"I'm Hannah."
"I'm Kyle."
"I'm Andrew. What's your name?"
It was passing period. As the students trickled in to their math class in the fourth week of school, my attention was caught by this exchange. When the kiddos noticed my interest, they explained.
"There's this kid who doesn't know anyone's name, so he just uses any name," via "Hannah".
And, apparently, they've adapted themselves to this.
"Kyle" did kind of look like a Kyle. (If this post was about him, that'd be a possible pseudonym for him, since I always change student names.) "Hannah", however, did not. When pressed, I couldn't tell her what name she did look like, only that it wasn't a Hannah.
Meanwhile, I'm so careful to use their correct names...
I also bet you get some interesting names with unique spelling and pronunciation.
ReplyDeleteBetty
Hi Liz - I used to be really good at names and I expect I still am if other things weren't intervening. I do make a point of saying 'hi I'm Hilary' - and ask if I've forgotten someone's name ..
ReplyDeleteIt's one reason I use your name in comments - it helps me remember you.. and all other bloggers and commenters ...
Cheers Hilary
In other words, they mess with this kid's head whenever possible.
ReplyDeleteKids are amazing. They come up with the weirdest stuff!
ReplyDeleteI know. It's fun to just listen to them talk to each other.
DeleteHow funny. Maybe everyone should just come up with a new name for themselves.
ReplyDeleteYou have the most interesting school experiences lol
ReplyDeleteAnd my blog is the beneficiary.
DeleteInteresting. My ex-husband called all women "Honey." In retrospect, it was very clever of him. He never once called me by his current girlfriend's name. It took me a while to catch on, but it helped a lot in the divorce settlement. I'm remarried to a great guy. He knows my name and makes a point of using it often. ;-) (Maybe that was too much information, but your blog reminded me what a lucky woman I am and I felt the need to tell someone.)
ReplyDeleteThere's a song about that very thing. "Say My Name."
DeleteI believe it wise to change the name on blogs. I even have a baby book of names to help me along.
ReplyDeleteCoffee is on
I've been known to pull up the Social Security website. They have lists of most popular names by birth year. The years 1999-2004 are what I use at the moment.
DeleteWhen I was subbing, I was calling the roll.
ReplyDeleteThere was a girl whose last name was "Koch."
There are a few ways of pronouncing that particular name. Figures I chose the absolute worst way.
NEXT period I was calling the roll. There was a girl whose last name was "Hough."
Now there are a few ways to pronounce THAT particular name, too.
Yep, chose the one which rhymes with "dough."
I did say it was a girl, right?
This is kind of fascinating. It seems like a nice gesture, but I'm just not sure.
ReplyDeleteI know. It's hard to tell from a secondhand story.
DeleteI may have told you this before, but when I was in 9th grade, only a few days into the new year a new teacher was added to the mix. On the first day of class, as the new teacher was calling roll, kids were, as usual correcting her with their "actual names". But then she got to this one kid who called himself "OJ" as in orange juice. And then another kid called himself "toast". I think they were part of the Breakfast Club. ;) Obviously OJ got away with the nickname (why not?), but toast … not so much. I don't remember what she did, but I don't think she was too harsh with the kids for changing their names. Either way, I've never forgotten it. However, calling people by breakfast foods I would think wouldn't be as confusing as calling people by other actual names. Now THAT would be confusing.
ReplyDeleteThere's a sub (I read this somewhere a while ago) who would call students by random names. Fruit. Animals. He'd do it when the students wouldn't give him real names. They got a kick out of it, so it became his go-to thing when he was having difficulty with a class.
DeleteAre they trying to screw with the kid's head or just trying to have him fit in?? You can imagine the issues I had growing up.
ReplyDeleteIt sounded to me like they were trying to have him fit in. Screwing with the kid's head has a whole different feel to the story.
DeleteI used to tell the kids that if I didn't know their names after the first 2 weeks of school, I probably never would. This of course led to some wonderful 'look at me moments'. Gotta love those kids.
ReplyDeleteSeating charts? That's how I learn names. That and passing back papers. Combined, I can learn many names rather quickly.
DeleteKids are so odd sometimes. I'm terrible with human names though. An animal? I'll totally remember. People take a while. lol
ReplyDeleteThat's funny. I like it!
ReplyDeleteI'm glad. I didn't think I should be the only one to get a kick out of it.
DeleteI tend to call kids 'sweetie' a lot. It's hard to remember the names of 30 new kids every day. At least it's exercising our brains!
ReplyDelete30 new kids every day? Try 175. I get 35 new kids an hour. Which is why I rely heavily on seating charts.
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