How do stories help me reflect on my identity and the identity of others?
Students will engage in various inquiries around identity and explore how identity may be shared in their communitie.
Discovering, Uncovering and Celebrating Identity (DOCX | 202 KB)
Discovering, Uncovering and Celebrating Identity (PDF | 289 KB)
It is important to create a safe environment in which students feel free to explore and uncover their identity. Discuss guidelines on how to explore ideas in respectful ways. Tell students they are going to learn about South Asian culture and unpack what they know, what they want to know, and what they learned after reading different books. Ask students to reference the picture book stories at first to avoid any stereotypes.
Before teaching this lesson, you may want to explore anti-racism education resources, such as:
Pair up students and ask them to take turns asking each other the question, “Who are you?” They must respond with a different answer each time. Time the students for one-minute intervals. Teachers may also want to model this to the class by having students take turns asking the question “Who are you?” to them. (Adapted from Cultivating Genius: An Equity Framework for Culturally and Historically Responsive Literacy, Gholdy Muhammad, p. 73.)
With the whole class, brainstorm a list of categories that help people define themselves. Several of these may have been discussed in the previous activity. Possibilities include race, religion, ethnicity, nationality, gender, ability, language, culture and favourite hobbies.
Discuss the term “identity” with students. (Depending on the class, you may want to start by asking them to define it, or you could share your own definition.) Note for students that the ideas they discussed in the previous step make up a part of their identity.
Think-Pair-Share discussion: Provide students with two questions to think about, discuss with a partner, and then share with the class:
Tell students they will be exploring South Asian cultures through stories. Show on a map the countries in South Asia: India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Bhutan, Nepal, and the Maldives.
Individually, in pairs or as a class, have students complete a Know-Wonder-Learn (KWL) chart about South Asian culture and identity.
Read one or more of the books listed in the Materials/Resource section or show the video(s) of the book being read aloud.
As a class, use the main character from one of the stories to identify social and/or personal identity characteristics of the character. You may use the Social Identity Wheel (.docx) handout, Personal Identity Wheel (.docx) handout, and/or another template/format. If the stories don’t cover all elements that your class discusses, have students make predictions and explain why, based on what they know of the character. Note: Higher grades may also want to touch on intersectionality. Intersectionality 101 (Learning for Justice, video, 3:03) explains the cumulative effect of multiple identities on our lived experience.
Explain that our names are also important to our identity. Go back to the story you read to the class and discuss the South Asian names of the characters. Have students research the meaning of the name(s) in the story. Extend this activity by having students research one of their own names (first, middle, last, or a nickname).
In pairs or small groups, have students reflect on what exploring South Asian culture has revealed to them about their own identities.
Discuss symbolism. Some questions to ask students:
You can show them some examples of South Asian Symbols.
Have students brainstorm elements of their own personal and/or social identity. This can be done either in a mind map or using the Personal Identity Wheel (.docx) or Social Identity Wheel (.docx) templates.
Connect with Indigenous wisdom: Show an image of a Medicine Wheel that shows the spiritual, physical, emotional, and mental aspects of the human experience. You may include images to represent the Medicine Wheel or the four parts of human experience. Ask students how they would depict each aspect of the Medicine Wheel for themselves.
Tell students they will be creating identity collages, a composition of different elements that they feel represents their identity. Encourage them to think about themselves, their interests and the different parts of their identity discussed previously.
As a class, discuss the identity collage assessment criteria. Students should include at least five parts of their identity and design the collage in a creative way. They can write the meaning of the images on the back of their board. Share the Identity Collage Self-Assessment (.docx) so that students are aware of the learning intentions and criteria ahead of time.
Students could use words and images from magazines as well as photos, drawings, digital imagery, other print-based media, newspapers, stickers, and other treasures to create their identity collage. They could also print out digital Creative Commons licensed images if they prefer ( Creative Commons or Unsplash). Alternatively, students could draw their symbols, imagery and so on.
Students should avoid adding their names to their collage to keep the collage anonymous for the gallery walk. Students will be encouraged to display their collages on their desks after the activity, so ensure they know this in advance. Students are welcome to draw specific images that resonate with them.
Identity collage gallery walk: Have students do an anonymous gallery walk to look at all the collages. What can they infer about the artist? Do they think they know who it belongs to? Suggest using sentence stems such as:
Emphasize that we can make inferences and guesses about people’s identity, but it is best to ask questions and explore our curiosity rather than make assumptions.
Art gallery celebration: Have students display their finished collages on their desks. Encourage them to walk around and write a compliment on the comment sheet beside the artist’s collage. Teaching students to comment on the elements of art that they appreciate helps them to build community and strengthen identity.
For example, I really like how you represented your identity as an activist with a strong fist in the air. The symbolism is very powerful! I like that you chose a dove to represent your belief in world peace.
Have students answer the following questions in their journals:
What vision of identity do you want to nurture within yourself?
Conference with students to ask questions and determine their understanding.
Have students complete the Identity Collage Self-Assessment (.docx).
Lead students through a guided inquiry about a South Asian Canadian artist of your choice or from the book Stories for South Asian Super Girls, by Raj Kaur Khaira. (You may also choose to focus on artist Sandeep Johal, who illustrated Stories for South Asian Super Girls.)
Introduce the concept of oral traditions to the class and explain that students will be sharing a story with the class. They can choose to tell a personal story that shaped who they are, or they can interview a parent/caregiver/adult and retell the story. For example, they may want to bring a special object or heirloom to focus on. They will be using oral storytelling methods to share their story with the class.
Questions to guide their oral story (interview or brainstorm process):
Create an Identity Artifacts Museum.
Create self-portraits with personal symbology.
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