Retrieval Practice: Remembering Student Names

An inspired teaching tip for remembering student names on the first day of class and across the first couple weeks. This comes from the learning science and memory scholar, Dr. Pooja Argarwal, and colleagues at Retrieval Practice (authors of Powerful Teaching: Unleashing the Science of Learning). Check out Retrieval Practice for other resources and suggestions for unleashing the power of memory in learning.

How to create mnemonics and finally remember students’ names.

Step 1: Create mnemonics

1. Ask students to come up with an animal or food that starts with the same first letter as their first name (for example, Alex-Aardvark, Jess-Jackfruit, Taylor-Tiger). As students introduce themselves, have them include their word pair.
2. Ask students to share their favorite show on TV/Netflix/Hulu, etc.
3. Ask students to share additional information about themselves (favorite instrument or fruit; my personal favorite is to ask about their least favorite ice cream flavor)
4. Create mnemonics: a “concrete connection” between the student’s name and one of the items (food, animal, TV show, ice cream)

You and your students can use these mnemonics throughout the semester to turn the embarrassment of forgetting into a memorable name game.

Step 2: Get students involved

1. Have students go around the room and share their name, animal/food, and their least favorite ice cream flavor. In this way, students are helping other students create mnemonics.
2. During class discussion at the start of the semester, aim to use a students’s name-noun pair as much as possible (“thanks for sharing, Ava-Avocado”).
3. If you can’t remember a student’s name, ask for help from other students. More specifically, ask for a hint with the student’s animal or food, not their name. Students really enjoy this form of retrieval practice!
4. Have a conversation about learning, forgetting, and retrieval practice. You’ll make mistakes and they’ll make mistakes – but retrieving, practicing, and making mistakes is how we learn. Consider telling your students that a hint can also be called a “retrieval cue.” Normalize forgetting and model how retrieval practice is good for learning.
5. Once class is done (or a few hours later), do a brain dump and write down all the student names you can remember, with or without their mnemonics.
6. The following week, ask students to write down all the names they can remember from class and have a discussion: How did they do? Did they remember more than they expected? What was easiest to remember, names, animals, foods, or something else? Why?
7. A week or two later, play Noun-Name Tag (way more fun than the ever-fashionable name tags). In popcorn style, have one student say the noun and name of another student, and continue to play “tag” until everyone has been called on. (More about this strategy in my book, Powerful Teaching, pages 223–225. Noun-Name Tag works well for class sizes of 20 students or fewer.)