Lesson plan about identities (Kaysha)

Kaysha Neville

Race, as both an aspect of a person’s identity and its impact on personal experiences, plays a significant role in our society. Historically, there have been societal structures that have placed specific communities at a considerable disadvantage. One set of these structures is known as systemic racism, which has and is still actively disproportionately affecting racially marginalized groups of people. Learning about this topic brings the students who have been impacted/ experienced the United States educational system in some way into the conversation. Creating a space within their school that is culturally aware and actively wanting to foster belonging for all racial identities in the school is important so that students will be able to recognize and understand their own identities and those of their classmates.

Thus, this week-long lesson plan aims to guide students to reflect on their identities and how they have or have not influenced their educational experiences. Monday through Friday will include about a 1-hour course lesson. The ultimate goal of this lesson ideally would be for the students to imagine a school that would be most conducive to their learning styles and inclusive of all identities. This lesson plan aims to ask students to consider the following questions: What is my identity? How does my identity impact my educational experience? What can I do as a student to encourage inclusion amongst my classmates with different identities? What can I ask of my school for them to be more of an inclusive environment? Ultimately, in this class, the students can take what they learned in this course to develop Cultural Awareness Days. Cultural Awareness Days allow the students to design their own instructional day that might enable them to express themselves while also educating themselves and their classmates about their identities and what their culture means to them. This day would include a lesson about their identities, some background information specific to their identity and culture, and an activity that gives their classmates a chance to share the cultural experiences of the presenter. 

This lesson is designed to have an interdisciplinary approach. The students will use the other subjects they are learning in school, such as  History, English, and Math, as necessary to develop a well-rounded presentation of their culture and identity. It is designed in this way to get the students excited about learning information in an interdisciplinary manner and being able to apply/ understand it in a real-world context. This project will be shared with the entire campus to spread the knowledge to other classroom communities not directly involved in the course. 

Although Texas does not have ethnic studies courses, this lesson is meant to be an introduction to the possibility of an ethnic studies course. It should open up conversation about identities and how they all inform us of the people we are and how our culture, communities, family, and other parts of the world inform us of the people we are. The purpose of ethnic studies is to be an interdisciplinary study of histories, experiences, values, and cultures. It should provide a deeper understanding and sense of self, a humanization of students’ points of view and experiences, and provide a greater connection to learning. Centering student voices, histories, and experiences in the classroom creates a richer, more honest, and impactful education. Although ethnic studies does not exist in Texas currently, this lesson follows many of the principles of an ethnic studies course: validating and centering student voices and experiences, providing the space to openly talk about their identities, deepening our understandings of other experiences outside of our own, and making the connection between the student’s experiences and the lessons they are learning in the classroom to add value to the lesson. These methods will allow teachers to practice an ethnic studies course without necessarily teaching an ethnic studies lesson. 

In Dr. Carla Shalaby’s book Troublemakers, she has a section titled “A Letter To Teacher,” in which she gives her advice to teachers about how to lead their classrooms with love and that we should be in constant awareness that our “everyday interactions in classrooms are layered with histories, perspectives, and identities.” This book, alongside the other sources I introduce in this lesson plan, motivated me to create this lesson. I wanted to embody something as a teacher that I personally did not have or experience in my k-12 education. In my k-12 experience, the only time that I felt seen or heard was when I had an educator who shared similar identities as me, and this was because they made their identities a factor in their classroom; it impacted the way that they taught, and that approach to teaching resonated with me. Ethnic studies would be another option for students to be able to see themselves reflected in the classrooms and lessons they are learning. However, having access to an ethnic studies class or sharing a similar identity with a student isn’t the situation for every student. Knowing that and keeping that in mind motivated me to create this lesson. For students to resonate with their lesson, make connections between what they’re learning and their personal lives so that they can see the meaning and value in their education. It’s what I longed for in my k-12 experience and it’s something that I would like to give back to the next generation of change-makers coming up after me. 

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