoners is re-convicted and re-imprisoned within four years of release. With a 50% failure rate, is what we are doing working? Anne Tolley, Minister of Corrections wants to reduce this rate by 25%.           How about 3.5%  That is the result of a 2012 longitudinal university study in the Californian Institution for Women. These inmates are being taught how they can have control over their lives  by Instructors from the William Glasser Institute.  Over a period of five years 500 women have spent over 100 hours learning Choice Theory.  There is currently a waiting list of 200 women wanting to be involved.  They request transfers from other prisons to be able to learn this life -changing program. Of the 175 women paroled, only five have returned to prison.  That is 3.5% - a long way better than 25%. This training is available in New Zealand.  Perhaps we need to look at what it can do f

Bullied to Death

Watching the recently screened TV program Bullied to Death: The Tragedy of Phoebe Prince, several thoughts came to mind. This scenario is no doubt played over and over throughout the schools in many countries around the world. New female student arrives at a school, leaving behind friends at a previous school. At first the student is popular, perhaps because of a novelty factor. Then the girl is seen as a competitor with the popular boys of the school. The perpetrators join forces to threaten and punish the victim. Without intervention this can be an ongoing barrage - deliberate, calculated, purposeful. Phoebe Prince hung herself, after this ongoing verbal assault over many months became intolerable. A similar scenario occurred at the school when I was deputy principal. The new eleven year old girl arrived – very attractive and bubbly – and at first was welcomed into the group of popular girls. The friendship and the subsequent behaviour of all of the girls deteriorated,