IF YOU WANT TO:
Consciously using students' names whenever possible.
"I call roll several times during the beginning of the term to connect faces and names as soon as possible," a professor of forestry says. "Later, if a student looks familiar but I can't remember his or her name, I simply admit it and ask the student to tell me again. Then I make a point of using the name right away to help me remember it the next time." A professor of entomology says, "In a class of 100 there are always three or four names that I don't seem to be able to learn. Nevertheless, the students greatly appreciate the effort."
Another strategy is to walk around the class while students are working on a quiz or problem and try to match faces with names. A science teacher says that he circulates for 10 or 15 minutes then goes back to his desk and tries to write everyone's name down. "This really reinforces my memory," he says.
Limitations on Use of Suggestion
Copyright 1983 by the Regents of the University of California