Sunday, April 11, 2010
Identifying Yourself
Understanding your self-identity and thereby self-value is probably the most important and significant step in maturity. Being comfortable with who you are begins by understanding who you are. You are not: your parents, your friends, your teachers, your religion, your career, your looks, your wealth/poverty, your fashion, your education, or your culture (to name a few). These things influence who you are but they are not what make you - YOU. I believe you are more a product of the choices you make then your external influences. Your decisions are the only things you truly have any control over. Once you come to that conclusion is when I think you can identify yourself. I believe as teachers we need to help students to that realization. We all have different circumstances to overcome. Some may seem to have it easier than others but that is not within our control and so should be set aside. What we do with those challenges we are given is how determine who we are.
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I am truly impressed at the direction you took in writing this, it is so important for students to realize they are not their environment. How do we do this? Is it through discussions or projects?
ReplyDeleteI agree with everything you said above. However, how do you intend to do this in your art room? How will you help your students recognize their own self-identity? I think it's important to not only realize WHAT self-identity is (as you clearly defined above) but also how to help kids realize WHAT their own self-identity is (through projects, discussions, etc.).
ReplyDeleteI guess I thought that it would find it's way into the conversations through the inital class discussion on "everyone has different talents and levels of technical skill in art so don't get discouraged..." Subsequentally to be reinforced throughout class. That could evolve into something like the group project I mentioned earlier that reinforces that everyone has a place and a contribution to make to our own community tapestry.
ReplyDeletethe part of your entry about, "we all have different circumstances to overcome" reminds me of the quote, "everyone has their burden, what counts is how you carry it" - one of my personal favorites.
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