Say My Name

It seems so simple.  Get to know your students and pronounce their names correctly.  

As a child, I had an unusual last name: Montenegro.  Maybe not so unusual anymore since it is a country and once in a while I hear its name mentioned on the news.  My youngest daughter even traveled to Montenegro while in Croatia, just to be able to say she'd been there, and found herself delighted by the countryside.  But for me, as a child, no one else had such a weird name in the affluent, mostly white suburb where my family lived, and many teachers could not pronounce it correctly.  Expect my Spanish teacher, but that figured.

As a teacher I made it a point to learn how to pronounce my students' names correctly, and to ask them what they preferred to be called by me in class.  

It's just respectful, right?

But there are too many stories of children whose beautiful names, lovingly chosen for them by their parents, often imbued with meaning or heritage, are shortened into pronounceable nicknames by teachers whose hearts may be in the right place, but who are actually doing damage.

When I worked at a middle school we had an attendance secretary who was the face of the school for families.  She often had to page students between classes, and she never mispronounced a name twice.  She kept a small spiral notebook at her desk where she wrote out challenging names phonetically: Siobhann = "Shih-vonn", or Mahmoud = "Mach-mood".  What a difference she made to those kids!

By pronouncing their names correctly she showed them respect and honored them.

Cultural competence or culturally and linguistically relevant educational experiences are at the forefront of current educational best practices.  I hope it's not just current, because it should be the standard if we ever hope to achieve equity.  To my mind, one easy way to set the stage for a positive educational experience for students is to learn how to pronounce their names correctly.

Here are a few links to articles on this subject that I've found compelling:

What's in a Name? Minnesota schools strive to say students' names correctly. Minneapolis Star Tribune
Name That Baby! mothering.com
Making name pronunciation a propriety in K12 education. Trumbull, CT
Names Do Matter from Teaching Tolerance

Reading is Good for us!

Of course it is!  

We've known that all along.  Below is a link to  an article I came across that offers even more reasons to read and promote a lifelong love of reading.  I appreciate that they are science-backed!

The 7 Interesting Ways that Reading Makes You Healthier

It pains me to see that the United States ranks 23rd of 30 on the chart of hours spent reading per person per week. We need to change that.

I love to read and although I have an electronic reader (great when traveling), I really enjoy the feel of a book in my hands  I'm more of a savor-er when it comes to reading.  While I can read quickly when I have to, when I'm reading for pleasure I don't read particularly fast.  I pause and imagine, reflect and predict, often getting lost in the descriptions of places and people.

When my daughters were young our house was FULL of books.  Our favorite field trips were to the local library where Miss Chris would lead story time with books, songs, and puppets. Afterward we would pick out books, often audiobooks (cassette tapes!), picture books and eventually beginning readers.  We read together every night for years. I love to remember the sound of their young voices reading.

Before they could read on their own I would tell my girls that being able to read was WONDERFUL.  That when you were able to read you could get lost on your own in a whole new world.  Once when my youngest was about eight or nine years old she was laying on her bed reading quietly.  I came in and sat down and started to talk to her.  

She asked me, "Mom, do you remember when you used to tell us that when we learned to read we could get lost in our own world?  Well, I'm there right now and you're interrupting me!"
Now I have the pleasure of reading to my granddaughters and watching their love of books grow.  I look forward to the time when they can read to me too.