As I read about the white hat I had many questions and many thoughts. When does it come up in the classroom? Are students and adults honest when they wear the white hat? Can you wear the red hat too much? Is it easy to wear the red hat for students?
I was thinking about a Monday when I collect my students read and logs from the previous week. I asked a student, " Where is your read & log?"
He said, " Oh, Mrs. Roberts, it is on my kitchen table (White hat you would think). I will bring it tomorrow. I promise!" I opened his folder, and there it was, not touched. Well he wanted to believe he was giving me the facts, but the facts were not true. My fact of the matter was I had the white hat on asking him a question but his computer was not giving accurate information.
The red hat is a different story: Sometimes I feel a person can wear the red hat too often without considering the white hat first. When there is an issue on the playground the red hat goes on quickly when maybe the white hat should be on first. When you are having a discussion about the Black Hawk War in class I really enjoy hearing students share when they are wearing their red hat. In my experience some students can have a difficult time wearing the red hat. They can be at school and you know they have a lot of emotion inside and if they were just able to put on that red hat they would feel so much better.
I understand wearing the red hat allows the thinker to say: "This is how I feel about the matter." As school situations occur, I really see how it would be so helpful to wear the white hat first. With adults and students alike, if we lay the facts out on the table maybe the red hat emotions would not get out of control.
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