Slide Deck to Share with Students HERE (and Identity Wheel Template HERE)

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​​​​​​​Lesson Objectives:

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Students will be able to:

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1. Define identity

2. Consider the most salient aspects of their own developing identities

3. Reflect on differences between how students see themselves and how they are seen by others

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​​Learning Standards:

 

LfJ 1. Students will develop positive social identities based on their membership in multiple groups in society

LfJ 3. Students will recognize that people’s multiple identities interact and create unique and complex individuals

LfJ 4. Students will express pride, confidence, and health self-esteem without denying the value and dignity of other people.

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​Learning Activities (If you have 15 minutes…)

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Greeting (Slide 4): What kind of giraffe are you today?

 

Reading (Slide 6):

 

“Identities are the stories we tell ourselves and the world about who we are.” – Dorothy Holland

 

Question for students: What does this quotation get you thinking about?

 

Initiative (Slide 8)

 

Identity Activity #1: (Adapted from Gholdy Muhammad’s Cultivating Genius)

 

Pair up students

Decide who will go first

Take turns answering the question: “Who are you?” for 1 minute each

Try to talk for the entire minute

 

Do a couple rounds to encourage students to explore even deeper aspects of their identities

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Learning Activities (if you have 45 minutes….)

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Initiative (continued):

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Identity Activity #2: Social Identity Wheel (Slide 9)

 

-Give each student a hard copy of the identity wheel

-Define each segment of the identity wheel for your students (don’t assume that they know what each segment refers to)

-Some educators start this activity by asking students to fill in each segment of the wheel, but other educators prefer NOT to ask students to do this.

-Have students jot down short answers to the 5 questions inside the identity wheel: 1) identities you think about most often; 2) identities you think about least often; 3) your own identities you would like to learn more about; 4) Identities that have the strongest effect on how you perceive yourself; 5) Identities that have the strongest effect on how other perceive you

 

-Give students who want to an opportunity to share out their answers to one or more of these questions (but don’t require sharing out)

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​​Learning Activities (if you have 2 hours…)

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Initiative (continued):

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Invite students to think about their responses to Questions #4 and #5, in particular (Slide 10)

 

Ask students to talk over the following three questions with a partner (Slide 11)

 

-Is there a difference between how you see yourself and how you’re seen?

-If so, what causes that difference?

-If so, what do you wish others knew about you?

 

-Give students who want to an opportunity to share out their answers to one or more of these questions (but don’t require sharing out)

 

Debrief (Slide 13)

 

Ask students

1. What did you like about today’s lesson?

2. Did you learn anything new about yourself or anyone else?

3. What could make it better?

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