Are you struggling to learn student names? Here are ways that our IUB instructors learn and use student names.
- Use name tents. Ask students to create tents using card stock, index cards, or erasable table tents. When using erasable tents, students write their names on one side and use the other side to respond to your in-class prompts. Used in office hours for large classes, name tents can enable the teaching team and the students to get to know one another’s names.
- Ask for their names. Ask students to first state their name when responding to a question. Then use their name as part of your response and in follow-up discussions. Encourage your students to use each other’s names, too.
- Look in Canvas. Use the Photo Roster tool to connect faces and names. One instructor who teaches hundreds of students each semester uses their lunch break to learn a few names each day.
- Annotate your roster. When students connect with you after class or in office hours, jot down a few notes about them. You can use these notes to follow up with them and show connections between class content and their interests.
Madeleine: as a trainer from long ago I used tent cards-based on small class size-I had them put the name they wanted to be called on BOTH sides of the card-this way the other students can see the name. At the college level, I had students make out a data sheet on day one-this contained several items allowing me to remember them better also. I have not seen or used the Photo Roster tool, so don’t know about it. Dick Wiley