Issue link: http://educator.cta.org/i/1476161
What ' s in a Name? Learning about and pronouncing students' names correctly goes a long way toward making students feel seen E D U C A T O R S K N O W th at m akin g stu d ent s fe el valu ed and respected is critical to children and youth learning and achieving to their fullest potential. Honoring — and correctly pronouncing — students' names is an important first step for everyone to have a sense of belonging and being seen. It also goes a long way to strengthening educators' bonds with indi- vidual students. e diversity in California and in our schools means students bring their rich languages, cultures and traditions to the school community. is includes their names, of course. "A person's name is part of their cultural identity," Rita Kohli, assistant professor at the Graduate School of Education at the University of California, Riverside, said in a 2021 NEA article. Failure to recognize this can cut deep in the classroom. In 2012, Kohli co-authored a paper titled "Teachers, Learn Our Names! Microaggressions and the K-12 Classroom." She and colleague Daniel Solórzano interviewed 41 students of color in K-12 schools and found that the failure to pronounce a name correctly can negatively impact the worldview and social-emo- tional well-being of students. "When the child enters school and teachers — consciously or not — mispronounce, disregard or change the name, they are in a sense disregarding the family and culture of the students as well," Kohli and Solórzano wrote. "e consequences of these subtle racial experiences are real and can have a lasting impact on the wellbeing and self-perceptions of youth." Strategies to consider What are the best ways educators can learn students' names and convey the story and meaning behind a name or culture to the rest of the class? • Teachers can make concerted efforts to learn pronunciation of names — and own it when they experience difficulties. Students appreciate the effort to get it right. In a 2018 EdWeek article, students talked about feeling embarrassed or invisible when teachers didn't try to pronounce their names correctly. Some even felt pressure to change their pronunciation so teachers could say their names easier. CTA polled members several years ago on how they taught themselves to pronounce their students' names (see sidebar). 38 cta.org Social Justice