Presenting Choice Theory to the Administrative Team

Dale asked Denise and I to share Choice Theory and the effects it has had in our classrooms to the Adminstrators in our District. Dale has been so pleased with what has been going on in our rooms and the effect it has had on him personally that he wants to pursue becoming a Quality School.

Denise and I were delighted with the idea and eager to present to the group. As we planned an overview of CT and what we would say, I thought, let's get some of our kids to talk about the needs and a CBC classroom. We thougtht about which students we felt knew CT the best and asked them if they were interested in presenting to the Administrators. They agreed but asked if we could go over the agenda with them to prepare for the meeting. We agreed that we would get together during lunch and talk about what we wanted them present. Two students could testify about how blogging was helping them. Another could talk about needs etc.



As our lunch meeting progressed, the conversation began to take a whole idenity. Our students were talking about how they are enjoying learning this year. They like the freedom and choice. They are learning more than they ever had. It was so wonderful to hear. Denise and I looked at each other and said, this is what they need to tell the Administrators. The question is, whether or not they would be as candid as they had been with us.

We came up with a list of questions about homework, testing, learning, all the things we had discussed at lunch and were ready to present to the team. And we did our presentation before we called the students in.

How did it go? I couldn't have been more pleased with my student's honesty and conviction. They really like what they are doing this year and they know that next year will be different. Even with a traditional model next year, they know they will be successful. Every student wanted imput on every question. They could have talked all afternoon, but we stopped them after 45 minutes of discussion. If I didn't know better, I would have suspected that we had prepped them for weeks. The students were that convincing. It was evident that they felt their learning was valuable to them. They expressed how they were being prepared for life and they appreciated that they weren't being babied. I honesty could not have scripted a better discussion. I could go on for pages about what they said.

What is so exciting is that they are only getting this in two classrooms. The rest of their day they are in traditional classrooms, with external controls, behavior modification etc. If we can spark this much excitiment and passion in our classes, what would happen if the whole school taught this way? All 6th, 7th and 8th grade classes. What would it look like if the entire district became a Quality School District?

This is radical teaching! This is life changing!