[ by Jason M. Wallin ]

Background

This is a story that I wrote for a workshop on Social Stories that I presented for colleagues in my school district. It was based, though, on an experience of one of the teachers at my school. She had a student who was rather distressed for the few weeks of school because he happened to share the same first name as another student in his class. His teacher and students began to call each boy by his first name and the initial of his last name, to which he would often respond "I'm not John M, I'm John"

Target audience

This story is, obviously, very specific, so the audience is limited to those kids that might be confused by a similar situation. The reading level is around first or second grade, but, as always, could easily be leveled up or down.

The story

In my class this year there are two Johns: John Mitchell (that's me) and John Thompson.

If Ms. Smith says, "John put your pencil away," we could be confused and not understand which John she was talking about.

Ms. Smith is going to use the first letter of our last names to help us understand which John she is talking to.

When she says, "John T." she is talking to John Thompson.

When she says, "John M." she is talking to me.