Background Information on the Lit Circle Identity

What is identity? Write down on the piece of paper given to you, your definition of identity.

Activity Number #1 1. Take a blank piece of paper and trace your hand on the piece of paper. 2. Inside the hand, write down labels or descriptions that describe yourself. (How do you see yourself?)

Activity #1 continued Outside of the hand, write down how you think others view you. (What do you think other people think about you?)

Activity #1 continued Swap with the person beside you? Write down how you perceive the person beside you? Find two people in our class, and get them to fill in the outer layer of your hand. How do they perceive you?

Activity #1 Wrap Up Now take a look at your hand. Some details may overlap and some may be new to you. In a paragraph, answer the following question: Notice the words inside and outside of your hand outline. Which ones are the same? Which ones are different?

Connection between what we did and your choice in your novel The link between the two is that the protagonists in all the novels question their existence at some point in the novel. Like you they are put into a situation, where they must deal with numerous social, political or environment factors that shake their core. They question themselves and have to decide if they are going to preserve or succumb.

Activity #2 Go into a group of three and four. In your group look at the series of picture books on your table. Read the children’s book and after you have read it, consider the following: Summarize the themes in the children’s books? What is it saying about identity? What things make up our identity based on the children’s books at your table? What line(s) or image(s) stood out to you in terms of identity? How do you connect with the story on identity?

Reflection Once you have identified all the connections to identity in your picture book, make connections to what you wrote down in your identity paragraph and what you found in the children’s book.