Names Matter: The Day I Almost Murdered the Attendance List

When I started this blog in 2021, I was a teaching student. Since then, I’ve earned my teaching license, spent five school years substitute teaching, and nearly finished my M.Ed., so the blog has a new name to match: Echoes in the Classroom, because what happens in a classroom keeps echoing long after the bell rings.

Years ago, while I was driving a school bus, I wrote a checklist for educators that still guides me (you can find it on my portfolio). Teaching content comes last on that list. Making students feel safe and making them laugh come first. I learned how true that is on a day I subbed for a high school art class.

I was calling in attendance to the office, and a few last names on the roster had me worried. I didn’t want to mispronounce anyone’s name in front of the class, so I gave the attendance secretary the last initials and asked for help. She walked me through each one. I thanked her and said, with a laugh, “I didn’t want to murder them all.”

Then I hung up and looked out at a sea of completely silent faces with huge eyes.

The students had heard only my side of the conversation, and I had some quick explaining to do. “The names!” I said. “I didn’t want to murder the names!”

The room erupted. They laughed, I laughed, and for the rest of the period, I wasn’t a stranger at the front of the room anymore. When I told the attendance secretary the story at the end of the day, she laughed too.

That moment taught me two things. First, names matter. Taking a minute to say a student’s name correctly tells them they belong before you’ve taught them a thing. Second, a little laughter, even at your own expense, can turn a room of strangers into a class. Students learn best from people they feel comfortable with, and nothing builds comfort faster than a shared laugh.

In the posts ahead, I’ll write about literacy, fair grading, educational psychology, and the many paths students can take after high school. And every so often, I’ll take you along on a trip down a research rabbit hole.

Thanks for reading, and welcome to the new chapter.