The Name Game

It's January and I am STILL trying to learn all my students names.  This is ridiculous you say.  Let me explain.  At this moment in time I have 434 students.  I meet with them two days per cycle which averages out to almost two times per week.  A "regular ed." teacher with six classes per day would have about 168 students and would get them every day. 


In September, my partner in crime, boys PE teacher Matt Kern and I decided we would share our classes, so for one cycle I would have my own class and for the other cycle I would teach his class.  So that means through the Fall I had almost 900 students that I was actually seeing less than once a week.  When I would have his class, I didn't have his roster so that made it harder to learn their names.

Starting at the end of October and lasting until after Christmas, the divider between our sides of the gym was broken.  That forced Matt and I to put our classes together to teach.  So my students and his were mixed together and moving around all period, which again, makes it hard to learn anyone's name.  Add to this the fact that I am appoaching 50 and the good old short term memory is not what it used to be.

Finally this week the light bulb went on and I realized I could print out a roster from Skyward with their pictures on it!  This should help, especially since I printed them in color.  It's still hard to get their names to stick in my brain when they are constantly moving around.  Then some of those little buggers have to do things like get their hair cut or dye it a different color and I have to start all over again!  I realized today that I do know at least half the kids' names in each class.  It seems I know most of the names of the kids in my lower section classes.  they tend to get in trouble more often and you learn those names more quickly.  That's so you can yell at them and get their attention when they are about to bop another kid on top of the head with a pickleball paddle!

If you have any name learning tricks you think might help me, send them my way by commenting here.  I could use all the help I can get. :)