On Tuesday I was back at the continuation high school. It was the day they got new schedules. (They get new schedules about once a month. They are supposed to be earning credits quickly enough so that they need to switch classes often. For some this is true. For others, not so much.)
The first thing we do on these days is to pass out their new schedules to them. It was then that I realized something. I couldn't figure out their names.
I've never been good with names. And I don't know all of them. But I do know some of them, and I recognized many of their faces. I just couldn't come up with their names.
I didn't really have to. I could just call out their names and pass out the schedules that way. It was like I had forgotten them, though. It hadn't been that long since I had been there last, but it was as if I had been away years.
I had to call out roll. There are several students with "interesting" names. Most of them I have learned. I don't stumble over all of them. On Tuesday? It was as if I had never met these students before. Even though I had.
I was rather worried. What had happened? How could I forget?
As the day wore on, I started remembering names again. I started remembering pronunciations. It was as if I needed to get warmed up first. Then I got back into the swing of things.
It's a good thing. I was starting to worry.
Thursday, January 19, 2012
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New schedule. Probably felt like it should be new names!
ReplyDeleteDon't feel so bad. I was working at a table and called a boy the same wrong name... twice. And I work with these students everyday.
As we get older, dear Liz, it is important to exercise one's mind. Do you do puzzles? Do you play video games (I know people bag on them but video games increase problem solving skills). At our age, we need to continuously work on keeping our minds healthy so that we don't succumb to Alzheimers in our sixties.
ReplyDeleteAt the school where I used to teach, I had a continuous changing of students to contend with. There were some weeks when I had almost a completely different classroom on Friday than I had on Monday. I had name issues on a lot of days.
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