Identity

When thinking of Identity the first thing we can think of is the idea of a self-portrait, LGfL’s ‘Ben Uri Portraits and Identity’ resource is a great place to start to explore portraiture and artworks that represent ‘identity’. It contains starting points for portraiture and identity projects in the classroom, including teacher’s notes about selected works from the Ben Uri collection and suggestions and lesson plans for 2D and 3D activities in the classroom. The activities are suitable for young people of all ages, as they can be delivered at the level appropriate for your students. 

Four schools took part in a project called ‘10 Days Photography Project’ with the Ben Uri Gallery. During the project, pupils were asked to take 10 photographs, over the course of 10 days that they felt represented their lives and the lives of their families and communities. These photographs are portraits. Even though the photos may not feature a single image of the actual pupil that took them, by looking at the 10 images that the pupils have selected we can begin to learn something about that person. 

Perhaps you could ask your pupils to take the 10 Days challenge! What would your pupils choose to photograph and why? Can you print the photos and create a mini exhibition in the classroom? 

Alternatively, you could use the 2D activity drawing self-portraits - Ten basic tips to help children to understand the basic proportions of a face and 3D Faces. Download a copy of  Portrait and Identities pdf detailing the ten steps.

The j2e Toolsuite is a collection of online educational tools that are specifically designed to engage, motivate, and inspire. j2e provides an online, fun, and creative environment where text, graphics, animations, sounds, videos, and embedded objects can be combined on a single web page. It offers unlimited storage for files and the ability to blog at the click of a button. You could utilize these ideas within the Just2Easy Toolsuite. For example, your pupils could use JIT paint to create a digital self-portrait, or use j2e5 to make a poster of themselves and write key words reflecting their identity, or create a presentation that explores their identity and place in the world. Alternatively, you could take a portrait photo of the pupils and let them digitally manipulate it.

See this example from the Just2easy team.

For primary pupils, you may want to use the templates found in Busy Publisher to explore the concept of the student identity where they could draw a family picture or you could ask the student to draw and write about what makes them special and unique. 

See the example to the right from a student capturing their family and identity (with names redacted). Visit Busy Things - Family 

You could use your Creative Cloud resources from Adobe Education Exchange to create a film about identity. In this Adobe Blog “What Matters: Creativity Scholars on Race and Identity” they highlight a film from Kayla (18). Kayla narrates her film, Smoke That Travels, which she also scored and directed. Kayla’s words soundtrack her father Gary Wis-ki-ge-amatyuk dancing with multiple rings encircling him. His dance and Kayla’s reverence are emblematic of their Native American Prairie Band Potawatomi culture and identity. In unison, they encourage us to remember our history, where we come from, and to ask ourselves what happens when culture and its stories are forgotten. 

The Everyone Can Create curriculum is a collection of project guides (broken down into music, drawing, photo and video) that bring creative expression to every subject. They are designed to help students develop and communicate ideas and use free apps available on any iPad; taking advantage of the built-in camera, microphone, speakers, Multi-Touch display and Apple Pencil, Fifth Chapter. This chapter focuses on creating expressive portraits by not just capturing the likeness of the person but also the character and personality within. 

The Global Youth Charity, 'Ditch the Label' have been supporting people aged 12-25 through some of the biggest challenges in their lives and have resources to support ‘Identity’. You could explore how attaching a label to a person can have a negative impact on their view of their identity. Their resources are also available to download for free on TES. 

The BBC’s “Own It” has a short video clip asking Radio 1 and Radio 1Xtra presenters what  ‘Free to Be’ meant to them and why it is so important to be yourself. Originally made to support the 2020 Safer Internet Day exploring online identity with the theme ‘Free to Be’- free to be yourself online'. 

Everybody Matters Trailer Watch the ‘Everyone Matters Trailer’ (Challenging Homophobic Bullying) with secondary pupils and discuss how people’s identity can be linked to sexuality.