Students aren’t the only ones who get nervous when they first step into their classrooms. Believe it or not, most teachers feel the same way, too.

When Shianne Cluck was assigned to fifth-graders, she knew she had to make a good first impression.

Kids that age have a short attention span. Plus, with high energy, there’s a good chance that they won’t pay attention to her.

She came up with a plan to make them listen.

It didn’t involve yelling or hitting. She didn’t even have to fake a serious face.

She carried out her plan right before the class started.

Shianne started calling the kids by name. But before she started, she gave very clear instructions.

She told the kids:

“Okay, listen up. Whenever I say your name, just say here.”

Of course, Shianne’s plan wasn’t that simple and boring.

To make the kids laugh and feel more at ease, she deliberately mispronounced their names. The kids, with their innocence, started laughing at their teacher’s silly mistakes.

It all started with Solomon.

Even though the name was super easy to pronounce, Shianne pretended to have a hard time saying it. She called “Sow-low-mon” and waited for a response.

The kid couldn’t believe what he heard.

It took him a couple of seconds before responding. He was probably thinking twice about reacting since his name doesn’t sound that way.

Next was Luck.

The name’s not that common. Plus, it sounded funny.

Fortunately, despite the odd way Shianne said it, a kid still responded. He even politely corrected her. Apparently, his name was “Luke” and not “Luck”.

There was also Madalyne.

In the name of consistency, Shianne mispronounced it, too. She called out “Me-dey-len” and waited until a kid responded. She had to look around the room first before she finally got a response.

The funniest one was probably Hunter.

Reegan for Reagen and Ja-cob for Jacob were funny, too. Every kid was giggling and laughing at her and her silly pronunciations.

When she called out “Nich-ol”, Shianne almost lost it.

She was trying hard to hide her own smile before a student finally responded. Like the rest of the class, she was probably baffled at how awful the teacher was saying the kids’ names.

It’s all about building connections.

Whether you are a new or substitute teacher, you have to find a way to connect with your students. That’s one of the ways you can make them listen to you and pay attention to what you’re teaching them.

Shianne’s method may sound weird, but it definitely worked.

Even before she was done with the kids’ attendance, they were already giving her their full attention. They were even laughing hard at her silly mistakes.

People on the internet were impressed, too.

One YouTube viewer said:

“This is actually a brilliant strategy, so if there are any names she doesnt know how to pronunce and says something funny it would go unnoticed and kids would never make fun of it.”

Another one commented:

“She got their attention … made a goose of herself but she knew it would get them attentive. Good job!”

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Source: YouTube-BVIRAL, Shianne Cluck