Every educator is familiar with Maslow’s Heirarchy of needs and for many of us, have learned about it as a hierarchy, understanding that in order for the students in our care to become fully self-actualized, they need to have their basic and physiological needs met. There is some dispute about whether or not we should really look at our human needs as a hierarchy at all. In the article, Pamela Rutledge in Psychology Today entitled “Social Networks: What Maslow Misses” Rutledge says we need to rethink Maslow with connections at the center. Tina Zita sketched what this looks like for my book, Raising Digital Leaders: Practical Advice for Navigating Today’s Technology.
Why does this matter?
In an age where technology is ubiquitous, with kids getting smartphones at younger and younger ages, understanding Maslow and how a smartphone meets their need for connection can be a powerful way to interrupt that cycle. Think about this for a moment, one of your students is not successful at school, perhaps they do not feel connected to their peers because they are not on a club or team. Then, they play a video game where they work hard and get rewarded with XP or by getting to the next level. Their need for competence is being met in a way that it is not in their in- person lives. They know that no matter how chaotic their life gets, the game will always be there and for the most part looks the same (Order and Certainty). An online chat gives them access to a like-minded group of people (Community and Belonging). Similarly, when kids are on TikTok or Instagram or Snapchat, the consistency of the platform gives them order, the likes they get trigger their esteem needs (or not and therefore they are striving to meet their esteem needs) and they long to be connected to a community of like-minded individuals online. Tech companies are well versed in human motivation and spend lots of time and energy thinking about how they can get people coming back to their game or app. How can educators possibly compete with this? We don’t need to, of course, but using the lens of Maslow’s needs from the perspective of connections can be a powerful force in the classroom.
The following are a few ideas for addressing Maslow’s Rewired definition with high school students:
Safety, Order, and Certainty
A high school student is going through immense physiological and biological changes. Their hormones are constantly in flux and their friend groups often change, thus creating a space where there is safety, order and certainty while still ensuring student agency is important.
Creating a beginning of class routine by posting an agenda, beginning with a riddle of the day, the Google a Day, or problem of the day can help kids to feel a sense of order; it can also be a source of fun or connection. Like most of the world, last school year we had a Wordle obsession and so we began every day with the Wordle for a while (there are obviously variations now varying from the World-le to Heardle (music trivia) . A group of students showed me a Wordle generator in which they created a Wordle a week around the theme of mental well-being. You could assign students to be in charge of the Wordle based on a unit you are studying.
Ending the class consistently is also important. Consider playing music from a student-generated playlist, or a using a post-it reflection as students walk out, or if you are online asking everyone to unmute their microphone to say goodbye using their most annoying voice!
Esteem, Reputation, and Confidence
There are positive benefits to calling home with a positive message, but when you are teaching 3 classes of up to 35 students in each, this is an impossible task. Laura Steinbrink shared on Twitter that she gave her students cue cards with the prompt, “If I were to call your home, what positive things would you like me to say?” She then had a concrete thing to which to refer for those positive calls; beginning with students who may not be having academic success. Alternatively, you can personalize those cards and send them home.
Differentiating how our students can show us what they know can give us insight into their gifts and talents and can be another powerful way to build esteem and confidence. So often, we ask students to demonstrate their learning in a certain way. Choice boards, learning menus, and open ended tasks are ways for students to shine in a way that a test or essay could not give us insight. Our curriculum expectations tell us what to teach, not how to teach it or how kids need to demonstrate their learning.
Community and Belonging
When we make room to build community and help kids to feel like they belong, it may feel like we are taking time away from important content, but in actual fact, it will help kids learn better. A significant relationship has been identified between classroom community and perceived cognitive learning, learning engagement, and learning outcomes (Liu, Magjuka, Bonk & Lee, 2007) Something as simple as welcoming your students by name and with a smile is an important and research-based practice which will help your students feel welcome. In elementary and middle school, it may be common to have a morning circle whereby kids share something with the class; in high school, we don’t often do this because we are focused on content. In We Got This, Cornelius Minor speaks of the class meeting. He will talk about a situation for which he needs an opinion and invites kids to talk to him about what he should do. In doing this, he shares power with students and gets insight into what they value, are thinking and feeling.
Creating classroom committees can also be a powerful way to help your students feel like they belong, as well as meet their esteem needs. A few years ago I had the pleasure of working with Robert Cannone’s middle school students who talked to me about how they felt connected: like they were all a piece of a classroom puzzle. Committees aren’t just for middle school. Giving students roles in the classroom and having them rotate through them will not only shift the power in the classroom, will help kids to feel like the success of the class depends on their contributions. A few examples can include: Public relations committee (create blog posts or posts for social media for teacher review ), Tech committee (responsible for plugging in devices, supporting students), Riddler (responsible for creating a riddle of the day/week), Eco-committee (recycling), Weekly Wisdom committee (quote of the week), Wellness Committee (creating brain breaks). There would be a bit of scaffolding needed at first, but regardless of the content area, building in opportunities for students to take ownership of the class will help students feel like they belong.
Each of us craves connection and belonging. Being intentional about addressing Maslow’s needs in an age where students are turning to their devices to meet their needs can be an important step to supporting our students’ social emotional well being.
*In Raising Digital Leaders, I talk more about how we can address Maslow & the smartphone in our homes with our own children.
Reference: Liu, X., Magjuka, R.J., Bonk, C.J. & Lee, S.h. (2007). Does sense of community matter? An examination of participants’ perceptions of building learning communities in online courses. Quarterly Review of Distance Education, 8(1), 9-24.