Resilient educators embrace the power of gratitude and make it part of their daily practices. Who or what are you grateful for today?

Know Yourself

When was the last time someone asked you to try to explain who you are as a person? As a whole person. Every part of the "you" that makes you the person you are, in this very moment, reading this sentence. Better yet, have you ever actually been asked this question, and have you ever taken the time to really, truly think about how you would answer? And have you taken the time to think about who you are in relation to your students and how this directly affects all of the work you do with them?

This month, Onward focuses on this very question by walking you through an initial exploration of the 5 elements of self that merge to create who we our-our identity. And this work is absolutely ESSENTIAL to the work we do with our students and one another.

Resilience is key to creating equitable classrooms. Resilience is cultivated through the hundreds of little choices we make every single day. In order to make the choices that feed our resilience and fuel our ability to work towards true equity in the classroom, the first step is getting to know who we are.

Explore Chapter 1, pages 21-37, of Onward: Cultivating Emotional Resilience in Educators for more detailed support for this month's habit of know yourself.

Consider including some of these as the topic of conversation during your weekly mentor/mentee meeting.

What Is Identity?

Your identity, your self includes all of the things that distinguish you from others. This includes surface-level things like your hair color and how you dress, the foods you like and dislike, your favorite color, and your favorite type of movie. But it also includes those deeper elements like your beliefs and values, your personality and character, your skills, aptitudes, and interests, your culture, and your mental and emotional health. Take a look at the resources below to help clarify what makes up your identity and how it never really stops developing and evolving as you move through life.

Elements of Self = Identity

Elena Aguilar introduces us to her "Elements of Self" framework for exploring identity in Chapter 1 of Onward, starting on page 23. We highly encourage you to take a deeper dive into each of these as you explore your identity this month and throughout the year.

Values: What We Believe Resilient educators are grounded in their core beliefs and values.

Personality: The Way We Are Resilient educators have self-knowledge and understanding of their personality type and how it connects to their preferences and ways of being.

Socio-political Identity: Social Affiliation and Group Belonging Resilient educators aware of their many intersecting cultural identities and how these directly impact the work they do with students.

Strengths & Aptitudes: Doing What We Love & Are Good At Resilient educators know where their strengths lie and work from a growth mindset when faced with challenges.

Psyche: Our Emotional Intelligence Resilient educators recognize their emotions, know that they have a predictable cycle and have healthy ways of working through them.

CLICK THE BUTTONS TO THE RIGHT TO EXPLORE EACH ELEMENT OF SELF.

Elements-of-Self.pdf

Core Values and Beliefs

Personality

Socio-Political Identity

Skills, Strengths and Aptitudes

Psyche

A short video on the philosophical views on identity. An easy watch :)

Neuroscience backs up the Buddhist belief that “the self” isn’t constant, but ever-changingYou may believe that your essential being has always been the same. But Buddhism—and science—tell us that's an illusion.

From the Onward Online Resources site: An insightful article into how our identities change over time.

Y Studios — INSIGHTS | People | Y Studios — What Factors Really Influence Identity? When we consider who we are — or rather, who we believe ourselves to be — many of us cite our backgrounds, beliefs, experiences and interests. But what is our true identity, and what are the building blocks that create the person we identify as throughout our lives? Read on.

Easy read on the many elements that make up our identity. We are more complex than we think we are!

This video, Reshaping How We See Identity in Today's World, was delivered by Zahra Dry, a student at The British School Warsaw. In sharing her own story, she illustrates the complexity of our identities while empowering us to embrace our uniqueness and ignore the labels others try to place on us when they don't know our stories.

If you're looking for classroom applications, this set of lessons is a great place to start.

Understanding IdentityStudents consider the question "Who am I?" and identify social and cultural factors that shape identity by reading a short story and creating personal identity charts.

Identity, Resilience, and Equity

Exploring what makes you, you, can be scary and messy and confusing, but in knowing and owning all of who you are, you develop the strength and skill sets necessary to build resilience and this resilience is key to the work you do with our students. Explore the resources here for more on the connections between identity, resilience, and equity work. To make real change, we must be willing to honor the identities of others as we explore our own, and we have to get comfortable with being uncomfortable.

Embracing Discomfort in Equity Work: Lessons from Brené Brown on Shame Triggers from an Anti-Oppression Lens - Debbie Donsky, EdDI had a powerful conversation with a colleague this week about the concept of discomfort while engaging in equity work. He suggested that we all have different understandings of what this means.…View Post

Comfort ZoneWe're all guilty of getting too comfortable — with our routines, social circles, the status quo. But is it stopping us from growing? This hour, TED speakers explore ways to push out of comfort zones.

Rising Strong: Brené Brown on the Physics of Vulnerability and What Resilient People Have in Common“If we are brave enough often enough, we will fall; this is the physics of vulnerability.”

Voices of Identity and Resilience

So Much Goes Into Forming Our Identities - OnwardListen to this powerful podcast recorded 25 years ago by teenagers in Chicago's South Side

Listen as actress America Ferrera addresses her identity story in this TED Talk: My Identity Is a Super Power, Not an Obstacle.

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