Friday, September 9, 2011

What’s My Name?

Putting names and faces together in the college classroom while building community.

W hen you
E nter this
L earning community
C onsider yourself
O ne of the important
M embers of a group who
E njoys working and being together!

Getting to know over 120 brand new students’ names in my classes is not easy and used to take forever when you only see them twice a week. Several years ago I started taking my new students pictures the first day of classes. I would have them printed and then put their names with their pictures on pieces of paper by class. That helped a lot. However I knew there had to be a better way. Just a few years ago I came up with the idea of having a seating arrangement in my classroom and organized my daily sign in sheets accordingly. Well, I came up with a very useful idea for putting the students’ pictures next to their names on the seating chart/sign in sheets. I’ve been doing this now for a few years and it has been very useful in helping me get to know the students by name in the first few weeks. It doesn’t take me a whole semester to learn some of their names.
This is also a good way to bring community in to the classroom. The students get to know each other by name and face also. This year I waited until the second day of class with me to take their picture. It’s also the day I have them sign their name on a printed seating chart. After that I went around the room where they were sitting and took their pictures. This made putting the pictures in the seating chart document so much easier. I’m always looking for ways to improve in my classroom so it feels good when I find creative ways to make things easier and keep me organized.
Here is an example of an attendance sign in sheet that I’ve created:
My computer classroom layout:

Ten computers on each side of the room. Instructor station at one end, projected screen at the other.