As adults we wear many hats, we confidently move through different spheres and negotiate our identity to fit our surroundings. Where do we learn to do this? One of the first times children will encounter this phenomena is as students in a classroom. To fit into their teachers expectations they will either conform or rebel. As a teacher we reward the students who conform but perhaps we should reward those who are able to stay true to themselves enough to rebel. There are many ways our lessons can cause tension for children and their families, especially when they don’t quite fit what we consider “normal”. As a teacher we need to think very carefully through our lessons looking for assumptions we make that may increase tensions for our students. We also need to help students who are struggling to adapt to the classroom by showing them the ways we wear different hats in different environments. We are the teacher and we need to help all students to adapt to our classroom as easily as possible.
