Behavior & Compelling Whys
Whether you define your needs using Glasser's terms or Maslow's, these needs act as a springboard for both your actions and memories of your actions. You often explain your behavior by using these needs as your Compelling Whys: your reasons — conscious or unconscious — for your behavior.
For example, a student may be active in a gang outside of school without realizing that he or she has joined the gang because of a need to be accepted as part of a group. Or a student may be active in a gang for his or her own personal safety or survival.
In school, a student may join clubs, befriend certain students, sign up for various classes, join the band, go out for a sport, or choose what to put effort into based on conscious or unconscious Compelling Whys. Students' reasons for coming to school, taking part in class, learning subject matter, and remembering what they have learned are all a result of the needs suggested by Glasser and Maslow. The students express these needs as Compelling Whys or reasons why they do what they do.
With knowledge of Glasser's and Maslow's needs, teachers can create environments in which students choose to learn, because in those environments their basic needs are being met. For example, teachers can develop a classroom where mistakes are okay (addressing freedom and empowerment) and capable (empowerment and esteem).