Two weeks in and I have learned the names of my five Year 9 groups and my two Year 7 groups. Very deliberately, and using it to talk to pupils about learning.
I'll tell you what I do. It's very basic and I'm not suggesting you do it the same way I do. It's just the way I've always done it because I can't think of any other way. But I do think it's important and interesting to be able to use it to show pupils the learning process, with the emphasis on process.
Because I haven't finished learning the names of those 200 pupils. It's an on-going process...
When the pupils come in, I sit them randomly and I take the register. Because I have to. And I use it as a way to check the pronunciation of any names I might be unfamiliar with and spot any spellings that might trip me up.
Then I go round the class, ask each pupil their name and write it on a seating plan. I check the spelling of their names, including any contractions. I'm usually quite good at remembering these from the register or at least remembering to focus on tricky spellings. Double letters, silent letters, vowel combinations. Pupils appreciate you wanting to get it right. But I don't dwell on quirks, as names can also be very sensitive. But it is important to at some time point out that we have to focus on pronunciation and spelling as well as memory. All through this process, I am modelling deliberate learning.
After every four or five pupils, I go back and test myself on their names so far. Without looking at what I've written. It could be stressful, because pupils don't want to be the one that you've forgotten. I talk about this. I let them know that putting pressure on me won't help. To learn, I have to be relaxed and prepared to have a go. And getting one wrong will hopefully mean that I actually end up remembering it better. I don't rush through the class. There's no point trying to get round the whole class and realising you've not tested yourself enough as you went. The same with the pupils' vocabulary learning. If they have a list of words to learn, don't rush through. Of course, when I get to the last pupils as I go round the class, I've tested myself on their names fewer times, so we talk about that too. And the fact that I am going to learn all their names. Not without mistakes, not without it taking time. But I will learn them. And it's the same with their French. Just as I wouldn't stop with half the class and say I couldn't learn the rest, or if there's someone whose name escapes me or I muddle up with someone else... I will keep going until I know them, and it's the same with French. You have to keep going, accept you're going to get some wrong, but confident that you will end up learning the words.
I talk to them about what I am doing by constantly testing myself: Testing isn't something that happens at the end of learning. You don't do "learning" for a bit and then have a test to try to catch you out. Testing is learning. I learn their names by challenging myself to remember them. One pupil this week said, "Why don't you get us to wear name badges?" Easy answer: Because the teachers who get you to wear name badges get your names right, but they don't learn your name. That hit home, with lots of nodding and agreement. And I mentioned it to my other classes who agreed and could also link it to what happens when they are doing French. If they rely on their booklets for everything, it helps, but it's better to challenge yourself to try to remember it. Even if that means getting it wrong - the ones you get wrong often turn out to be the ones you remember most strongly!
I also point out that I am remembering them in the order of where they sit. Just as they might remember a French word as the one at the top or bottom of a list, or which word it was next to. If I can't remember their name, I ask them to tell me the first letter. Just as they can uncover the first letter of the French word and see if that helps. I go back to the register list and identify them in alphabetical order, rather than by going round the room. I warn them that if I meet them in the corridor, then they should say hello to me and I will try to greet them by name. Just as they will have to recognise French words in context, not in a list.
We do get started with the French, but throughout the first lesson, I will always interact with pupils by name. And I tell them that although they think I've learned their names, I haven't. And that I will have to continue to test myself, and not worry about getting them wrong.
Next lesson, we see if I can still remember their names. And talk about the curve of forgetting. And how it's entirely normal for the brain to let go of things. But with pupils and their names, it's also important to keep hold of it. And French words too, obviously. So with time, we start to forget but if you catch it in time it helps strengthen memories. But if you leave it too long, it's gone and you have to start all over again. So I do some homework. I write their names in my markbook. I put their names on a seating plan on the system. Even so, they can see I have started to forget. As the term gets underway and they start having homework set, I remind them of this.
And there are different ways to test myself. When I give out the booklets, they were collected in desk by desk, but I still give them out, trying to match individual pupils to the name on the booklet. I do the register as a matching exercise. And I continue to test myself every time I interact with a pupil, using their name.
Throughout the year, I can refer back to these first weeks. The testing, the having a go, the low-stakes, the first letter clues, words in order, out of order, in different contexts, spelling, pronunciation, muddling one word with another, forgetting, homework, and taking time and effort because you will learn it.
It also keeps the brain alive!
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