During the "mask era" of teaching I asked students to make introductory videos at home about themselves and submit it on Schoology. I mainly wanted to be able to see their whole face and learn a bit about them: interests, hobbies, preferred pronouns, what helps them learn best, etc. What I didn't expect was how immensely helpful this assignment was in learning how to pronounce my students' names properly. So often I would ask students to confirm if I was saying it correctly, and students would wave me off and say "oh it's fine" or "close enough." Having this as a stored assignment in Schoology allows me to go back and listen to him or her say their name multiple times, without having to risk embarrassment to the student in front of his or her peers. It's the fall of 22 as I write this and the vast majority of students are no longer wearing masks, but I still ask them to make the intro videos!
