Say My Name

Learning Target OR Standards & Connections
  • Related SEL Skills: Self-Awareness, Relationship Skills
Essential Outcomes(s) Level(s)
Students will…

  • learn everyone’s name and increase social comfort.
  • help build community by sharing a name that has particular significance for them.
  • Learn about the variety of cultures, identities, and histories that students bring with them to the classroom 
 All grades
Activity/Project
  1. Introduce the activity: students will learn more about their classmates by hearing stories associated with a particular name they chose.
  2. Provide prompts for the students to choose from. Possible prompts include: 
    1. Who are you named after and why? 
    2. Where does this name originate from? 
    3. Who named you? 
    4. Who chose the spelling of this name? 
    5. Why did you choose this name (for a pet/friend/family member)? 
    6. What special meaning does this name hold for you?
    7. Do you have any memories or stories associated with this name?
    8. Do you like this name? Why or why not? 
    9. If it is a name you chose for yourself, why did you choose this name in particular?
  3. Have students introduce themselves to the class and share their name story OR have students pair up and share their name stories with a partner. You can then have partners share each other’s name stories with the class
  4. Teacher will record the instructions and/or Everybody Has a Name poem on a Soundtrap project. 
  5. Teacher will add and label individual tracks for each student with their name. 
  6. The first student records their name and the spelling of their name, then invites the student below them. And repeat steps 5 and 6 until each student has been invited and recorded
  7. Optional: Instruct each student to move/drag their recording to the end of the recording of the person before them.
Extended Learning
  1. A variation for younger students where the teacher has the project set up on one device and each student comes up to the computer at some point during the day.
  2. Students can record their first name and last name or spell their name aloud, pronouns, nicknames, etc.
  3. Students can add background music to their name.
  4. Students can write out their name on the piano roll and share the music with their peers.

 

The author of this is Serena Robinett, education specialist at Soundtrap. 

Serena Robinett was an educator for New York City DOE before she became an Education Specialist at Soundtrap. She was the Instrument Music Director at a middle school in Queens where her students learned music literacy, music history and participated in various ensembles like modern rock band, symphonic orchestra, and digital music. Serena then taught technology at a K-8 school in Harlem for two years. Her students learned to use technological applications to share their voices and knowledge. They also learned to be digital citizens and computational thinkers. Serena is focused on the importance of cultivating and sharing student voices, building trusting relationships, and creating a culturally responsive classroom. 

The idea behind the Say My Name Soundtrap lesson came from former education specialist, Audrey O’Clair. Audrey O’Clair is, first and foremost, a community builder. As a former special education teacher, she knows that using every available resource—from edtech to social media to professional learning networks—is the trick to helping individuals succeed.

Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

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