I forget my students' names way too quickly – it's a problem!

This might be another ADHD thing, but I just can't retain students' names once I stop teaching them.

I feel so bad about it. I really don't want to, but I just can't help it. Like, I'll learn my students' names really quickly when they're in my class and I'll remember them for the whole year. But, to be honest, I've already forgotten some of the names of the Year 13 students who just left! Yikes!

The thing is, it doesn't have anything to do with whether I like a student or not. I mean, the idea of disliking students is foreign to me. They can annoy me in a given moment, but holding a grudge is bizarre because I know when they chafe against my authority, it's not me they're being mean to but the teacher figure that I'm embodying.

And when a student's behaviour isn't appropriate for a classroom, I focus much more on what went wrong and what I can do better next time. Whether the kid meant to be rude doesn't really factor into my thinking, apart from to think about whether they'd be willing to hear me out and if I can help them to improve for their future.

Even when I forget a student's name, though, I won't forget their face, or what we'd chat about to build a rapport. I'll remember what school I taught them at and which text they loved. But the name? It flew away. It's just that to me, their name is tied to seating plans and the register and cold calling and data. Their face is tied to their personality and the books they love to read. And I know which one my brain has decided is more important.

I think it might be another ADHD thing. Most teachers will say they only remember their students' names if they did something completely memorable – and nine times out of ten, the memorable thing the students do will be negative. But I guess with me, the process is just much faster than it is for most other people.

I don't know what I could do to make this better, or even if I should do anything about it. But I'd hate to think that a student will come back to the school to say hi and feel terrible because I won't be able to name them.