This new school year has been quite a new learning experience for me! There are so many things that are different and new. We’ve had to take on new roles, we are working with students that are learning from home (some temporarily while in quarantine), some of us are working from home while in quarantine and there is a whole list of things that are different.
There are also quite a few things that are the same. Like learning the names of your students. I cannot stress how important it is to learn their names and say them correctly.
Look, I get why this is hard. There are so many names to remember! Plus, different pronunciations of very similar looking names. And don’t you dare called the kid that goes by Madison, Maddie! She is Madison. To be honest, you probably have a Maddie in that class too. Then you have the Ana and Anna, Jamie and Jaime, or maybe Aran and Aaron. You will probably have a few that you have never heard before. Does it really matter if you say Anna instead of Ana or Aaron instead of Aran? I mean, they know how I’m talking to, right?
Well, yes. It does matter and it matters a lot. It matters to your students. It matters to their parents that named them. One is their name and the other is not. Getting close enough is not ok either.
Think about it this way. My name is Ms. Walls. If a student calls me Ms. Wells, I correct them. I had an administrator that used to call me Ms. Wall. I corrected him several times, but he just called me by the wrong name. I bet you can guess how I felt about that administrator.
This is the same thing for our students. We are supposed to be building relationships with them and showing them that we care and we see them. We know who they are and they matter. Those relationships are the first step to building a classroom where students want to be there and are willing to open themselves up to you. They are willing to take risks and expand themselves because of the relationships we build.
Their name is part of who they are. It is very possibly part of their culture and family. As educators we should embrace that and recognize who they are. We need to learn their names and nicknames and call them by the correct name as quickly as possible. Mistakes happen. When it does, recognize the mistake, correct it and try not to do it again.
Don’t say “whatever.”
It matters.
Get their dang name right!
