Student Names Matter: Digital Ways to Learn Names
To my absolute horror and embarrassment, I can still remember the last day of school from my third year of teaching. One of my students, Andrea, gave me a hug and said goodbye, but also mentioned, “You know, Miss Cordes, you were my favorite teacher. But I should have told you that my name is pronounced AHH-ndrea not AN-drea”. After apologizing profusely and shaking my head in disbelief, I couldn’t stop thinking about the fact that she’s probably not the only student whose name I got wrong — for the whole school year.
Teaching is a whirlwind of chaos and instantaneous decision-making. And what I’ve learned over my years is that the chaos doesn’t stop, but what we CAN control are the things that we decide are important - the things that we decide to be intentional about. Learning student names (correctly pronounced!) at the beginning of the year has become a top priority for me and something I’m not willing to ever push aside again. Names are identity, history, and culture. Knowing someone’s name and addressing them by that name is a foundation in respect and rapport. I am committed to honoring these things about my students, whether I’m teaching in a physical classroom or in a virtual one.
Distance learning presents a new challenge in doing this: I have a list of names on my roster and school ID pictures, but I have no live humans to see right in front of me. I have no way to remember Alessandrea always comes in early and that Erik always has his head down. Here are a few strategies I’ll be using for both learning how to pronounce names correctly and learn who is who in my virtual classroom this year.
GOOGLE FORMS & VOCAROO/MOTE
In my back to school survey I’m adding a field in my usual Google Form where students can VERBALLY state their names. This allows me the opportunity to listen and re-listen to the student pronouncing their own name in their own voice as much as I need to. This is really easy to implement in your own Google Form using either Vocaroo or Mote.
USING VOCAROO:
Give students a link to the website vocaroo.com
Ask students to record themselves pronouncing their name on the site. Have them save and download that audio.
On the Google Form, create a space for them to UPLOAD A FILE. Have them upload the audio there.
USING MOTE:
Install the Google Chrome Extension MOTE: bit.ly/getmote
Write your directions as one of your questions and select “short answer”. Students will see a purple icon with the Mote logo where they can click and leave a voice note as their response.
SKIP THE SYLLABUS ON DAY 1
If knowing your students and building community is an important goal of yours, then the organization of your back to school lesson plans need to reflect that. Having students sit through forty minutes of being read a list of rules and school supplies doesn’t send the message that their voice matters. The syllabus is an important document, but who said we have to drone on about the whole thing on day one? Try dividing it into sections and reviewing a different section over the course of a few days. Maybe break it apart and have students experience the syllabus through stations.
If you’re stumped thinking of an idea for day one that sends the message that your classroom will be a place where students are at the center and their voices, their names, are important, consider doing an activity that places the students at the center and the teacher on the periphery.
MARSHMALLOW TEAM BUILDING:
Learning names comes so much faster when I’m circulating the room and having memorable conversations with students. This is why I love a group team building exercise for day one. One of my favorites is marshmallow team building, and it’s a lot like it sounds: teams get a bag of marshmallows and some toothpicks and are challenged to build something unique and work together. As they work, I float across the room taking note of body language, holding my seating chart with names, and making casual conversation with students as they work.
WILDERNESS SURVIVAL CHALLENGE
Similar to Marshmallow Team Building, a survival challenge can also be a fun way to see kids working together and get an early feel for their personalities. For this activity, put students into groups and paint them an elaborate picture of living out in the Alaskan wilderness: tens of miles away from civilization, certainly in danger’s way on a regular basis, sharing a section of the world with bears…you get it. I then let them know that they’re allowed to bring three items from a list (usually of 12 or so). The list is usually pretty silly and even a little bizarre - this always stirs up some great conversation and gives a little foreshadowing into my goofy personality. After a timer goes off, groups share their decisions and rationale. Not only is there team building involved, but YOU get to move around the room, ask questions, start memorizing names, and learn the names of your students from the beginning.
I’d love to hear from you in the comments below all about your favorite ways of learning student names and putting THEM at the center of your classroom in the first weeks of school. How do you set up your classroom and plan intentionally for this to happen? Share with us below!
LET’S GO SHOPPING!
