Teachers are quick studies when it comes to learning students’ names. A decade or so ago, the biggest challenge was pairing each child with the appropriate name. Desktags and labeled school supplies were helpful in a pinch. Nowadays, simply seeing a child’s name in print may not supply a teacher with the information she needs. I’ve never forgotten the year I had a young lad with the name Jorje. Assuming it had a Spanish pronunciation—and you know what happens when one assumes—I applied my high school Spanish and welcomed the youngster as Hor-hay. I’ve never forgotten the look “George” gave me!
What tricks or tips do you use to quickly learn students’ names and their correct pronunciations?
Curious as ever!
Diane
Name tags are a life saver those first few days. But I rely on my greeting song in the am that each child says their name and when they say I repeat it outloud and really look at their faces. When I talk to the children I also say their name a lot.
Because we are a coop we have parents in the class I also place their name in each corner of the name tag.
As far as the spelling I type and write their names alot before school begins
What I hate is when I have 2 children with the same name but spelled differently thats hard.
At Open House I go ahead and address the elephant in the room if I haven’t figured out how to pronounce a student’s name during pre-planning (along with the help of my co-workers who are equally stumped). I ask the parents to pronounce it for m, I repeat it back to them, and then humbly thank them.