Everyone is Normal

Struggling students don’t think they’re “normal” and this mindset further alienates them from a subject they already find painful. Showing them that every learner is normal, that the spectrum of normal is wide and inclusive and full of people who “just get it” and people who don’t, invites them into a learning space instead of ostracizing them from it.

But. We can’t simply ask them to trust us when we tell them they’re normal — they won’t — we have to show them how to widen their definition of the word.