[nobe-l] learning about your students/participants

[Ashley Bramlett]

Hi all,

A challenge I’ve had working with groups of people is names. I’ve volunteered for a senior center to discuss stories and read; its challenging to remember names with voices and about them. 

This will be harder as a sub. still, I’d like to try and know them, at least their names, so next time I’m not asking constantly for them to identify themselves.

How do  you remember a group  of student’s names? How do you remember a bit about them? In my case, I’d want to remember about their disability like its extent and how much they can do themselves.
In my experience, I get to know voices, but with young people, voices are more likely to sound similar. 

I’m sure they’ll be a list of participants but I won’t be able to read that. I might write that down, time permitting, using another staff member as a reader. 
There’s other staff in each room since they need a small participant/staff ratio.
I’ve thought of tape recording them since repetetion helps, but not sure we’ll be allowed to record.

Thanks for ideas.

Ashley