What
On my first day in my internship classroom, My Collaborating Teacher (CT) was very helpful with me trying to learn all the names of the students in her class. One of the things she did was call the students be name throughout the whole day. This really helped me learn the names of my students. Creating the seating chart and learning new things about my students made it very easy to remember all the names. I found out that I have things in common with some of my students. For example, J loves to go bowling and that is something I love to do with my family and there is another child in the classroom who lives at A Kid’s Place where I worked for a summer. There were some names that I did have a hard time learning because she has two girls whose names are very similar and the same with two boys in the class. On my second day in the classroom, she asked me to bring in an “All About Me” bag just like the students did. This allowed them to get to know me a little better. I shared with them pictures of my family, my favorite sport, my favorite book and a fun fact about me (I was born on Dr. Seuss’ birthday). Another way my CT helped me learn the names is by having a name tag on each one of the desks. This is something she already had in place from open house at the beginning of the school year.
In our class, we do a morning meeting which includes a greeting. This would have been something that would have been helpful to learning the names of all the students in the classroom during my first week there. According to Kriete and Davis, in The Morning Meeting book, “Knowing someone’s name and feeling comfortable using it provides many options for personal connections (p. 55).” I was not comfortable using the students’ names during the first week of my internship, so it was very hard for me to make personal connections to all of the students in the classroom. Now I am much more comfortable to one student told me, “I was the best teacher she ever had.” That really made my day and made me realize I am going into a field where I can make a different in the lives of my students.
So What
Learning all the students’ names was easy for me to do. One way I did that was by trying to use their name a much a possible during the time I am with them. This is important because it makes the students feel that they are important and that you are taking the time to get to know them. Learning students’ names is the first step in learning who they are as individuals. Their name makes them unique in a classroom full of students. Having the names of students on the desk already at open house is important because it lets the parents and the student know you are excited about having that child in your class.
Now What
This experience has shown me the importance of learning the names of my students in my future classroom. I am looking forward to writing the names out on cute name tags before open house. I want the students to know how excited I am to have them in my classroom. I also would like to ask the parents and the student if they have a preferred name they would like me to use in the classroom. I say this because my son’s name is Thomas but he prefers to go by Tommy. I plan on using as many tools as I can to help myself learn the names of all the students in my class. I would like to teach 4th grade, so on the first day of school I would like students to fill out an all about me paper. While learning all the names of the students in my class, I can begin to get to know them as people and not just a warm body that fills a seat.
This Blog represents FEAPs:
2d (Respects students’ cultural and family background) I made each child feel special by learning their names which were given to them by their parents.
On my first day in my internship classroom, My Collaborating Teacher (CT) was very helpful with me trying to learn all the names of the students in her class. One of the things she did was call the students be name throughout the whole day. This really helped me learn the names of my students. Creating the seating chart and learning new things about my students made it very easy to remember all the names. I found out that I have things in common with some of my students. For example, J loves to go bowling and that is something I love to do with my family and there is another child in the classroom who lives at A Kid’s Place where I worked for a summer. There were some names that I did have a hard time learning because she has two girls whose names are very similar and the same with two boys in the class. On my second day in the classroom, she asked me to bring in an “All About Me” bag just like the students did. This allowed them to get to know me a little better. I shared with them pictures of my family, my favorite sport, my favorite book and a fun fact about me (I was born on Dr. Seuss’ birthday). Another way my CT helped me learn the names is by having a name tag on each one of the desks. This is something she already had in place from open house at the beginning of the school year.
In our class, we do a morning meeting which includes a greeting. This would have been something that would have been helpful to learning the names of all the students in the classroom during my first week there. According to Kriete and Davis, in The Morning Meeting book, “Knowing someone’s name and feeling comfortable using it provides many options for personal connections (p. 55).” I was not comfortable using the students’ names during the first week of my internship, so it was very hard for me to make personal connections to all of the students in the classroom. Now I am much more comfortable to one student told me, “I was the best teacher she ever had.” That really made my day and made me realize I am going into a field where I can make a different in the lives of my students.
So What
Learning all the students’ names was easy for me to do. One way I did that was by trying to use their name a much a possible during the time I am with them. This is important because it makes the students feel that they are important and that you are taking the time to get to know them. Learning students’ names is the first step in learning who they are as individuals. Their name makes them unique in a classroom full of students. Having the names of students on the desk already at open house is important because it lets the parents and the student know you are excited about having that child in your class.
Now What
This experience has shown me the importance of learning the names of my students in my future classroom. I am looking forward to writing the names out on cute name tags before open house. I want the students to know how excited I am to have them in my classroom. I also would like to ask the parents and the student if they have a preferred name they would like me to use in the classroom. I say this because my son’s name is Thomas but he prefers to go by Tommy. I plan on using as many tools as I can to help myself learn the names of all the students in my class. I would like to teach 4th grade, so on the first day of school I would like students to fill out an all about me paper. While learning all the names of the students in my class, I can begin to get to know them as people and not just a warm body that fills a seat.
This Blog represents FEAPs:
2d (Respects students’ cultural and family background) I made each child feel special by learning their names which were given to them by their parents.