Student Names (An Example of What NOT To Do!)
I have been thinking a lot about the upcoming school year. I know it seems early, considering the kind of year this last one was. It seems even earlier to me considering that I am still teaching summer school. But I recently had new student come into school, and I made a huge mistake, a mistake that created one of the biggest ‘ah-ha’ moments I have had in the past year. This student was brought in because he had arrived at school but was not registered for summer school. He was brought to me to see if I knew him. Of course I didn’t. I’m not sure how it is in other districts, but this seems to be the norm with English learners, especially when we don’t have a translator available at the time. But this post isn’t about what systemically needs to change. This post is about what I messed up. I messed up when I started trying to look the student up. Instead of asking the student for his name, I asked the …