I remember how impressed – and pleased – I used to be as a student when a professor addressed me by my name in class. It honored me that they “made the effort” to remember my name and address me by it within a couple weeks of a new semester.
Marcia Moxam Comrie
Marketing and Communications, York College
It may well be the most impactful action you can perform on the first day of class: calling your students and making them call each other by their first name, you will be setting the stage for student engagement and participation throughout the semester!
Regardless of what they are doing or thinking hardly anyone, when hearing their first name, will not feel instantly called upon to respond, yes, to be respons-ible. When a professor addresses a student by their first name, and pronounces their name correctly, the student will most likely also feel cared for: in my classes at York, I am not just a number; I have a name!
What counts here is not that you actually know each and every student by their first name on day one, but that students perceive you care to know.
Here is how you can promote an "I have a name" culture in your classroom, even in a large classroom.
On day one:
- As an icebreaker ask your students to "picture" or otherwise dramatize their name.
- York colleague, Dr. David Johnson from Psychology passes around his phone and lets students videorecord themselves as they pronounce their name. For sure this is also establishing trust!
From Day one on and throughout the semester
- Ask students to introduce themselves when they participate. Give them a model sentence: "Christopher here." Or "I'm Jeanine. "
- Make students use their classmates' names. Give them a model sentence: "Can you remind me of your name again, please?"
To learn more about the importance of knowing and addressing students by name, you may consult Cooper, K. M., Haney, B., Krieg, A., and Brownell, S. E., (2017). What’s in a name? The importance of students perceiving that an instructor knows their names in a high-enrollment biology classroom. Cell Biology Education—Life Sciences Education, 16(Spring), 1-13 or its summary in the June-July 2017 issue of The Teaching Professor.
Cheers,
Greet (as in Greet-ings) and the CTLET Team