Dale Carnegie’s classic book How to Win Friends and Influence People has helped my teaching as much as anything I’ve ever read. I can’t recommend it highly enough. I’ve worn out two copies over the last 40 years and I’m working on number three. Get this book!

Here are the most important principles of the best chapter. Each of these principles also apply to Special Person Interviews:

Principle 3 may be the most important bit of advice. Learning names and using them often draws in students. I’ve made a game of learning both first and last names of all my students. Even if they’ve all been together in school for years, I bet them that I can say the first and last name of every student in the class faster than anyone else after the first week. The students often win, but they are impressed how much I know.

The trick to learning so many names quickly is to greet students at the door with a password. You can say their name, or ask it if you don’t recall it. this is what has worked for me.

I’ll keep working on these.

In your opinion, what are the most important principles? What would you add? What would you change?