This week we read about race, dominant culture, and reflecting on our own identities. We must recognize what our identity, our experiences, and our privileges can play a role in our understanding of the world, and thus can shape our teaching practices.
While reading this week, I thought about privilege. My access to information because I work at a university is a privilege, along with being white, and from a middle class family all impact who I am. In my reflection, I thought on how much I identify as a teacher, cisgender, a wife, a mother, a daughter, and an artist, also shape how I see and interact in the world. Because I love my career and am passionate about art and education, I often see through an educator's lens the events and experiences around me. These exercises are very important to do to help remind us of who we are and how this can impact how we teach. As we enter into a new school to teach next week, it is important to remember that our students have a great deal that is important to them, that they may have similar and different experiences, privileges or lack thereof, and may value different things than you.
As I reflected on identity activities and ways to connect to our 6th graders, I thought about how powerful it may be start with "I am" for our affirmations. I posted an example I found that reflect the power of "I am."
Here are a few good links related to our reading to consider:
Exploring the Self: 15 Identity Artworks
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