Professional Responsibility - Effective Relationships

A reflection from first week of practicum.

My first priority coming back to the classroom this week was making sure I knew everyone’s name as soon as possible. I made this my main concern for the first 30 minutes of Monday morning. The reason I made this my main priority is because I know this is a weakness for me. I am typically terrible with names, but once I committed these names to memory I have not slipped up once.

I feel that calling the students by name is the most important first step in developing relationships. From that point the rest comes naturally as it makes it easier to remember what each student likes and dislikes. These likes and dislikes have been a great steppingstone to the students who are more withdrawn and not as interested in school. For example, I know that if I can tie the task to hockey it will be more engaging for ones in the class who play competitive hockey.

Although I already knew coming into this practicum that learning everyone’s name would be important, I do not think I realized how much difference it makes. I had not realized how much a student drops their guard if they hear their name. Whether they are being told good work, or get back to work, hearing their name triggers something in the brain that makes a student hear the words in a more meaningful way.