Written by Joan Middendorf,
Director
Teaching Resource Center, Indiana University
In his 1993 book, What Matters in College,
Alexander Austin reviewed the literature on college
teaching, finding two things that made the biggest
difference in getting students involved in the
under-graduate experience: greater faculty-student
interaction and greater student-student interaction.
Though learning student names may seem a trivial matter
in the entire university enterprise, it is a powerful
means to foster both of these interactions.
A professor who does not know his or her students'
names may be perceived as remote and unapproachable.
“When the professor engages the student in personal
conversation, recognizes her by name, and seems to
include her in the domain of attention, the subject
matter seems more accessible. The nonverbal message goes
out that the student is a part of the community of people
who can do mathematics, statistics, chemistry, or
whatever the subject is” (Willemsen, 1995). In large
classes, the task of learning student names can seem
daunting, but even if the professor learns the names of
only a portion of the class, a caring, inclusive
atmosphere will be established.
Student-student interaction is fostered either through
exercises in which students directly learn their peers'
names, or indirectly when they hear the professor address
classmates by name. Classes at IU, especially large ones,
are places where students feel “like a number.”
Knowing one's classmates' names fosters the feeling that
there are peers in the class with whom the student can
interact. A sense of community among the students begins
to grow, fostering learning both inside and outside the
classroom.
As teachers, some of us find it easy to learn names,
while others have to work at it. Techniques for learning
names abound. The following techniques were adapted from
responses to Mary Landrum's (Center for Faculty
Development, Louisiana State University) Internet request
for ideas on learning students' names, from email to us
from Ted Panitz and from the FACET guide, “Quick
Hits.”
1. Passport for Class (Connie Batten, Fort Hays
State University)
I learned this technique from Liz Miller at Texas
A&M and I have used it successfully in large classes.
Have the students prepare a “passport” for your
class. This is an exercise in creativity and an
opportunity for you to get to know about the student as
well as their name. Using an old notecard, have the
student make a passport or document that tells about
them. They must include a personal picture (a snapshot is
okay), some information about their likes and dislikes,
and something about where they have been and where they
are going. This is especially helpful later, when the
student calls and asks for a recommendation...you can use
the card to jog your memory.
2. Driver's License (Ben Ward, Western Carolina
University)
Since taking photos can be time-consuming and costly
to develop, one of our faculty came up with an
alternative idea. He asks the students to make a Xerox
copy of their driver's licenses or any other type of
picture identification card. Simple, quick, and easy!
3. Name Tent (Connie Batten, Fort Hays State
University)
To help other students in the class learn each other's
names, a name “tent” (a piece of cardboard
folded in half that has the student's first name on it)
can be placed on the front of their desk or table. This
works well in helping identify each other, until they
become familiar with one another.
4. Name Tags (Linda Nelson, Vanderbilt University)
I have my students wear name tags (first name only,
printed very large) for the first two weeks. It works,
and I consider myself “name-learning
challenged.” After class, I also review the index
cards that I have students fill out with personal
information on the first day of class. I look for, hope
for, associations.
5. Student Pictures (Marty Rosenzweig)
One of my colleagues brings a Polaroid camera to class
and takes each student's picture. He keeps the photos
with the students' names attached for reference.
Eventually, he learns all of their names.
(Mona Kreaden, EQUAL Commission) At the beginning of
the semester, some of our faculty who teach large classes
ask their student to choose a permanent seat, and bring
in a small passport-size photo of themselves with their
name on the back. These photos are attached to a seating
chart. One professor also writes comments about the
student in a box beside their name, and keeps the charts.
I developed a little mnemonic device (inspired by
Francis Yeats' The Art of Memory, that has worked
wonders. On the first day of class, I bring in a camera
and have one of the students take head shots of each
student. At the second class, I return with the photos
and have the students write something about themselves on
the backs of their photos, including information about
their ethnic origins and how it's related to their names.
I play with my flash cards over the weekend, and by the
third day of class, I know every student's name.
I ask the students to transform their names into
images -- the more grotesque the better. So, for example,
“Mona Kreaden” becomes a picture of
“Mona” Lisa's head with the body of a
“cretin.” “Steve Hutkins” becomes an
image of a “steve”-dore standing with his
relatives (“kin”) next to a little Samoan
“hut.” “Richard Koppenaal” becomes
King “Richard” coping with the whole world
(“all”) on his head (“kopf”). I play
flashcards over the weekend, and by the third day of
class, I know every student's name in both my classes --
sixty students.
6. Student Teams (Steven Richardson, Iowa State
University)
I have divided my class into teams of eight students
each. The teams sit together, do in-class projects
together, and act as study teams (as much as possible)
outside of class. I also group them together on my grade
sheets. I give at least one quiz a week, which forces me
to connect each name regularly to an assignment of
progress, and to identify the name with a team of eight.
I wander around in my class, and I try to interact with
teams. The result of all this is that I have name
recognition for every student, and have a pretty good
idea how well the student is doing (even without looking
at the grade sheet). I can also usually remember which
other students are in the same team.
7. Scavenger Hunt (Ed Nuhfer, University of
Colorado at Denver)
Make up a sheet of fairly inane traits with as many
traits as you have students in the class. Traits might be
something like wearing shoes that require laces or likes
spaghetti with clam sauce. Each trait has a space in
front of the trait sufficient to write in a name.
Everyone in the class gets a sheet, including the
professor. The assignment is to find a person with that
trait, meet them, and record their name. The rule is that
you can use a person only once to complete your sheet.
This works wonders with learning names quickly. I've
never used it with a class of greater than 40.
8. Unforgettable Neighbor (Ed Nuhfer, University of
Colorado at Denver)
Have students turn to their neighbor and introduce
themselves. The assignment is for the neighbor to
introduce their companion “with a trait that no one
can forget.” Obviously the partners have to be
helpful with a trait or mnemonic aid. Pick randomly from
around the room for introductions. After a third person
is introduced, point at those introduced and the class
has to name the individual. Continue with the
introductions and cumulative reviews. The repetition in
reviews really helps.
9. Alternative Adjective Name Game (Tim Kennedy,
University of Georgia)
The student sitting at one of the corner desks at the
front of the room begins by taking the first letter of
their name and selecting an adjective that begins with
the same letter. Examples include: “Gross Greg”
or “Awesome Alicia.” The second person has to
repeat the first person's name preceded by its
alliterative adjective and then gives their own. The
third person repeats from the beginning and adds her own
moniker to the game. When all of the students have
participated I recount them all back by adding my own
name at the end. It may or may not be your cup of tea,
but it's an effective device that is always good for a
few laughs.
10. Student Interviews (Jean Civikly-Powell,
University of Mexico)
I have used a method for learning students' names for
the past 20+ years. It can be done for up to sixty names,
but fewer names make it easier and faster. I plan on 45
minutes for the activity and do it on the last day of the
first week of classes. Students are asked to pair up with
someone they do not know in the class and to take three
or four minutes each to interview their partner. I put a
list of five things on the chalkboard for them to address
(name, place where they were raised, area of study, and
three questions about the course). After they have
interviewed each other, explain the importance of
concentrating on the person being introduced, their name,
and something unique about the person. Partners introduce
each other and after about one-third have done so,
everyone can do a quick repeat of names they have just
learned. Partners can help the class along by saying
their partner's name clear and loud. Finish up by doing a
complete run-through of all names. The instructor can
play too.
11. A Multi-Pronged Approach (Nancy Diamond,
Algonquin College)
First, read the roster aloud several times before the
course begins. Then, before the first day of class, use
heavy-weight paper to make name plates for students.
Students can pick them up when they enter class and put
them at the table or desk. Also, ask questions during
class and call on people, using their names. It is
important to ask answerable questions and follow up
questions (e.g., “John, do you agree?”).
Finally, after class, return to the roster and see if you
can remember the faces that go with the names.
12. Standard Icebreakers (Rudi Aksim, Algonquin
College)
I find that using a class to do two icebreakers helps
to learn student names. First, people interview each
other, in pairs, for five minutes and then introduce each
other to the class. Second, I do an exercise called
“Name Calling.” I introduce myself and identify
the person next to me. For example, “Hi, I'm Rudi
and this is Mary.” Then Mary says, “Hi, I'm
Mary and this is Jerome (person next to her).” These
exercises are from Adler and Towne's Looking Out, Looking
In.
13. Student Circle (Judy Egelston-Dodd; Martin
Tolley, Nene College; Bruce Wagner, Tempe University)
Have student sit in a circle with you and explain that
each person is to give their name and a characteristic of
themselves. For example, “My name is Judy and I have
a good memory.” The second person has to repeat the
first person's name and characteristic and then give his
own. And so on. Coaching is allowed! There are dangers,
notes Martin Tolley: “Only this year we were
three-quarters of the way around the first pass when a
rather timid-looking student almost burst into tears
saying, `I can't do this; I just can't do it.' We all
weighed in with support to which she replied, `Zoe, my
bloody name is Zoe.'”
14. Office Visits (Beverly Cameron, University of
Manitoba)
A colleague of mine asks students their names when
they come in to his office. He puts their name on one
part of a piece of paper, and makes a note about their
concerns on another portion of the paper. He says that
this helps him keep track of and learn students' names as
well as their difficulties and concerns.
15. Pointers (Ivan Moore)
- Ask students to give their names every time they
speak to you for the first few times, then ask
them to wait while you guess their name.
- Develop a positive attitude about learning names.
- Start small; learn 5-10 names at a time, or one
row of students at a time.
- Ask students to sit in the same seat for the
first few sessions.
16. Annotations (Ivan Moore)
Annotate your register. Write down individual features
beside [each student's name].
17. Seating Chart (Ted Panitz)
I do some work to make sure that people are
comfortable with where they are sitting, and then I
compile a seating chart.
18. Association Techniques (Glenn Allen-Meyer,
Cornell University)
Anyone who has the same name as someone I know is
associated and remembered that way. Anyone who has any
characteristic that I can distinguish is associated with
that. Sometimes, in strange ways, people “look
like” their names.
This [anchoring] method help me get several
“anchor” people in a group whose names I can
now remember. Then I work on “one person to the left
of Frank is...” and so on. I also make a diagram of
either where people sit or what I can remember about
them.
19. Class List (Neil Wylie, Council of Presidents,
New England Land-Grant Colleges)
The technique for learning student names that always
seemed to work best for me was to become very familiar
with the class list in advance. If I already knew the
names, attaching the faces to them was relatively simple.
20. Names & Faces (Elaine DesRosiers,
University of Notre Dame)
A few years ago I purchased a set of audio tapes and a
booklet entitled, How to Remember Names and Faces, by
Alan Butkowsky. The concept is remembering a name by
associating with some facial feature of a person.
21. Class Meetings (Marilla Svinicki, University of
Texas)
I teach a class of 72-75 students every spring.
Starting with the second week of class, for one week I
have small group meetings with seven students at a time.
I learn a little about them and they learn one another's
names. I take their picture as a group as well.
22. Name Cards (Rea Freeland, Carnegie Mellon
University)
I also ask students to include on the same card the
name they want to be called in class (with pronunciation
instructions if they want) and “one sentence to make
them memorable.” Students use the one sentence in a
variety of ways: to share a favorite quote, to describe a
hobby, to tell me where they grew up, or to let me know
something about their classroom “style”
(sometimes falling asleep because they work late, that
they don't especially like to participate in class,
etc.).
23. Collecting Background Information (Rea
Freeland, Carnegie Mellon University)
At the start of the first class, I ask student to give
background information about their prior related courses
and their reason for taking this particular class.
Some research (see Paul Barber's “Applied
Cognitive Psychology: An Information Processing
Framework,” 1988) suggests that one powerful cue for
face recognition is the shape of the face -- a cue that
is actually quite visible even in moderately large
classes but one that is difficult to encode verbally. As
I read through the cards the first time, I jot down a
very quick and amateur “sketch” of each
student's face on my class roster. It takes about twenty
seconds per student to capture just the face shape, hair
shape, and possible the glasses, big smile, bushy
eyebrows, or straight nose. I find it is important to
trust your first hunch about what the best cues will be
rather than to try to get a complete picture. Also,
research shows that we do not have as much success in
encoding faces of people from ethnicities different from
our own. I have found the face shape cue to be especially
helpful in improving in this important aspect of name
learning skills.
24. The Name Game (Bonnie Kendall, IU)
Lots of professors play a variant of The Name Game,
but my version is based on what I call “the group
mind” technique. I tell the students that we have
three weeks to learn each other's names and that we are
all responsible for insuring that everyone does it. I
explain that cultures all over the world have developed
strategies for insuring the social distribution of
knowledge, such that if one person is lost, the knowledge
is retained somewhere else in the group (you can skip
this step if you teach, say, engineering and don't want
to talk about fuzzy stuff like culture). I encourage them
to help each other in the learning process.
Start by having seven to ten students introduce
themselves and then ask an individual in the group to
name other individuals: “Luke, which one of these
people is Rick?” “Rick, point to Susan.”
“Susan, what's the name of the person sitting next
to Attila?”
If Susan doesn't know the name of the person next to
Attila, I'll say “Ask Attila!” or “Ask
Luke!” In doing it this way, I can keep everyone on
his or her tippytoes, because anyone might be made
responsible for an answer at any time -- and everyone
knows that someone nearby can be counted on for help. No
one is made to feel stupid, because the entire group
helps out.
At the beginning (and sometimes at the end) of each
class in the designated period, we play the name game:
“Susan, is Attila here today?” Bob, what is the
name of that woman coming in the door?” “Kathy,
point to two people named Mike.”
This is also a nice technique to interject in the
middle of a long class, just to shake up people's minds
and get their attention revved up.
25. Chaos to Order (Elaine Cohen, Diablo Valley
College)
One that was successful for me was to ask the students
to learn each other's names, but not to give them a
system. At first there would be chaos, with students
moving about asking each other their names, until they
got organized, realized they needed a system with
repetition, practice, etc. They would then get themselves
organized, figure out a way to learn each other's names
and practice. We'd have volunteers try to name people and
practice a bit at each class. It didn't take too many
class periods before they knew each other and I knew all
their names too. Then we had a discussion of what worked
and what principles of learning took place. The main
goal, however, was to have students get to know each
other and feel comfortable in the class.
26. The Name of the Rose (Ben Brabson, IU)
My problem stems from my deeply ingrained bias that
teachers teach and students learn. It's only recently
that I discovered the other half of that relationship
where we teachers are the learners, and our students the
teachers. To establish the full two-way collaboration, I
find it essential to know each student personally. Of
course, I can't, but it's amazing how close I can come. I
start with the usual trick of taking a color Polaroid of
all my students in groups of five. They immediately put
their names on the back for me. That night I arrange the
whole class on sheets with names under each person. If I
also meet these students in smaller discussion sections,
I arrange the pictures section by section.
For the first few weeks all seems dark and dismal.
Even though I study my gallery of pictures before each
class, nothing sticks. I hand back graded homework in
class wherever possible. As students collaborate in
groups I make sure they know each other's names and
listen in as they introduce each other. If I don't
remember a name, I always ask before every conversation,
both in and out of class (it's very embarrassing to have
to ask, especially the forty-second time!).
27. Leave them alone (Bill Broderick, Cerritos
College)
Here is another, one that should be conducted on the
first day of class, right at the beginning of class. One
of the best ways I have found to “energize”
your classroom is to leave it! Tell students that you are
going to leave the classroom for five minutes, and that
when you return, you want each student to be able to
introduce five classmates to you on a first-name basis.
How are they going to do this? That is up to them. Just
do it! Then, leave the class for the allotted time. When
you come back, five to ten minutes later, you will find
an energy level that is sadly lacking in most of our
developmental classrooms. Point this out to your class,
then ask a volunteer to introduce five students. You will
almost get one, two, or three people to volunteer. If you
don't, pick out a student who looks as through s/he won't
mind “being volunteered.” As the students are
introduced, repeat their names and welcome them into the
class. This activity is a terrific way to jump-start your
class and let students know that they will be
“active” learners, that the normal
“passive mind-set” that so many of our students
bring to class will not work in your class. With no
instruction from you on how the students are to learn the
names of five classmates, you have to put them on the
spot -- they have to do it, and they have to figure out
how to do it. Some will write the names down, others will
commit the names to memory, others will not just give the
names of five classmates, they will include other
information about the people they are introducing. After
the introductions, you can then tell students what you
are expecting form them for the semester, and, believe
me, you will have their attention!
References
Astin, A. W. (1993). What matters in college?: four
critical years revisited. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.
Faculty Colloquium for Excellence in Teaching (1993).
Quick hits: FACET classroom techniques. Indiana
University.
Landrum, M. S. “Re: Learning students'
names.” 6 April 1995. Online posting, POD list,
Listserv, 6 April 1995.
Panitz, Ted. “Cooperative warm-up
exercises.” Electronic mail to Teaching Resources
Center, 11 July 1995.
Willemsen, E. W. (1995). "So what is the
problem?: Difficulties at the gate." In
J. Gainen & E. W. Willemsen (Eds.) Fostering
student success in quantitative gateway courses (pp.
15-21). New directions for teaching and learning, 61
(Spring 1995). San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.
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