How Natural Selection Influences Student Behavior

profession: to help those most in need of your help. I invite the teacher in you to call on your better angels and ask them to help you accept the responsibility for showing some of your most difficult students that there is a different path they can choose. It is in accepting responsibilities such as this that teachers realize their greatest potential for engaging in rewarding work— making a difference to that one student.

ABOUT THIS BOOK

I have structured this book into seventeen short chapters, each one focusing on a particular motivational or influence strategy or the background information necessary to understand why these strategies work. I did this so that teachers and administrators can easily return to the specific chapter or chapters that focus on the influence strategies they want to utilize in their practice. Please also note that because family structures vary in significant and critical ways, I use the term caregivers throughout to refer to any adult person acting in a parental capacity for a student.

I’ve organized this book into three parts: (1) Natural Selection and Student Behavior, (2) Soft and Hard Tactics, and (3) Ethics and Unseen Motivators. You cannot make effective use of this book’s soft and hard tactics without understanding why your students behave the way they do, which is why chapter 1 kicks off the first part of the book by exploring student behavior through the lens of natural selection and how it impacts the way people view their world and how they respond to a variety of motivators. Chapter 2 helps develop an understanding of student behavior by taking a close look at how the hardwiring of natural selection plays out in the way students behave and react to their peers and to their teachers in schools. You will understand more deeply why students behave the way they do and how you can use the hardwiring of natural selection to influence more positive student behaviors.

In part 2, you begin your exploration of tactics that enable you to use your understanding of students to positively influence their classroom behavior. This part includes chapters 3–15, with each of the following chapters highlighting a specific group of influence tactics. • Chapter 3 looks at the ways in which a student’s self-image governs their behaviors. We then look at soft tactics that influence your ability to positively impact a student’s self-image. • Chapter 4 examines how all people are hardwired to want to return favors to people who have done something for them. It shows how to utilize the rule of reciprocity in your classroom to establish effective working relationships with students. • Chapter 5 demonstrates clearly how much better students learn and how much more cooperative they are when they like their teacher. This chapter shows you how to get your students to like and respect you and how student achievement improves in the process. • Chapter 6 shows you how important it is that your students know you are committed to them and their learning. It also explores the substantial power of commitment over the long haul in getting students to change their negative behaviors into positive ones. • Chapter 7 takes a look at common classroom dynamics that most often go unnoticed by teachers and students alike. It highlights how, by becoming aware of these dynamics and utilizing their hidden power, teachers can subtly but effectively improve student behaviors and achievement. • Chapter 8 explores strategies for persuasion, using models and approaches the FBI developed over many decades to successfully negotiate a positive end to high-stakes confrontations; it describes how you can effectively use these same tactics to positively influence students.

• Chapter 9 examines the subtle but powerful ways in which the physical environment of the classroom—what students see, hear, and smell—can move them in the direction you want them to go. • Chapter 10 looks at the basic desire of all people to avoid losing something they already possess, which is called loss aversion. This chapter flips loss aversion on its head in the classroom and shows how you can use this to effectively motivate your students. • Chapter 11 explores the power of words to move students in the direction you want.

From the power of rhyme and repetition to enhanced recall to the contrast principle that we looked at earlier in this introduction with the story of the blind man and his sign, this chapter shows you powerful ways to use words to achieve your goals in the classroom. • Chapter 12 investigates the upsides and downsides of using rewards in the classroom to influence students. You will see what kinds of rewards work and which types don’t, when to use rewards and when to avoid them, and in what kinds of teaching situations rewards work best. • Chapter 13 emphasizes the power and importance of first impressions. It shows how to make a great first impression on students through the conscious presentation of yourself as a teacher and the intentional staging of the physical environment of your classroom. By implementing the practices discussed here, you will positively influence your students the moment they enter your classroom for the first time. • Chapter 14 looks at the hard tactics teachers sometimes resort to in order to change student behaviors. While there are certainly situations that call for the use of hard tactics, this chapter

shows the downside of using them as your default strategies on a continuing basis. • Chapter 15 delves into the question of when you should attempt to influence a student. You will learn that a great strategy that’s poorly timed will likely fail. It also shows you under what circumstances it is best to attempt to change a student’s attitude or behaviors and what you need to consider in making decisions around when you will try to influence a student.

Part 3 wraps up the book with two chapters that explore the ethics of influence and hidden factors that influence teacher motivation with regard to students. Chapter 16 looks at the power of the persuasive tools you have learned and asks you to reflect on how you intend to use them. Like all tools, you can use the tactics of influence and persuasion that this book explores to help both students and yourself, but it’s also possible to use them for purely self-serving ends. This chapter will help you conduct your own personal ethics check to ensure you are on the right path. Chapter 17 examines the impact teacher preconceptions can have on student achievement as well as the effect that physical appearance can have on your teaching and assessment practices. By highlighting and confronting some common ways students can subconsciously influence their teachers, you empower yourself to be more fair-minded with your students, making your use of the influence tactics in this book that much more powerful.

At the end of each chapter, there is a “Reflective Practice” reproducible to help you think about and apply the ideas and strategies explored in each chapter. Use this to engage with critical questions and try out new practices with your students. A closing epilogue offers some final guidance as you reflect on what you’ve learned in this book. While I strongly recommend that you start this book by reading chapters 1 and 2, you can read chapters 3–13, which all discuss soft tactics, in any order. Finally, I’ve included an appendix with information about two ways to help you in

your tactical approach to students: the Newspaper of the Self and the Adopt-a-Kid program.

As you begin your adventure of reading this book and implementing some of these strategies with your students, know that you will unquestionably make a positive difference in the learning and the behaviors that occur in your classroom. Both you and your students will benefit from your efforts!