Taking Attendance

One of the most challenging parts of being a substitute, believe or not, is taking attendance. It's like the Russian Roulette of Names. No, its not the silly kids that like to say things like "BUHZINGUH" instead of "Here" or "Present". (Actually, that would be awesome if a kid said buhzinguh, like Sheldon). No, the challenging aspect comes from the pronunciation.




Parents these days are trying harder than ever to name their child uniquely, either through creative spellings or super-uncommon names. Hard as I try, there is usually one name I mess up in each class...that's just statistics.
I do try hard, and I'm not against people having their unique names. However, I *am* against the person whose name I unintentionally messed up getting all uppity and upset that I mispronounced their name.


I actually think I'm pretty sensitive to saying names correctly, ever since High School when one of my teachers called me "Jose" on the first day. (Really? You couldn't see the 'i' in "Josie"?) I don't super want other people to be embarrassed because their name was read wrong...but when you have a name that unique, you should expect it to be mispronounced and be prepared to politely redirect the pronouncer.


Another reason that it bothers me when they get all uppity is that those same students ask to call me "Mrs. A." They won't bother to learn my name (I even write the pronunciation underneath the name when I write it on the whiteboard), but they expect me to know their name and pronounce it correctly the very first time.


Here's a little pop-quiz for you, of some of the names I have encountered over the years....




Imagine you are taking attendance in the morning. The kids have just settled down, and you are running through the lists of names. If you mess up, 15 annoyed(ing?) voices will correct you all at once. **note: some of these names are not "unique" in their countries of origin, I had just never heard them before meeting said students.

1. Mickel
2. Dejuanana
3. Evgeniy*
4. Aurhea (i actually got this one right!!)
5. Thalia
6.Croix* (and this one too!!)




And then there are the countless different spellings... Ariana, Ahrianna, Ariahna... Mackayla, McKayla, Makayla, Makaela, Makaelah.... Aviana, Ayevianna, Aviannah.... You get the jist.  I am constantly triple checking to make sure I spell the names correctly.






Okay, here are the results of the quiz!!!

1. Mickel -Sounds like 'nickel' right??? Wrong! It's Michael!

2. Dejuanana -Pronounced 'Day-juh-nay.' Ignore the extra letters.

3. Evgeniy* - I'm sure it's common in Russia, but I had never seen it before. Eh-v-gen-ee (hard g.like again.)

4. Aurhea (i actually got this one right!!) Are-ee-yuh

5. Thalia Tay-lee-uh  (silly h, sounds are for REAL letters!)

6.Croix* (and this one too!!) French??? Croy 

The moral of the story is....if you're going to give your kid a unique name, at least teach them to get used to it being mispronounced. You don't see me throwing a tissy fit when Papa Murphey's writes my name on my pizza as "Joesy." (Maybe in my head...but not out loud!)