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Be Good With Names

by Megan

Just wanted to post something quick here (another post coming right behind this one!), to say thank you for all the kind comments left on this post, from Thursday. Also thanks to those of you who texted/facebooked me or tweeted about it. I definitely felt the love and empathy. I wasn’t sure that the words would come out just right, but from the response I’ve gotten, it seems like something struck a chord. So thanks for saying sweet things and building me back up.

Big zebra hug for you!

For those of you who said you feel the same way, I hope that you can work through it and please let me know if I can do anything to help. I think that the number one thing we can do is to comment on one another’s blogs. I am super behind on reading my favorite blogs, nevermind commenting, but when I’m on top of things, I comment a LOT. Social media follows are great and sharing is even better, but comments are more personal, and I know everybody loves them!

Also I should mention that about 24 hours after posting this, two great opportunities came my way, including one of the ones that I thought I had been rejected for! So…complain and ye shall receive?!

Here’s something else worth mentioning… One of my personal philosophies is that there is an incredible importance in knowing people’s names. I hate it when people say, “I’m so bad with names,” because I think it’s important NOT to be bad with names. I have a little bit of an advantage because I have a really good memory, but I also make a concerted effort to know and remember people’s names.

This is a big part of my teaching philosophy- to know kids’ names is to show them respect and importance. Many times over the years I have called a student by name to have them respond by being so surprised and pleased that I knew it. When I was directing the ensemble of a very large musical (40+ people in the ensemble) I made sure to learn the names of everyone I didn’t already know (mostly by being very alert and paying attention to what was happening around me), and the very first time I worked with them, I started by going down the line and saying every person’s name. The response was fantastic.

So if I ever have to ask someone to tell me their name again, you better believe that would be the second and last time I would have to ask. I think it’s that important.

Anyway, not everyone is going to have that same belief or have the memory that I do, but I think since I put so much emphasis on it, I feel a little stung if someone doesn’t know my name. And there are limits of course. When I got 200 dance students all at once, after 10 weeks of teaching them, I think I knew probably 190 of their names. So I don’t expect the bigger bloggers with thousands of followers to remember everyone, but just to make an effort, especially when us little guys are throwing our support their way!

So thanks again for reading, supporting, and uplifting. I love you guys!

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2 comments

Kate Eschbach May 18, 2013 - 5:34am

Bear kisses and Zebra hugs right back at ya!

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Kristine Foley May 18, 2013 - 6:19am

Shit. I’m bad with names….. but on the bright side! YAY for the new opportunity!! Congrats!!

Kristine –The Foley Fam {unedited}

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