Do you find it easy or difficult to answer the question about who you are?
What are the elements that make you the way you are? What’s your IDENTITY?
Genes?
Education?
Family?
Environment?
Background?
In terms of personality, can a single adjective describe what we are like?
look at this poem by Ryan T. Bliss
First names
Is your first name an important feature of your identity? What’s behind a first name? If you’d like to find out, click on the link below:
Do you agree with the analysis of your first name? Does your name reflect who you are?
The I AM wall
See what a group of students from the UK did:
What do you think of the I AM WALL? Maybe we could build one for our classroom.
You should create at least three different cards with adjectives or nouns that explain who you are. Then we will use them to build your own I AM wall.
Now, have a look at the links and the lists of adjectives below. They might come in handy to boost your inspiration.
Could you use any of them to describe yourself?
Have a look at following the video
What’s happening to the young man?
Is this something we usually do? or others do to you)
Why do we do such a thing?
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
Read the sentences below:
YOUNG KIDS ARE NOISY.
WOMEN ARE BETTER COOKS THAN MEN.
ALL DOCTORS ARE RICH.
ALL AMERICANS LIKE TO WATCH BASEBALL.
ALL TALL PEOPLE ARE GOOD BASKETBALL PLAYERS.
ONLY MEN CAN BECOME DOCTORS.
WOMEN ARE NOT GOOD AT SPORTS.
ALL TEENAGERS ARE REBELS.
BLACK PEOPLE ARE LAZY.
ONLY WOMEN LIKE PINK.
ALL ASIAN KNOW KUNG FU.
Are the sentences true?
Can you think of other ways we label people belonging to certain groups?
Where do these ideas come from?
What do we call these kind of ideas?
How could we define this type of ideas?
Now, read the following sentences:
- “people think I am a trouble-maker because I skateboard”
- “people think I am good at maths because I am Asian”
- “people think I like pink because I am a girl.”
- “people think I am a rebel because I have piercings”
Read this “Just Because” poem written by an anonymous teen girl from San Diego, California.
Now it is your turn to give it a try. Use the template and write your own “Just because “version of the poem. Include at least three verses or stanzas
Just because I am _____________________________,
I am not _____________________________________
I am not _____________________________________
I am not _____________________________________
I am ________________________________________
In this site, (Girls empowerment Network) you can find more Just because poems written by American teenagers. They might be a source of inspiration for you.
Pick up the one you fancy most and learn it by heart, so you can share it with your classmates. What makes this poem so special for you?
Travessa E 