Tools for remembering student names.
One of my biggest problems is remembering names. Does anyone have any suggestions or tools for this? Thanks.
Craig,
All I can offer is what I do. It works best for me as everything else I have tried fell into various levels of angst.
Our school takes pictures of the students for ID badges. I cut and paste student pictures into my class roster document. While taking attendance, I look at the student's picture and say their name. Then I look at their face when acknowledging their presence and repeat their name while looking them in the eye. I then ask them a personal question, i.e. their age, favorite music, why they're here... hunting for some sort of mnemonic that will burn that data into my continually failing gray matter.
I humble myself by specifically looking at the roster and calling on them by name or answering inquiries by name to further embed the data into my head. It also shows the students that I am putting forth a strong effort to learn who they are.
I teach up to three groups of 12 students and can usually have everyone's names memorized by the 4th class. This comes in handy, especially when the student continues in the program and I can call them by name for the remainder of the year.
I hope it shows the new 101 students that we do try to learn who our students are, helping retention of knowledge and tuitions at the school.
There is my 2¢.
Brad
Hi Craig,
A easy way I have found to remember names is to take digital pictures of the students the first class meeting. The I print the photos put them in a folder with their names under their pictures. I review these pictures and the names as the introduce themselves along with an interesting fact about their lives. By the end of the class I will have all of the names memorized since I will be seeing their faces, their pictures and have a fact associated with their names.
Give it a try and let me know how it works.
Gary
Create your own grade book, log in their grades, and look at their photos when your grading their papers and logging in their test scores.
They will usually gravitate to sitting in the same seats. Try to think of their initials and come up with groups of letters for certain seating areas.
You have to think about their names every class and you have to
call them by name while you're talking. Use their names when making examples..."Now let's say Matt gets behind the board..."
Yiu have to really make the effort to learn people's names.
I have big classes and I have always had problems rememering everybody's name. I have never tried using photographs and I will give it a shot. Thanks.
Hi Patrick,
Good luck with the name game. Glad that the suggestion is one that is worthy of trying. Has worked well for many instructors.
Gary
names are always hard for me i feel the idea of a camera will help to remember names with faces.
I, too, was hoping someone had a suggestion that worked. In my opinion, any suggestion that involves using my prep time to handle photos is non-productive. My prep time must be used to prepare for my classes. That is what the students pay for.
If I considered knowing the students' names to be as high a priority as teaching them, I would still not devote time outside the classroom to learning names. I would learn their names by using the same methods by which I teach.
Break the subject down into manageable units. (Concentrate on just 5 or 10 names per hour. Adjust the amount to make it comfortable for you.)
Review your material. (Several times each hour, run through the names you have selected. Match each name to the proper student.)
Review prior material. (As the students enter and exit, try to silently come up with the proper names of the ones you have already learned.)
Identify problem areas. (The most exasperating thing about the brain is that some material is easily learned, but other comparable material may be extremely difficult. Identify the names that give you the most trouble.)
Repeat. Not all lessons are learned the first time. (After the first week, it should be considerably easier to run through the names, but it probably won't be the proverbial lead pipe cinch.)
Hi Mike,
Glad to hear that the camera suggestion will help you get the names of your students in your memory. Let me know how it works out for you.
Gary
Hi Stephen,
Learning student names is essential to getting off to a good start with a new course. The quicker you you learn the names the easier it is for you and the students settle into the class better.
Your method of reviewing and concentrating on a few names at a time is a good one. The suggestions for learning students names is just that suggestions. Use what ever method will work for you, so you can concentrate on your content selection and class preparation.
Gary
Associate your student to someone in your life that reminds you of them.
I'm pretty good at remembering people's names, but with so many students it is hard. Having a picture sheet of students has helped, and some have recently told me that they were impressed at how fast I learned their names (but were a little freaked out when I knew their names without meeting them).
Hi Raquel,
Good strategy. By using a digital camera teachers can take a picture of their students put it into a file and run through the names before class. This way you can create a connection between the name and the face. It is always good to give the students a surprise now and then and you are doing that by knowing their names before you meet them. Good job!
Gary
Our course cycles run every three weeks so it can sometimes be a challenge to remember all of the student’s names that come through my class. I do however, make a concentrated effort to remember every one of my current class’s names. Some of the things I use to help me are seating charts, name tents and small introductions on the first day of class.
I also have a problem with this - I'm terrible at remembering names (a fact that I admit to my students). I know that I would never want my picture taken when I was a student, and it does seem rather time-consuming.
One thing which helps me: I make an index card with each student's name on it. On the first day of class when I ask the students to introduce themselves, I start making notes on the card: this one used to be a paramedic, this one looks like a collegue, this one sits front and center, this one has a tattoo on his forearm, and so on. I refer to the index card every time I take roll, ask a student to answer a question, hand out or collect papers, and so on. This helps me put names with faces, and eventually the index cards go away.
I would feel awkward asking students if I could take their picture. It would be great if the schools ID database could be referenced to see existing student pictures. Alternatively, name tents placed on the desk or computer monitor work well.
