Remembering Student Names
Fri, 07/02/2010 - 10:41 — jkohm
Each week, a new Burning Question submitted by conference participants will be featured here. Tell us how you would answer this question:
“Do you have any tips on remembering student names?”
pictures
I ask students to write down their names with a black marker. Then I take pictures of the students holding their names. I spend some time each night during the first week of school studying names. Had I not taken this approach, it would have taken me forever to learn the names of 100+ students. I also find that seating charts are helpful in learning names.
I asked a colleague for their
I asked a colleague for their copy of the yearbook from the previous school year so I could look up the students on my list. That gave me a chance to start matching names and faces and made it easier for me to remember their names once school started.
I had the students line up in
I had the students line up in groups of 5/6 on the first day of school and write their name down where they were standing. I also do seating charts early with post-it notes in order to help me begin to remember their names.
Our current gradebook
Our current gradebook software allows us to generate seating charts that have student pictures associated with them. Student pictures are placed in the gradebook system when students have their school ID photos taken at the beginning of the year. Not only does this help me to remember both names and faces more quickly, it also helps subs more easily figure out whether students are present or absent and to know for sure who students are by name and face.