Using Maslow’s Hierarchy to Teach Literary Analysis

Humans are a fickle species, and attempting to understand our behavior remains one of the most laborious tasks we undertake. Psychologist Abraham Maslow gifted us with a motivational theory that explains how we are inspired to fulfill our needs, from the most basic to the most advanced. Analyzing the behaviors that manifest when needs go unmet and the behaviors demonstrated when we’re trying to fulfill our needs is some of the most complex yet fulfilling critical thinking that we can do as humans. Since both students and educators are human and each in pursuit of needs, it only makes sense to capitalize on that human connection in our classrooms as educators.

A Network of Needs Must Be Met for Positive Learning Outcomes

Although we often defer to the student, a truly healthy classroom setting requires that the needs of both the pupil and the educator are met, and Maslow’s hierarchy of needs can be a tremendous teaching tool for educators when it comes to social and emotional and academic learning outcomes. It’s important to understand that a student or teacher who is deficient in their physiological needs—experiencing hunger, thirst, sleep deprivation, or being unhoused—will have trouble prioritizing teaching or learning. True education also requires a level of safety; both the student and the teacher need to feel emotionally and physically secure in the shared learning environment in order to establish trust.

While it may seem that securing the aforementioned needs is enough to facilitate a healthy learning environment, it simply is not. Maslow tells us that our cognitive needs can only be met after we feel like we belong and are respected. Fostering a healthy learning environment where students’ cognitive needs are met requires some heavy lifting. This is why teaching is not for the weak.

Empathy is a Key Component of Understanding Human Needs

Studying Maslow’s hierarchy as an undergraduate student illuminated human behavior for me. The theory taught me how to understand the motivations behind others’ behaviors as well as my own. Most important, it fostered in me the ability to extend grace when faced with inconvenient, inappropriate, or confusing behavior. Back in 2012, when discussing an incident that had occurred with my students, I loosely quoted Maslow and reminded my class that poor behavior is evidence that a need hasn’t been met.

Some students grunted and responded flippantly with statements like “No, Miss, some kids are just bad.” I saw others pause, shake their heads, and motion me to continue speaking. I had sparked something, and many students wanted to know more. It was on that day that I began teaching Maslow’s hierarchy explicitly, and shortly after, I began creating curricula around it.

Using the Tool to Facilitate Literary Analysis

While I’ve used the theory to help my students analyze character development in everything from Moana’s need to find her own identity in the Disney film to Mrs. Mallard’s needs in Kate Chopin’s “The Story of an Hour,” it was in teaching Richard Wright’s memoir Black Boy (considered a tome by the average high school student) that I saw the power of Maslow’s hierarchy resonate with every learner. While reading the first chapter of the novel, I asked my students to try to understand Richard by conducting a Needs Assessment Inventory. 

Over the course of reading the memoir, I parlayed this activity (and similar ones) into small group discussions where students compared their findings about Richard’s behaviors and what they suggested his needs were with the hierarchy. These shorter activities led us to an examination of Richard’s overall development, which, in turn, inspired my students to want to discuss human nature in general and the choices we make. I, of course, made time for those discussions.

Leverage Organic Discussions Into Rigorous Assignments

I concluded the unit with two major assessments, one written and one verbal. I asked students to use their knowledge of Wright’s memoir and Maslow’s theory to write an argumentative essay that grappled with the question, “Did Richard become self-actualized?” For the verbal assessment, I divided my students into teams to debate the position identified in their essays.

The unit, which spanned the better part of two marking periods, yielded outstanding results. My students were able to interrogate all of the literary topics associated with 11th- and 12th-grade standards, from analyzing conflict to language to setting, all in a historically accurate context—but most important, they were able to understand and empathize with Richard, a boy who grew into a man in the Jim Crow South.

Pedagogically, the benefits derived from my leveraging of Maslow’s hierarchy were notable: rigor, student engagement, and critical thinking among them. Yet, none were more consequential than what my students learned about themselves through their exposure to the hierarchy, which Paulo Freire has called the mutual humanization of students. Exposing my students to this psychological theory is a testament to the trust and respect that I had for them. It was me, their teacher, prioritizing their needs with my own self-actualization.