The first couple of days of being within a classroom it’s important to establish a safe and comfortable environment. Part of doing that is introducing ones self and learning all of the students’ names. The name of students is an essential part of their identity and knowing each individual students’ names creates that comfortable environment for them. This semester I have the opportunity to work with kindergarteners, and I think that their names are even more important because many of them are coming in with little background knowledge besides their name. Today I decided to make a visual map of where each of the students sit in order to better aid my memory in remembering each of the students’ names. Throughout the day, I would look around the room and try to name each of the students within my head.

As the day went on, I noticed that I would address students by their name, and they took notice. One of the students even looked at me and was so surprised that I knew her name. She asked me if I knew how to spell it as well. I never realized how simple of knowing someone’s name could affect someone. Since I am used to older students, they don’t necessarily outwardly display this pleasure, however kindergarteners don’t hold to much back. After seeing that these students were genuinely filled with joy and excitement when I knew their name, it makes me wonder if most children have the same reactions but they just don’t display it. This task within the FEAP reminds me how little actions can make such large impacts on a child, and how powerful words can be. Understanding the learning environment that is existent in your classroom can only be first done with you take time to recognize each student as a unique individual who has a name.