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Unit 1: Community
Unit 2: Character

(moving from characters in stories to personal identity)

Unit 7-History and Culture

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This student text pairs with the lesson on What is a community

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This student text pairs with the lesson on What is a community

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Example of a Benchmark essential question K-2?
How can the social justice standards support this question in the classroom? What other books can be used to support this topic?

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Estimated time

Why?

Students begin to understand the many aspects and layers of their identities in a healthy and positive way. Young children in particular need to learn that all the elements making up an individual are valuable. An identity artifacts museum allows students to explore who they are. They also learn about and appreciate their classmate's identities.

How?

Get Ready

1. Assess for materials and resources students can use to create their identity artifacts. If possible, coordinate with an art teacher. Consider securing the following:

Clay

Recycled materials

Colored pencils

Paints

Magazines

2. Adapt the sample rubric into a visual checklist for students. Refer to the rubric to define expectations and components of the identity artifact museum before students begin working. Define expectations for equitable collaboration.

Get Set

1. Verbally introduce students to the preparatory steps included in the Do Something Planning Guide. Instruct them in the process of mapping the steps necessary to prepare the identity artifact museum.

2. Review themes or topics from the central text that connect to identity

3. Brainstorm and review aspects of identity with students, including social identifiers/identity group descriptors outlined by the Framework for Anti-bias Education such as:

Ability/disability

Culture

Family structure

Gender

Language

National origin

Race

Religion

Socioeconomic status/class

4. Have students brainstorm different aspects of their own identities.

5. Model the process of creating an artifact to represent an identity aspect (e.g., a cross, a four- leaf clover, etc.). Have students prepare decorations and illustrations that connect to bulletin board themes and topics.

6. Allow students time to work on their identity artifacts. Students can create artifacts to represent a single aspect of their identity or multiple aspects. As a class, plan how the bulletin board will be arranged.

7. Have students write descriptions about how one or more of their artifacts represent(s) their identity.

Go!

1. Display the artifacts and their accompanying descriptions in a "museum" format.

2. Facilitate a "gallery walk" through the museum

Students walk around and first look at artifacts quietly.

Students can leave comments on sticky notes or deliver them orally.

Reflection

1. Have students discuss and share their artifacts with a partner. Possible questions include:

What did you learn about your partner through the artifact?

Do you relate to your partner in any way?

What do you like and appreciate about your partner's artifact?

2. Have the class share reflections on their partner discussions.

3. Encourage students to journal about their reflections. Possible questions include:

Why is this aspect(s) of your identity important to you?

What was special about seeing other's artifacts?

Were there artifacts you wanted to include but didn't? What were they?

English language learners

This task allows students to express important and meaningful aspects of their identities through non-language based modalities. Graphic organizers, planning sheets and sentence starters can help scaffold and support students learning English throughout the writing/reflection process so they feel confident describing their work and giving feedback. This project engages linguistic, spatial/artistic and intra-personal learning modalities.

Connection to anti-bias education

Identity is a core foundation of anti-bias education. Students should see elements of their identities reflected in their classrooms and schools. This task provides students with the resources, time and strategies necessary to reflect upon and better understand aspects of their own identities and those of others.

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Students begin to understand the many aspects and layers of their identities in a healthy and positive way. Young children in particular need to learn that all the elements making up an individual are valuable. An identity artifacts museum allows students to explore who they are.

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What?

This strategy provides tools to create questions that help students engage critically with Perspectives central texts and examine them for issues of power and social inequity. The activities suggested here also encourage readers to bring their knowledge and experiences to the reading of a text.

Why?

Critical literacy exercises, like those provided here, give children tools and strategies to examine how discrimination (gender, ethnic, social class, language and religion) is produced and reproduced in schools and society. The Common Core stresses that, to be prepared for college or careers, students must not only comprehend what they read, but critique and question "an author's or speaker's assumptions and premises and assess the veracity of claims and the soundness of reasoning." Likewise, they must "come to understand other perspectives and cultures."

How?

This activity is a good starting point for talking about critical literacy. Move into this discussion gradually; be sure your students understand the process.

1. Select a Perspectives central text.

2. Read the central text aloud while students follow along.

3. Define bias and stereotype in age-appropriate terms. Consider adding these words to your class vocabulary anchor.

4. Ask children question such as:

What is the main idea of the text?

Who is the main character?

What is the main character's gender identity (including animal characters)?

Who is the narrator? Are there characters that have a different point of view than the narrator? How do you know?

Which groups of people are represented?

Which groups of people are not represented?

What is the connection between character X and character Y? How are they similar or different?

How do characters X and Y respond to character Z?

What do you think the author is trying to tell you about a group of people or about an individual?

Do you agree or disagree with what the author is representing? Why or why not?

5. Provide opportunities for children to examine read aloud texts for biases.

Linguistic bias: Look for culturally loaded terms (e.g., "black sheep,""that's so gay," "that's ghetto") and sexist language (fireman instead of firefighter).

Stereotyping: Examine storylines and illustrations for ethnic, gender, socioeconomic, religious, ability and cultural stereotypes (e.g., "What do the families in our texts look like?").

Invisibility: Examine texts to determine if there is a systematic exclusion of races, family types, socioeconomic class or cultures.

Imbalance: Examine textbooks and classroom materials to determine if there is a balanced presentation of different groups. (e.g., "Is only one group of people present?" or "What role are men in this text playing? What role are women playing?")

Unreality: Examine texts to determine if sensitive or controversial issues (such as such as slavery, discrimination, prejudice, social movements, homelessness or immigration) are glossed over with inaccurate or incomplete information.

6. Encourage students to create questions about the text while they read or encounter other media.

English language learners

This strategy is effective for English language learners because students are able to ask and answer questions based on individual understanding. Modify the strategy by allowing students to illustrate the answers to their self-generated questions about the read-aloud text.

Connections to anti-bias education

The ability to critically examine texts, even at a young age, creates a classroom environment that is inclusive and fosters equality. This strategy helps to raise student awareness of power and issues of fairness. In addition, it helps students develop a critical consciousness toward the texts they are exposed to, both in and out of the classroom, because they are asked to identify both what is present in the text as well as what is not present.

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Creating Questions to Engage Critically with Texts

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This strategy provides tools to create questions that help students engage critically with Perspectives central texts and examine them for issues of power and social inequity. The activities suggested here also encourage readers to bring their knowledge and experiences to the reading of a text.

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Identity Anchor Standards

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

2. Students will develop language and historical and cultural knowledge that affirm and accurately describe their membership in multiple identity groups.

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

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

5. Students will recognize traits of the dominant culture, their home culture and other cultures and understand how they negotiate their own identity in multiple spaces.

View "Identity" PD Module