Further Teaching Materials & Projects
on Identity in Education

Activity for all educators as a form of self-study, who want to continue to think about their identities and keep educating themselves 

This podcast tackles educator identities and specific aspects of life that shape those. Since April 2020 a new episode airs every Thursday – so there is a broad variety of topics discussed by now. Each episode the host Kwame Sarfo-Mensah welcomes a different guest and in the conversation about the guest’s life as an educator the topic focuses on a different aspect of identity. The interviews vary in their time and can be quite long, but the format makes it easy to follow even when the podcast plays in the background.

Available on the podcasts Website: https://www.identitytalk4educators.com/podcast and also on Spotify, Apple Podcasts & YouTube

Activity for self-reflection of educators (can be alone, but works better if done in a group to open up topics to talk about)

The tree of life approach is a way to visualize teachers’ identity in form of a tree and is the result of a participatory research project. The “tree of life” unites the teachers roots in the past, their personal strengths, and their hopes for the future - all in the picture of a tree of identity.

A full description of how to design a tree of life can be found on YouTube via this Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QKEDgHbjsb8 

The project-team has also done an outreach event where they present the whole project and show how the “tree of life” was developed. You can find it on YouTube – there is a whole playlist of related videos to the projects publications: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLvCfA99qTst_mQIj72BE3zshLdSosTMLT

[Disclaimer regarding British Colonial History: This project is funded and run via the British council, an organization that focuses on international relations regarding British culture]

Activity for educators; also for university students when learning about identity. Especially suitable for people that are already (partly) aware of their identity. Allows to dive-in deep!

The Question “Where am I from?” is a great one to reflect one’s identity. To “be from” does not only mean one space at one specific time, it also includes a journey through many spaces, with people met, experiences lived, feelings felt, impressions made. The idea behind the “Where I’m from”-Poem is to reflect on specific phases and experiences of one's life and to write it down in a poem. And who knows, maybe you find out about some influences you have never thought about before?

An example of how such a poem can look like can be found on this website: https://community.kstf.org/resource/where-im-from-reflections-on-teacher-identity-culture-and-experiences-2 

Activity for students (University; Older pupils in school)

The social and personal identity wheels are two lesson plans which focus on two dimensions of identity: On the one hand on the part of the identity, which is constructed by social attributions (e.g., race, gender, ability,...) and on the other hand the part of identity that was developed outside of these identifiers (e.g., hobbies, favourite subjects, skills,...). In the lesson plans, options to merge the two identity wheels are included.

• Social identity wheel: https://sites.lsa.umich.edu/equitable-teaching/social-identity-wheel/ 

• Personal identity wheel: https://sites.lsa.umich.edu/equitable-teaching/personal-identity-wheel/ 

Activity for younger students who speak/learn English and/or German (Website is available in those languages) 

In the Digital Museum of Learning, interactive online exhibitions for children aged 7-12 (or older depending on their language skills) are curated.  The Exhibition “Clothing and Cultural Diversity” of the Digital Museum of Learning shows different clothing in the context of different cultures. The curators make the point that clothes have different functions and can spark conversations on different cultures as well as on cultural diversity in the classroom.  

This activity will enrich your conversation to the extent that identity is not only influenced by our preferences of topics and social structures but also by the things surrounding us.

• Link to the activity: https://www.museumoflearning.org/stories/clothing-and-cultural-diversity/ 

Activity for teachers looking for graphics to hang up (in their office or in the class-room) or to hand out (to colleagues or students)

Identity-centred learning is a framework for pedagogical and institutional reflection. The people behind it published resources in the form of graphics regarding planning, implementing and teaching identity centred learning on the website. The graphics are well thought through and clear to understand – so if you look for something to hang up on the doors or walls in your office, the teacher’s lounge or in your classroom you might find what you are looking for here: https://www.identitycentered.com/resources 

Activity for teachers planning lessons for students of various ages (stated on the websites next to the activities) 

When we searched for teaching materials we also found various websites with worksheets for students, lesson plans and other materials on the topic of identities. 

Worksheets: 

• https://www.teachersfirst.com/spectopics/self-identity.cfm 

• https://www.twinkl.com.sg/search?q=identity&c=244&ca=0&ct=&r=teacher&p=2 

Lessonplans: 

• https://www.learningforjustice.org/classroom-resources/lessons/discovering-my-identity 

• https://www.facinghistory.org/search?keys=identity 

Word Wall: 

• https://www.facinghistory.org/resource-library/word-wall --> A word wall is a collection of terms regarding a specific topic. So when you first start talking about identity with your students a word wall can help to keep up with the terms and show how different things are connected!