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Climate and Culture, Communication, In Your Corner, Student Learning
Our Respect for Student Names Can Build or Break Relationships
The first weeks of a new year are filled with organizing procedures, creating routines, and communicating expectations. There is much to do to launch a new year. However, there is one task that we can ill afford to ignore: learning student names.
We may not give it much thought, but names matter. The relatively simple task of respecting, learning, and pronouncing names correctly can be a big deal. Names are also an important aspect of our identities. Consider the message of the popular Johnny Cash song from a few decades ago: A Boy Named Sue.
When we fail to learn student names early in the year or ever, we risk sending a message that we do not care enough to make the effort or that our students do not count enough to be recognized as individuals. It is not surprising in these circumstances that many students will choose not to invest in their learning or respond to our instruction. Why should they care about what we offer and expect if they believe that we do not care enough to know their names?
If we fail to pronounce students’ names correctly, we risk sending a similar message. When these students come from different cultures and have names unfamiliar in the English language, we risk communicating that we also do not respect their culture and identity. If these students are also still learning English, we can create even greater feelings of separation and further complicate our relationship. As a result, we can make reaching them even more difficult.
Yet another element deserving our attention is assigning nicknames to students based on some aspect of their name, especially when the nickname may be perceived as less than positive and respectful. We may intend the practice to be playful, and even endearing, but we are assigning an identity to students based on our perceptions and preferences, not their choosing, and potentially without their permission. Like many other aspects of humor, we must be careful to avoid having what is intended to be funny result in emotional pain.
Even worse is the practice of intentionally mispronouncing student names or assigning negative nicknames to intimidate or denigrate students who are different, misbehave, or demonstrate a negative attitude. This behavior is especially egregious as it often masquerades as humor that is well-intended, but misinterpreted.
Unlike many conditions that can interfere with student learning, there are specific and relatively simple steps we can take to avoid having our treatment of student names become a barrier to relationships and compromise our influence on student success.
First, we can make learning student names a priority during the first weeks of the year and when new students enter our class or learning environment. By focusing on names, using them frequently, and reviewing them often, we can accomplish this task.
Second, if pronouncing some students’ names is challenging, we can ask them to pronounce their names for us and make phonetic notations to help pronounce them correctly. Collecting this information in private is usually best. Of course, practicing saying names can solidify and help to store them in our memory. If necessary, we can utilize online language resources or consult language experts to assist our efforts.
Third, we need to be careful to avoid assigning or using nicknames unless we have specific permission or students request that we use their nicknames. As noted earlier, the close connection between names and identity makes modifying or substituting student names an unnecessary risk to our relationships and ability to reach and teach students.
Learning and respecting names might seem like a small thing. Yet, our attention to and treatment of this aspect of student identities conveys a message about who we are and our commitment to supporting them as they learn.
In Your Corner, Leadership and Change Management
Three Secrets for Building and Reinforcing Staff Engagement
In just a few weeks we will be welcoming staff members back for the start of a new year. While the start of this year may not be as uncertain and stressful as a year ago, there remain myriad questions to be answered and challenges to be met in the months ahead. At the same time, many staff members have yet to fully recover from the exhaustion and frustrations they felt as the past year ended.
Our leadership challenge is to find ways to re-engage and re-energize employees across our organization to serve students who need them now as much or more than ever. The fact is that we cannot improve the learning and lives of students without supporting and reconnecting adults who work with them.
Fortunately, recent research from the London Business School may provide some useful hints to help us meet this challenge. Despite the context of the research in the business world, people are people. What moves and motivates us is likely to be more alike than different.
The research was conducted during the height of the pandemic and focused on what led employees to be more or less engaged despite the life and work challenges they faced. The researchers were able to isolate three key leadership behaviors that appeared to make the greatest difference on the level of employee engagement over time.
First, the study found that our perspective as leaders matters more than we might think. Adopting an optimistic, opportunistic attitude during times of crisis and challenge can make an important difference. If we treat the challenges we face as permission to innovate, explore, adjust, and improve, we project energy and possibility. The researchers noted something called “emotional contagion,” a phenomenon in which emotions and attitudes are psychologically contagious. The emotions and perspectives of those around us, especially people who are important to us, can lift our spirits and inspire us, or drain our energy and leave us depressed. If we want to lift the spirits of those in our organizations and inspire people to engage, we must adopt and project the attitudes and perspectives we want to see. Of course, we need to be realistic and not ignore the reality we face, but we do not have to allow ourselves to be defeated by it.
A second important finding was that inquiring about and staying informed of people’s lives outside of work matters. Challenges remaining after the pandemic are not confined to what is happening at work. Staff members may still be dealing with family loss and disruption. Lingering aftereffects of the virus may be an ongoing challenge. Of course, life outside of work with its predictable challenges and pressures also influences how people feel about work, how much energy they have available to invest, and other choices they must make. The researchers found that inquiring about and remaining interested in and informed about employees’ lives outside of work makes a significant difference in the level of investment and engagement people feel in their work. Importantly, our inquiries need to be authentic and we need to avoid prying into areas that employees might feel are private.
The third key finding was that we need to reinforce the importance of the work people are doing and its connection to the larger purpose of the organization. We might assume that people know and see how their work is important in the larger picture, but they also need to hear it regularly from leaders. Reminding people of the crucial difference they make in the lives of students, how they are building a future for today’s learners, and the long-term importance of having an educated public are important messages that need to be repeated and reinforced regularly. Interestingly, the researchers discovered that connections to and internalization of the purpose of the work not only better prepare people to navigate adversity and uncertainty, but they can also lead to better ideas and innovative strategies for improvement.
In the coming weeks we will be “setting the stage” for the year ahead. How we start the year will have an important influence on how the year unfolds. Now is the time to think about what we can do to build energy, invite engagement, and prepare the path for a successful year.
Resource:
Cable, D. & Gino, F. (2021, June 22) What to do if your employees have switched off. London Business School. https://www.london.edu/think/what-to-do-if-your-employees-have-switched-off
In Your Corner, Leadership and Change Management
In Your Corner, Leadership and Change Management
In Your Corner, Leadership and Change Management, Student Learning
In Your Corner, Leadership and Change Management
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