Techniques for memorizing student names

Every beginning of the year is the same story: teachers are faced with new students, but it's hard to remember the name of each one of them. When calling them, it's always confusing and the short ones often ignore their speech because they are not identified by name.

This situation is more common than one might think among educators, aggravated by the pressure and stress of the first week. To deal with it, you need, first of all, a little patience and a lot of imagination.

According to Richard Harris, professor of psychology at Kansas State University, everyone has a good memory for things that interest them. Thus, making associations can be a great tip to remedy this problem.

When you're desperate, how about making a connection between your students' names and something that interests them, instead of kicking the bucket and calling them “you” or “come here”?

You can get much more excited and expand your memorization capacity if you imagine that you only have to record the names of football players, or prices of branded clothes that you like very much.

But in addition to this, there are other tactical and effective tips that can be very useful to improve your memory and make it easier for you to remember your students' names. Check it out below:

1. In the first week of class, assign several written assignments, so that when the student turns in the assignment, you can look him in the face and at the same time check the name written on the assignment.
2. Take pictures of your students with their ID badges. Before starting class, review the photos. Also, you can attach them to your class diary.
3. Observe your students and identify an original physical feature that marks you significantly. Then, think of something funny that involves the student's name, such as: "Gabriel has a pockmark on the right side of his face."
4. To help her auditory and visual memory, create rhymes, such as: “Juliana likes honey and bananas”.
5. As soon as your students enter the classroom, greet them by name.
6. As soon as the student introduces himself and says his own name, try to use it in a sentence, for example: “It is a pleasure to meet you, Carlos”. Also, you can write the name on a small piece of paper, as writing is one of the best forms of association.