I did a circles of self activity where I had to choose 5 self-identities and then give up the least important identity one-by-one until I was left with the identity that was most important to me. This activity was difficult because my identities are part of me and make me who I am. It is hard to think about giving up friends, family, or interests that are central to my life.
This activity is interesting to think about in terms of our students. One of the questions that was asked was thinking about if we force our students to give up one or more of their identities when they come to school. I hope that we never purposefully make a student give up their identity, but I can see how schools or teachers can do that without knowing it. To change this, we can focus on getting to know our students and allowing them to talk about themselves and be proud of who they are.
I also look at this activity and how it applies to my classroom in another way. Students come to us as teenagers who don't necessarily know themselves. We, as teachers, have the opportunity to help them decide what is important and what their identities are. We can tell stories about ourselves and our lives and show our true identities and encourage our students to think about how they want to live and what they want their lives to be like.
