Remembering names....
The information stated that people enjoy hearing their own name and encouraged the instructors to call every students by their first name.
I have always had trouble remembering names. During the first class of the term I even mention this to my students. I tell them that I even call my children by my cats names!
Does anyone have any techniques that help you to remember someone's name?
I agree with Cecil. We cycle through between 30-40 students for a two week course almost every month, and I'm terrible with names. Since our students will be working for the same company we have to shuffle them around each day so they get to know each other, too. So, we have nameplates made for each student and on the first day we begin in alphabetical order and have each student introduce themselves. At the end of each day we move them around with their nameplate. It works pretty good.
Rick, great job in recognizing your own limitations and having a plan to make a weakness a strength. This can also be a great technique to teach your students on how to analyze their own weak points and then working to turn them into strengths.
James Jackson
I find it easy to remember the names of students who are either very engaged or are trouble makers. The ones I have issue with are the ones who never participate in discussion....I make it a point to call on these students early on so I remember their names and to help them stay engaged on the material. I have also tried the name game and it works well...
Shana, word association is a great technique. Be careful replacing a students name with an associated word. Some students may take offense internally but not say anything externally.
James Jackson
One thing that I do in class to remember names is on the first day we go around the room and they tell me their names and something interesting about themselves, anything, they choose. If I cannot remember their name, the word association helps me, Example: Jessica just moved from Italy. In class I might forget her name, and I call her Italy. This usually get a good laugh.
Dennis, seating charts are great tools. More instructors should make use of this useful tool.
James Jackson
Mark, great technique. Seating charts are not used as much as they should be in my opinion.
James Jackson
I always use a seating chart. Then I get to know them after some time.
Cynthia, I really like this technique but it is also good to allow students to move around after a couple of weeks. It is easy to recreate a new seating chart if you need more time to learn names.
James Jackson
I have used a seating chart over the last ten years and it has been a valuable tool.
Learning the students names is so important and with the chart you will know your students names in a very short time.
I remember in one of my classes that I was a student for the instructor set up a seating chart. This class had about 20 to 25 students. She did this to make it easier to do attendance plus learn the names of her students.
What works for me is to remember the unique names first. Sometimes depending on the classroom gender and ethnic backgrounds i will learn the women or mens names first. Lab or classroom location also helps in remembering names as students usually sit in the same area. For example i have always noticed that the eager learning students will always sit in the front roll. Once i learn their names i will go around and repeat their names a few times and it usually takes me a week to learn them all. Learning up to 48 names is not an easy feat.
Glenn
I get 25-30 new students every 3 weeks....having them make a name tag to put on their desk is a good idea that I hadn't thought of. My students will often change desks from day to day, so a tag that they can keep with them for the first week of class would help a lot.
I remember names by repeating the students name as I pass through the classroom during production. I sometimes have to do this five or six times, but by the second day I have them memorized, no problem.
I am just like you and I sometimes play a name game. Everyone goes around the room identifying themselves with an adjective beginning with the first letter of their first name, like Sensitive Sue, Adorable Adrienne, Super Sam, Moody Mary, and Positive Peter. In addition to introducing themselves, they must introduce everyone who came before with their new title until it ocmes to my turn in the end, when I must name them all. This helps me to identify them later on.
I used to have a hard time remembering student names. Especially when I worked only part time hours. Now that I am teaching full time, I take every opportunity to say the students name- roll call, handing assignments back, and when asking questions. It has worked great for me.
I do like your idea for the "pride inspection", not so much for remembering student names, but for inspecting for our school's uniform policy and to make sure they are appearing to school in appropriate attire. Thanks so much for the idea!
Thanks, Kim
Cecil, I agree that is a lot in a very short cycle. I seating chart may also be a valuable tool with such short time to get to know your students.
James Jackson
Karen, awesome process. I would be interested in learning more about your career services process. I would imagine your classroom process results in students finding great jobs due to their professionalism and ability to hold them accountable.
James Jackson
Roger, excellent technique and the trick here is to continue working at it. Try different things from classroom to classroom and eventually you will find the formula that works for you and remembering names will become easy versus a process you dread.
James Jackson
