A Teacher’s Guide to Learning Student Names: Why You Should, Why It’s Hard, How You CanIf teachers want an inclusive, engaging classroom, they must learn their students’ names. Sound advice, certainly, but rarely does it come with practical guidance—which is precisely what this book offers. Eschewing the random tips and mnemonic tricks that invariably fall short, Michelle D. Miller offers teachers a clear explanation of what is really going on when we learn a name, and a science-based approach for using this knowledge to pedagogical advantage. Drawing on a deep background in the psychology of language and memory, Miller gives a lively overview of the surprising science of learning proper names, along with an account of why the practice is at once so difficult and yet so critical to effective teaching. She then sets out practical techniques for learning names, with examples of activities and practices tailored to a variety of different teaching styles and classroom configurations. In her discussion of certain factors that can make learning names especially challenging, Miller pays particular attention to neurodivergence and the effects of aging on this special form of memory. A Teacher’s Guide to Learning Student Names lays out strategies for putting these techniques into practice, suggests technological aids and other useful resources, and explains how to make name learning a core aspect of one’s teaching practice. With its research-based strategies and concrete advice, this concise and highly readable guide provides teachers of all disciplines and levels an invaluable tool for creating a welcoming and productive learning environment. |
Contents
The Key Techniques | |
Complications Challenges and Special Circumstances | |
Making Name Learning a Core Part | |
Notes | |
Common terms and phrases
ADHD advice aging ASAR associations attention audio feedback Baddeley brain Buckminster Fuller challenges chapter cognitive psychology College Classroom college teachers connections context correct pronouns course create cues discussion encoding especially example expanding retrieval practice face fact factor faculty feedback focus focused gender happen higher education icebreaker idea important individual instructor knows interactions introductions involved issue Kelly Hogan knows their names learning management system learning names long-term memory MacKay meaningful mental metacognition Miller mind misgendering mnemonic name learning name pronunciation name tents neurodivergence Northern Arizona University older adults output phonology person person’s name phonological loop professor prosopagnosia psycholinguistics PWM capacity rehearse remembering names representations semester sequence share skills social spectrum strategies student names talk techniques theory things TOTs typical Virginia University Press vocabulary West Virginia University word sounds