Identity Concept Maps to Build Community
Connecting Dominant English Speakers with Multilingual Learners
Identity-concept maps are a graphic tool that can help students consider the many factors that shape who they are as individuals and how they connect to small and large communities. As Paul Gorski explains, this activity allows students to explore the multiple dimensions of our identities. The students address the relationships between their desires to self-define identities and the social constructions that label them. I use identity charts to deepen my understanding of my students and help them connect to each other. In turn, the students begin to understand the many facets of themselves better. They see how they connect with large and small societal groups, the school, the community, city, state, and nation. Sharing the identity charts they create with peers can help students build relationships and break down stereotypes. In this way, identity charts can be used as an effective classroom community-building tool.
I usually wait to have students develop concept-identity maps until we’ve established some trust within the class community. I tell them that they only need to share what they are comfortable sharing with a classmate and me. If they would like, they can share it with the entire class, but that is up to them.
If I ask my students to do a task like this that requires vulnerability, I also do the same. I usually create a map that I project for them to see. The categories may or may not be those that the students choose.
I like the idea of having the class brainstorm identity categories, as they might come up with some that I wouldn’t have thought of. You can ask, “What is included in the question Who am I? So many aspects make up the person we are, such as our role in a family (daughter, sister, mother), our hobbies and interests (guitar player, football fan), our religious or spiritual affiliation, our ethnicity, our racial makeup, our gender, our sexual orientation, etc.” Our identities sometimes change, while others feel very central to who we are, no matter what. Some of our identities are labels that others put on us that may or may not feel comfortable.
Here are the directions:
Place your name in the center circle or whatever shape makes sense to you.
Write an aspect of your identity in each of the satellite circles that you think is an important part of your identity. This can include anything: Asian American, female, daughter, athlete, volleyball player, Buddhist, dog lover, or any descriptor with which you identify.
At the bottom, complete the following phrase:
I am (a/an) _____________________ but I also_____________________."
Example: I am a Buddhist, but I enjoy celebrating Christmas.
Example: I am a feminist, and I enjoy the men in my life.
After students have created their identity circles, there are lots of ways to use them to create community.
Variation #1:
o Create pairs with students who normally do not sit together.
o Ask them to share one or two of their identities with their partner and explain why they are important to them.
Variation #2
o Organize students in small groups of three or four.
o Have each student share a short story about a time they were especially proud to identify with one of the descriptors they used on their wheel.
Variation #3
o Create pairs with students.
o Have each students share an example about a time it was especially difficult to be identified with one of their identifiers or descriptors.
Variation #4
o Organize students in small groups of three or four.
o Have each student name a stereotype associated with one of the groups with which you identify that is not consistent with who they are. They can rely on the sentence they completed or one of their own.
It is often helpful to show students a completed identity chart before they create one of their own.
Have you used identity circles in your classrooms before? How did it work? Were students open?
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