Who are your students?

Who is the teacher? Who is the student? When you know who you are as a teacher; only then are you able to create a classroom that is safe for those students learning in the classroom. As we already know students all learn in unique and individual ways, therefore why wouldn't they need unique and individual circumstances in order to make them feel safe and comfortable in a classroom environment. As I write this several students come to mind and I have had to set aside my perceptions of who that student is, to give them access to a nurturing, safe and comfortable learning environment. Most of our students fall within a general category where we can get to know them and make them feel comfortable, by doing simple things like learning their name, asking what they like and don't like or by simply asking "How are you doing?" There are some however that come to us from radically unique circumstances and this is especially true in the middle grades, where what it takes to make them at ease requires much more time and attention to the individual and not just the student. When we truly begin to understand who we, as educators, are going to be for the students in our classroom only then can we create individualized classroom settings for each of our students.