1. Voices Literature and Writing Workshop #2 Theme 1: Identity Awareness 1

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3. Theme 1: Identity Awareness 3

4. Contents 1.What Is Identity Awareness? 2.Identity Awareness Social Competencies 3.Identity Awareness Activities 4.Modeling Voices Core Activity #1: Tell a Personal Story 5.Integrated Identity Awareness, Language and Literacy Instruction 6.Identity Awareness and the Voices Goals 7.Identity Awareness and the CCSS 8.Identity Awareness Theme Implementation Plans 4

5. What Are the Goals of This Workshop? 1.Voices Theme #1: To understand the theory and research related to identity awareness 2.Voices Core Activity #1: To be able to model “Tell a Personal Story” in your classroom 3.Integration. To understand how identity awareness, social development, oral language, listening comprehension, reading comprehension, and writing can be integrated together. 4.Implementation Plan. To develop an implementation plan for this identity awareness theme. 5

6. Identity Awareness Online Resources VLW #2 Workshop Resources are available online at the Education for Democracy Institute website: https://efd.global/identity-awarene…rkshop- resources/https://efd.global/identity-awarene…rkshop- resources/ The VLW #2 Videos are available on: (https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCXPYOXcWn2ECSbglKGsfHgw/)https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCXPYOXcWn2ECSbglKGsfHgw/ References for this workshop are in Peace, Literacy, and Democracy (the Book) by Pat Walker (https://efd.global/professional-development/peace- democracy-book/)https://efd.global/professional-development/peace- democracy-book/ – Chapter 6: Identity Awareness 6

7. 1. What Is Identity Awareness? 7

8. Identity Awareness Definition In Voices, we define identity awareness is the ability of students to understand their own identities and the identities of others. 8

9. Identity Awareness Central Questions KindergartenWhat makes us special? First GradeWho am I? Who are you? Second GradeHow are we alike? How are we different? Third GradeWhat are the places you love? Fourth GradeWhere are you from? Fifth GradeWhat are our stories? Sixth GradeWhat are your dreams? Seventh GradeHow does where you are from influence who you are? Eighth GradeHow do we define ourselves? 9

10. Why is Identity Awareness Important? 10

11. The Importance of Identity Awareness Improves self-understanding Improves understanding of others Breaks down stereotypes and prejudice Improves oral communication Deepens understanding of characters Improves ability to use writing to express oneself and critically evaluate important topics Promotes social cohesion and democracy 11

12. 2. Identity Awareness Social Competencies 12

13. Identity Awareness Competencies Identity Exploration Identity Integration Identity Commitment See “Chapter 6: Identity Awareness” in Peace, Literacy, and Democracy by Pat Walker for a more in-depth explanation. (https://efd.global/professional- development/peace-democracy-book/)https://efd.global/professional- development/peace-democracy-book/ 13

14. Identity Exploration Active engagement in learning about one’s identity and personality 14

15. Identity Integration Ability to integrate the various components of one’s identity into a positive and coherent self-concept 15

16. Identity Commitment Ability to dedicate oneself to vocational, educational, and ideological goals and tasks that build on one’s talents and interests 16

17. Identity Awareness Within Increasingly Broader Social Contexts Each year students progress from the Identity Awareness theme to the Democracy theme Across the grade levels, the year long focus shifts from family and neighborhood in the early grades to region, nation, and planet in the later grades. Students are challenged to understand and define themselves in increasingly broader social contexts over time. 17

18. 3. Identity Awareness Activities 18

19. Identity Petals Activities Physical Identity Petals Family Identity Petals Social Identity Petals Character Traits Personal Identity Petals Apply to self and others, as well as to characters and historical figures. 19

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26. 4. Model Voices Core Activity #1: Tell a Personal Story 26

27. 27 Tell a Personal Story 1.Teacher introduces and discusses “Tell a Personal Story” activity. 2.Teacher models telling of personal story. 3.Students select and develop their own stories. 4.Teacher models partner sharing. 5.Students share stories with their partners. 6.Students share their own stories with the whole class. 7.Teacher wraps up lesson.

28. Videos: Tell a Personal Story Go to the Tell a Personal Story Playlist on the Peace & Democracy Video Channel to see videos of teachers modeling personal stories and students telling their own stories. https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCXPYOXcWn2ECSbglKGsfH gw/ 28

29. Model Voices Core Activity #1 Voices coach models VCA #1 using an activity selected from the VLW curriculum. See list of VCA #1 core activities at the end of the handouts. Teachers then share their stories with their partners and with the class using an activity selected from the curriculum. 29

30. 30 5. Integrate Identity Awareness with Language, Literacy, and Social Studies Instruction

31. 31 Voices Themes and Core Activities Oral Language Social Development Reading Comprehension Listening Comprehension Writing Social Studies

32. 32 Identity Awareness: Tell a Personal Story Oral Storytelling Teacher and Partner Sharing Activities About Identity Identity Related Leveled Books Identity Related Read Alouds Personal Narrative About Life Changing Event

33. 6. IDENTITY AWARENESS AND THE VOICES GOALS 33

34. Identity Awareness and the Voices Goals Authentic Voice: Increased self-understanding makes authentic voice possible. Deep Comprehension: Increased understanding of human diversity contributes deepens comprehension Critical Writing: Increased self-understanding makes it more possible to use writing to objectively and critically evaluate self and the broader world. Democratic Character: Improved understanding of self and others supports the growth of democracy character and of a democratic culture. 34

35. Identity awareness Integrated Instruction: VCA 1: Tell a Personal Story Identity Petals Teacher and Partner Identity Sharing Identity Related Oral Storytelling Identity Read Alouds Identity Leveled Books Write Personal Narrative About Identity Identity Awareness Competencies: Exploration Integration Commitment Voices Goals: Authentic Voice: Increased self- awareness promote authentic voice Deep Comprehension: Increased awareness of human diversity deepens comprehension Critical Writing: Increased self- awareness promotes more critical writing Democratic Character: Increase self and other awareness promotes democratic culture 35

36. 7. IDENTITY AWARENESS AND THE CCSS 36

37. Identity Awareness and CCSS for Listening and Speaking SL 1: Engage in collaborative discussions: Partner sharing of identity related personal stories fosters close dialogue an discussion with one’s partner which culminates in presentation to the class.​ SL 2: Summarize a text: Students summarize story or texts in Check Comprehension and evaluate it in Deepen Comprehension as they analyze the effects of important events on the lives of the characters. SL 3: Summarize speaker’s points: Students summarize their own and other’s stories about the influence of life changing events.​ 37

38. Identity Awareness and CCSS for Listening and Speaking SL 4: Report on a topic: Students tell stories about life changing events and then analyze how these experiences have influenced their identities (combined narrative and explanatory genres). SL 5: Use multi-media to enhance presentation: Students make presentations of their stories in the Multicultural Storytelling Festival theme project. SL 6: Adapt speech to a variety of contexts: Students learn about how speech, dialect, and language genres influence personal identity including the ability to tell stories that authentically portray different dialects and speech patterns.​ 38

39. Identity Awareness and the CCSS for Reading RS 1: Close Reading (including Close Listening): Students use Check and Deepen Comprehension questions to analyze the influence of life changing events on character identity.​ RS 2: Central Ideas and Themes: Identity awareness provides a coherent theme and central idea for listening and reading​ RS 3: Development of Characters: Identity awareness and the emphasis on life changing events provides a focus for understanding the development of characters over time. RS 4: Words and Phrases: Identity awareness, including identity related stories and identity petals, provides a way to understand the importance of selected words and phrases for one’s identity. 39

40. Identity Awareness and CCSS for Reading Cont’d RS 5: Text Structure: This theme focuses on narrative text elements as used in a personal narrative. The conflict resolution theme focuses on fictional narrative. RS 6: Points of View: Identity provides a rich context for understanding how identity components influence the points of view of characters, authors, and students. RS 7: Evaluate Content: Voices provides background videos and other media sources for all the Voices titles which students can integrate an evaluate to more deeply understand the factors influencing identity.​ 40

41. Identity Awareness and CCSS for Reading Cont’d RS 8: Reasons and Evidence: Students provide text references and research to support their interpretations of how an important event shaped the life of a character. RS 9: Compare and Contrast: In the Theme Wrap Up section, students compare and contrast three or more stories or texts with regard to story elements and identity components. RS 10: Text Complexity: This theme provides 3-5 sophisticated on grade level read alouds texts that are about life changing events and then 8-12 theme-related leveled books that provide challenging text for all students on the same topics.​ 41

42. Identity Awareness and the CCSS for Writing WS 3: Narrative Writing: Provides literature and experience based personal narrative writing project about a life changing event WS 4: Writing for a Purpose: Provides identity awareness as a major purpose for narrative writing WS 5: Planning, Editing, and Rewriting: Voices provides 3-4 one week writing projects (planning and writing) and then one 2-3 week writing project which includes all phases of the writing process.​ 42

43. Identity Awareness and the CCSS for Writing WS 7: Conduct Research: Students are encouraged to research the histories of important historical and the influence of important events in their lives. WS 8: Draw Relevant Information from Experience: Students develop personal stories and conduct family research as they write their personal narratives. WS 9: Draw Evidence from Sources: Students also draw on and cite references from the theme-related books they are reading.​ 43

44. 8. DEVELOP IDENTITY AWARENESS THEME IMPLEMENTATION PLANS 44

45. Theme Implementation Questions 1.Begin and end dates for the theme? 2.How can you make this theme relevant to your students? 3.How will you introduce the theme? 4.What story will you tell to your students about a life changing event? 45

46. Theme Implementation Questions Cont’d 5.What displays will you create? 6.How will you use the theme posters (that come with the TE)? 7.How can you integrate this theme into existing school wide activities? 8.What display will there be at the entrance of the school introducing Voices and the Identity Awareness Theme? 46

47. Theme Implementation Questions Cont’d 9.How can you educate parents about the theme? 10.How can you engage parents in support of the theme, in particular Voices Core Activity #1: Tell a Personal Story? Be sure to review the Theme Project: A Multicultural Storytelling Festival. 47

48. Share Theme 1 Implementation Plans 48

49. 49 Rafael Quezada, 5th Grade student at John F. Kennedy Elementary School in Boston, MA (2001). Identity Awareness and Voice