I say every one of my students name at least twice a day, and I am very intentional about it. The reason I do it is because saying a students name is a simple way to make students feel welcomed and appreciated. My method for saying each name allows me to ensure that I do not miss a single student. Ultimately I may end up saying every name lots of times, but this is my built-in strategy to make sure that on any given day, I acknowledge each student at least twice.
The first time I say each students name is before class when I greet them at the door. I am never robotic about my greetings – meaning I never say “hello _______ (insert name)” to every student. I throw out a lot of non-sequiturs “Juan how was 3rd period?” “Beautiful day, right Alicia?” “Welcome to Algebra Josh”. It’s more fun and sincere that way. If a group of students show up at the same time I will catch them all in the same greeting “Thomas, Cinthia, Linda, welcome to class”.
The second time I say each name is when I check off homework. Right when the bell rings I have all my classes work on warm-up problems while I circulate the aisles and check off the previous days classwork. Here I once again use each students name, “excellent Leisi”, “you da man Chris”. I will randomly choose a few students to engage in quick discussions with a simple “How was your weekend Bryce?”.
Thus I guarentee that I acknowledge the existent of each of my students at least twice a day, everyday. It’s not much, but I believe it to goes a long way in making the students feel like welcomed and appreciated members of the classroom.