2013 is just about to go into the history books. As New Year’s Eve ushers in 2014, I thought I would share some data and info regarding the life of The Better Plan blog over the past year.
+ I started the blog for Seventh-day Adventist teachers and parents who had read my book Soul Shapers and as a result wanted to know more about choice theory. Many who signed up to follow the blog are SDA teachers or parents, but many of you are not SDA. As a result, the blog has focused on the principles of choice theory. There has been an occasional emphasis on SDA quotes or stories, but not as much as I originally planned.
+ The very first blog was posted on Dec. 16, 2012.
There were five posts and 90 views during December, 2012.
+ There are now 189 people following the blog.
+ During 2013, there were 78 posts or articles.
Of the 78 posts there were 8,256 views.
That represents an average of 23 views per day.
To the 78 posts there were 371 comments.
+ The low day for views was on December 20, 2013, when there was just one view.
The high day for views was on August 24, 2013, when there were 231 views, with most of the views being directed at the I Will Miss You, Bill post.
The average views for the month of August was 44 views per day.
The posts related to Glasser’s passing away in August definitely had the most views during the year.
+ A couple of blogs I put some time and thought into were Give Me Victory or Give Me Death on January 22, and Why Are So Many Christians So Un-Christian? on November 10.
+ A couple of blogs that meant a lot to me were The Rest of the Story, Part 1, on September 3, and Part 2 on September 5.
The comments several of you shared in response to The Rest of the Story meant a great deal to me.
+ An example of the kind of blogs I thought would have gotten more views was Stringless Love on July 11.
+ There were other contributors besides myself during the past year, something I would like to see more of in 2014. Examples of contributions from other writers include 19 Ways to Lead, Rather than Boss, by Ed Boyatt, on July 27, and Push or Pull, by Chris Sequiera, on July 24.
Reflecting back I am pleased with the caliber of the content and I look forward to continuing the blog. It has been a labor of love, although it isn’t too hard to write about choice theory when you get a new idea or have an epiphany of some sort. I would like to see the blog grow and become an even better resource to teachers, parents, and choice theorists of all kinds. I would love your ideas on how to make the blog more valuable. (I am thinking about creating an eBook with all of The Better Plan 2013 blogs in chronological order. The blog template I am using makes it hard to read through the archived blogs chronologically.)
As I close 2013 I want to wish all of you every blessing for 2014!
Have Choose a great year!
The Better Plan . . 
Jim as always you do great things with Choice Theory. I look forward to meeting you in Toronto
It is going to be a great year.
Bette
Toronto it is!
As I look into the future, I would love to see more work done to inspire, educate, support and encourage teens to learn more about CT. I am not volunteering, as I have too much on my plate as it is, but maybe someone out there is thinking the same thing and this would encourage them to step forward and work on several pieces that teens would relish, relate to, and embrace in their life. Thanks for your passion, Jim.
I so much agree, Karen. I shared some choice theory with 10th graders at Prep this past Fall. I thought it went well, although I couldn’t always tell. I think it is an essential piece in the choice theory puzzle, that being that we share everything we know with our students.
Karen and Jim, from l991 until 2010 when I retired, I was the faculty advisor for a group of peer counselors. Our program was entirely Glasser-based using the same materials as the adults in our training programs. Many students continued their studies in such fields as neuroscience (at Brown University eg), psychology, mediation, conflict resolution, social work, and counseling. We met once a month for formal training; I provided on-going supervision and consultation, the students had their own room in the school, and they were carefully chosen (by their peers) and trained. They earned an academic credit for participation. The William Glasser Institute Ireland actually financed two of these student leaders to travel to Ireland and offer a training workshop at the annual convention in Dublin. The vision for the program was inspired by the mention of peer counselors in Bill’s publication, The Quality School. The program was supported by an understanding Board of School Directors and by enlightened principals and teachers. I can vouch wholeheartedly for your suggestion and I can verify the effectiveness of a Glasserian program for and by teenagers.
Suzy, I am so glad you shared this. You have provided an excellent description of a program that involved students, and ultimately had students teaching students about choice theory. The peer-counseling framework would be a wonderful way to structure the program. I hope that others reading the blog will see this framework and consider adopting it in their schools.
You’ve given me something to really think about!