identity lesson plan
Activity 7: How Others View me, How I View Myself---- Accept Who I Am
Many of the main characters in the stories had a difficult time accepting who they are. For example, Melinda demonstrates her suppressed sense of identity throughout the novel Speak. She is self-conscious about how other people think of her. She thinks no one could like the person she really is, thus she kept the secret of being raped and refuses to speak. Similarly, Jin-Wang could not accept himself as a Chinese. He abandons his own culture, acts out as a typical white kid, and names himself Danny. In Skinny, Ever cannot face the fact that she is overweight thus she creates Skinny inside her mind preventing herself to make any positive changes about her life.
Facing the true self is the very crucial step for identity development, however, it is very hard to accomplish, especially for kids. In this activity students will learn to face the true self by studying how the main characters successfully face themselves.
1. Students will watch the Inspiring Short winning film called Identity at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ikGVWEvUzNM
Ask students :
“What’s your interpretation of this short film?”
“Which part of the short film hits you?” “How do you interpret That day I found the truth and That day the truth found me?”
“What the mask symbolized?” “What the action of looking into the mirror symbolized?”
2. Divide students into small groups of four. Students will talk about how Melinda, Jin-Wang and Ever face themselves in the stories.
3. Students will continue work in groups. Each student in the group will write down how he/she view himself/herself on one side of the paper, then asks his/her group mates write down how they view him.
4. Students will compare the two sides and think about what they have done for others, what masks they have put on their faces and why.
5. The teacher will close the activity by going back to the short film the class watches at the
Many of the main characters in the stories had a difficult time accepting who they are. For example, Melinda demonstrates her suppressed sense of identity throughout the novel Speak. She is self-conscious about how other people think of her. She thinks no one could like the person she really is, thus she kept the secret of being raped and refuses to speak. Similarly, Jin-Wang could not accept himself as a Chinese. He abandons his own culture, acts out as a typical white kid, and names himself Danny. In Skinny, Ever cannot face the fact that she is overweight thus she creates Skinny inside her mind preventing herself to make any positive changes about her life.
Facing the true self is the very crucial step for identity development, however, it is very hard to accomplish, especially for kids. In this activity students will learn to face the true self by studying how the main characters successfully face themselves.
1. Students will watch the Inspiring Short winning film called Identity at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ikGVWEvUzNM
Ask students :
“What’s your interpretation of this short film?”
“Which part of the short film hits you?” “How do you interpret That day I found the truth and That day the truth found me?”
“What the mask symbolized?” “What the action of looking into the mirror symbolized?”
2. Divide students into small groups of four. Students will talk about how Melinda, Jin-Wang and Ever face themselves in the stories.
3. Students will continue work in groups. Each student in the group will write down how he/she view himself/herself on one side of the paper, then asks his/her group mates write down how they view him.
4. Students will compare the two sides and think about what they have done for others, what masks they have put on their faces and why.
5. The teacher will close the activity by going back to the short film the class watches at the