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About This Book
Chapter 4 Soft Tactics for Reciprocation 39 Tactic: Understand How Reciprocation Motivates Your Students 40 Tactic: Give a Small Gift Directly to Each Student 42 Tactic: Be Involved With Student Activities 42
Tactic: Motivate for Money 43 Tactic: Be Available and Empathetic 44 Summary 46 Reflective Practice 47
Chapter 5 Soft Tactics for Likability 49 Tactic: Use the Power of Perceived Similarity 50 Tactic: Create Similarities Between You and Alpha Students 51 Tactic: Use Mirroring to Establish Similarities 52 Tactic: Speak to the Elephant, Not the Rider 53 Tactic: Sell Yourself First, Then the Curriculum 54 Tactic: Use the Positive-Word Strategy With Students You Dislike 55 Summary 56 Reflective Practice 57
Chapter 6 Soft Tactics for the Power of Commitment 59
Tactic: Understand the Importance of Teacher Commitment 60 Tactic: Implement an Adopt-a-Kid Program 61 Tactic: Understand Habits and the Power of Consistency 62 Tactic: Start With Small Commitments Focused on Self-Identity 65 Tactic: Use Four Steps to Achieve Student Commitment 67 Summary 69 Reflective Practice 70
Chapter 7 Soft Tactics for Making the Invisible Visible 73
Tactic: Use Mark Charts for Achievement 74 Tactic: Display Posters to Motivate Attendance 79 Tactic: Get a Public Commitment for Grade Goals 82 Tactic: Consider Physical and Emotional Contagion 83 Tactic: Understand How Mood Affects Fast and Slow Thinking 88 Summary 89 Reflective Practice 91
Chapter 8 Soft Tactics for Empathetic Persuasion of Students’ Thinking 93
Tactic: Determine What Isn’t Negotiable 94 Tactic: Know When to Ask Open-Ended Questions and Irrational Questions 95 Tactic: Practice Tactical or Empathetic Listening 97 Tactic: Use Six Key Listening Skills During Conversations 99 Tactic: Apply FBI Negotiation Tactics in Your Classroom 100 Tactic: Know How to Use Game Theory 106 Tactic: Give Your Students the Illusion of Control 107
Tactic: Use the F Word 109 Tactic: Find the Black Swans 110
Tactic: Persist Until You Are Successful 111
Summary 112 Reflective Practice 113
Chapter 9 Soft Tactics for Your Classroom’s Physical Environment 115
Tactic: Plan What Your Students Hear 116 Tactic: Plan What Your Students Smell 119 Tactic: Plan What Your Students See 119 Tactic: Plan for Sights, Sounds, and Smells 123 Tactic: Use Choice Architecture 124
Summary 127 Reflective Practice 128
Chapter 10 Soft Tactics for Motivating Students by Taking Something Away 129
Tactic: Make Things Scarce 129 Tactic: Use Loss Aversion 131
Tactic: Soak Up Extra Time With Sponge Activities 132 Summary 133 Reflective Practice 134
Chapter 11 Soft Tactics for Persuading Students With the Right Words 137
Tactic: Increase Your Influence Every Time, Using Rhythm and Rhyme (and Repetition) 137 Tactic: Use the Contrast Principle to Nudge Students in a Direction 141 Tactic: Use the Butterfly Effect 147 Summary 148 Reflective Practice 149
Tactic: Understand Your Own Thinking About Rewards 152 Tactic: Understand the Connection Between Rewards and Motivation 155 Tactic: Know Your Methods for Using Rewards 156 Summary 158 Reflective Practice 159
Chapter 13 Soft Tactics for Making a Great First Impression 163
Tactic: Write a Letter of Introduction 164
Tactic: Plan Carefully 165 Summary 167 Reflective Practice 168
Chapter 14 Hard Tactics to Use With Extreme Caution 171
Know the Difference Between Soft and Hard Tactics 172
Tactic: Review Your Options 173 Tactic: Build Legitimacy With Your Students 175 Tactic: Avoid the Pitfalls of Hard Tactics 176
Summary 178 Reflective Practice 179
Chapter 15 Soft Tactics for Knowing When to Influence Your Students 181
Tactic: Discern When Students Are Ready for New Learning 181 Tactic: Reduce Students’ Anxiety When They Struggle 183 Tactic: Move Students From a Fixed Mindset to a Growth Mindset 183 Tactic: Know When to Push and When to Nudge 184 Tactic: Get the Real Picture First 185 Tactic: Understand Your Relationship to Students 186 Summary 187 Reflective Practice 188
Part 3: Ethics and Unseen Motivators 191
Chapter 16 The Ethics of Influence 193 Ethics and Great Teaching 193 The Right and the Responsibility to Influence Our Students 197 The Gentle Art of Nudging 199
The Right to Be Wrong 202 A Final Ethics Check 203 Summary 187 Reflective Practice 205
Chapter 17 How Your Students Might Subconsciously Motivate You 207
The Halo Effect 207 Inherent Charisma 208 Thinking You Know Students 209 Summary 211 Reflective Practice 212 Epilogue 215 Appendix 217 The Newspaper of the Self 218 Adopt-a-Kid Program FAQs 221 References and Resources 225
Index 235
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Dale Ripley, PhD, teaches in the Departments of Elementary and Secondary Education at the University of Alberta. Dale has taught at the elementary, junior high and middle school, high school, and college and university levels since 1972. Additionally, he served as a principal at the elementary and secondary school levels and as the superintendent for a small rural school district near Edmonton, Alberta, Canada, as well as a large urban school district in Edmonton.
Although Dale has worked in high-performing schools located in affluent areas, his first love has always been working in schools where many of the students were considered “at risk” or “challenging.” For this reason, he chose to spend most of his teaching career working in inner-city schools, or what many refer to as high-needs or priority schools. In 2009, Dale asked to establish a high school on a First Nations Reserve, where he then taught for six years, taking high school graduation rates to an unprecedented level, with many of his students going on to graduate with post-secondary degrees.
In 2019, Dale wrote The Successful Teacher’s Survival Kit: 83 Simple Things That Successful Teachers Do to Thrive in the Classroom in response to the myriad questions that his preservice teacher-education students posed in regard to how to deal with the day-to-day practical problems and issues novice teachers face.
Dale received his bachelor’s and master’s degrees in education from the University of Alberta and then returned to attain his doctorate in curriculum design and educational leadership.
To book Dale Ripley for professional development, contact pd@SolutionTree.com.
