What's In a Name?

I remember when I was a kid, my mom had a book full of names and their definitions and origins. I used to flip through that book all the time, saying name aloud and writing them down. Even though I am awkward when meeting new people, I love learning new people's names. I like both incredibly unique names and soundly traditional ones. I love how some siblings have such similar names and how some are insanely different. I love nicknames. I almost never forget a name and knew all of my students' names by the end of the first week of school. On the flip side, I hate when someone spells or pronounces a name wrong. Of course, I understand if you don't know that person yet. But when it's your cousin or friend or student, a lack of knowledge for their name means you didn't care to really get to know them. I've seen people write "happy birthday" on Facebook walls and spell the name wrong. It's on the same page! It makes me cringe.

But I know some of you are rolling your eyes right now. "What does it matter?" "I don't care when someone spells my name wrong." So here's a story for you:

 There is a student at my school who has a lot of behavioral problems. He is sent to the office or our "strategy room" several times a week. He usually doesn't turn assignments in and often doesn't work in class. But, for some reason, about the 2nd week of school, he started coming into my class and giving me a high-five each day. He would actually work if I came over and asked him. One day, as he was heading to his next class, I thanked him for working hard that day and he turned to me and said, "Miss Siel...it's really cool that you call me KB." "Well, it's a really cool name," I replied. He laughed and walked away.

You see, KB is this student's initials. But that is the name he wrote on his folder the first day of school. It's the name his friends holler after him in the hallway. Although it isn't the name listed on the roster, I knew that was what he must prefer to be called, so I called him that. And that small thing must have showed him I cared about him as a person. Of course, this is not a miracle solution. I'm also not the only teacher who calls him by this name. I am sure, though, that it was the recognition of KB's "real" name that helped me gain his trust.