Description
When asking students to explore issues of personal and social identity, teachers must provide safe spaces where students are seen, valued, cared for and respected. It is also important that students have opportunities to learn from one another’s varied experiences and perspectives. To create this learning environment, teachers need to skillfully draw on student experiences to enrich the curriculum.

Teachers can show they value students’ lives and identities in a variety of ways. Some are small, like taking the time to learn the proper pronunciation of every student’s name or getting to know young people’s families. Others require more time and investment, like building curriculum around personal narratives or incorporating identity-based responses into the study of texts. At the community level, it is important to understand neighborhood demographics, strengths, concerns, conflicts and challenges. Like students themselves, these dynamics may change frequently.

For teachers whose experiences differ from those of their students, it is critical to exercise sensitivity. They must bring the following to the effort:

• An asset-based view of youth and unfamiliar identity groups
• A commitment to avoiding and challenging stereotypes
• A sense of openness and cultural humility
• A willingness to let students define their own identities
• Ability to identify potential “hot spots” on key topics.
• Development of caring student-teacher relationships that support effective identity-based learning.
• Development of intergroup awareness and understanding.
• Direction in the selection of texts that are relevant to a particular class.
• Appreciation of student contributions to discussions.

 

Connection to Anti-bias Education
Honoring student experience supports three of the four anti-bias domains: Identity, Diversity and Action. Students who feel their experiences are unwelcome, judged, stereotyped, disrespected or invisible find it extremely difficult to engage in meaningful discussion of identity and justice issues. Those whose stories and voices are heard and reflected in the classroom are more likely to engage with anti-bias curriculum and translate their learning into action.

Knowing and valuing students’ lives provides other benefits:

Strategies
Classroom-Reflective Texts Coupled with Nonjudgmental Dialogue.
Choosing texts that reflect classroom demographics and following the readings with discussions or reflective writing assignments can provide teachers with powerful information about their students’ hopes, concerns, strengths and life circumstances. These practices also open channels of understanding among students. Successful conversations about issues of identity frequently lead to deeper dialogue about students’ own backgrounds and the experiences of others.

The Perspectives curriculum supports conversations about students’ identities and community experiences.

Share Stories That Make Room for Student Sharing
Personal anecdotes—respectfully and thoughtfully shared by teachers—have great power. Stories should be chosen carefully, kept brief, and told at a level that invites appropriate student sharing.

Community Study or Student-Led Walking Tour
Community studies usually address up to three questions; structure can vary greatly and may involve research, interviews, art, writing, video or other media. A walking tour should also focus on a few themes and ask students to highlight neighborhood places they find meaningful in relation to a relevant social issue. Student age and physical limitations should be taken into consideration when planning a walking tour.

By: Rosalie A. Bigueras | Teacher III | Culis Elementary School Culis, Bermosa, Bataan