> > ....and why does it distract them so? Maybe the subject is not truly deep enough to float my theory, but here's what I think: it has to do with the whole "authority" thing. I think authority figures like parents or teachers are expected to be "constant and unchanging" --even for secondary students who consciously *know* you're a person with your own life outside school. They just didn't *think* of you that way, for the most part, until your change in hair-do reminded them of it. (Well, it's only a theory).
>
> Works for me - but I was a T.K. - teacher's kid, so I always knew teachers had other, secret identities. Often my friends would be stunned though, to see my Mom in curlers or a bathing suit!
>
>
> > By the way, since it's sort of related to this and to the name thread, tell me how you manage to remember all your student's names? --especially if you're teaching 5 classes a day, with say 30 students each?
>
> I have a little parlour trick I use the very first day of class. I make a seating plan and force myself to quickly memorize all names in all classes. I use mnemonic devices if necessary, and rhyme them if I can. It's really effective, and gives instantaneous authority when you can speak to the correct person on the first day about his/her behaviour. (Of course, if it's going to be a really horrid class, I'll probably have been warned anyway).
>
> te (it's a bird, it's a plane, it's Super-Memory Woman!)ach

I finally gave up on remembering names and just relied on seating charts for the first month. I usually had over a hundred students a day. What I can't believe is that I remember most of the kids in my first homeroom and would have trouble naming more than two of my last homeroom.
Just for the record, very few of my students noticed when I shaved my mustache. I was teaching 8th graders and they didn't give a hoot about how anybody looked.
How"retired in '93"ard