I've lost my ability to learn names. I used to be pretty good at learning and remembering student names, not anymore. This semester I have about 100 students, 50 in one class, 40 in a second, and 15 in a third. There always seems to be one or two, even in the class of 15, that I just cannot cement into my memory. Maybe I've just had too many to learn over the years. I gave up trying to learn the names in my lecture classes of 150. I should figure out a better system, maybe a seating chart or something. This year we can access the ID photos of our students, maybe I could make myself flashcards.
It is even more complicated than that, however. Each year, as our student body gets more diverse, I have to learn new pronunciations and spellings. I'm not complaining, I love having the diversity in the classroom, and I've learned a lot about names and language from my students. I'm not sure I would saddle my child with an unusual spelling, though. It makes you stand out, but not necessarily in a good way. I have to write little pronunciation notes on my class rosters to remind myself of an "y" that is pronounced "ee" or an "y" that is pronounced "i".
Can I blame it on age? I have trouble accessing the names of people I have known for a long time, what hope is there for me to learn 100 new names each semester?
No comments:
Post a Comment