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“Who am I?” is a question that each of us asks at some time in our life. It is an especially critical question for adolescents. As we search for the answer, we begin to define ourselves.
Identity charts are used in a Facing History and Ourselves classroom to help students think about labels they use to define themselves and others. The diagram below is one example of an identity chart. Individuals fill it in with the words or symbols they use to describe themselves as well as the labels others give them.
Facing History and Ourselves students will create a chart in their journals, using words or phrases that describe the way they see themselves. (Some students may feel more comfortable using symbols or drawings, instead of words.) Most people include not only gender, age, and physical characteristics but also cultural identifiers such as ties to a particular religion, class, neighborhood, school, and nation.
In a Facing History classroom, after sharing individual identity charts, students might be asked :”Now that you’ve seen the charts of some others, are their additional words you’d like to add or change in your chart?” The identity chart activity reinforces two critical skills in the Facing History program: taking a risk in expressing one’s personal ideas and learning to take the perspective of someone else.
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