Yesterday, I wrote about planning a workshop on identity writing. The goal was to explore:
How can I teach young writers about the power of the “default” where it comes to writing? How can I have them realize that characters without identifying traits still get identified – as whatever the mainstream culture would have readers picture? How can I have young writers begin to put cultural markers into their work through explicit and inferred language? And what are the questions to consider and explore when we do start to incorporate cultural language into writing?
First, let me say for the record that I am notoriously notgreat at taking photos of events, despite telling myself that I wanted to be sure to snap a few. So…words will have to suffice.
We were a small but mighty group: eight colleagues came. I didn’t see the participant list ahead of time, but I was expecting to see a range of language arts teachers. Much to my surprise and delight, two music and two art teachers, along with a library assistant, came to the conversation.
I’m so grateful those colleagues came. Their presence meant that all of us got to think beyond the boundaries of our own discipline, and our conversation put identity at the heart of our self-expression.
We started with a personal identity wheel exercise, and I encouraged participants to note where they considered themselves to be in the dominant, or “default” demographic. It led to conversations about ageism, and people not being taken seriously on either end of the spectrum. It led to conversations around geography, and how it helps us understand the culture of where we work.
That led us to talk about ways that we might see marks of identity in pieces of art. I used written mentor text, though if I realized it would be a cross-discipline group, I would have brought lyrics, sheet music, and/or visual pieces to discuss.
In pairs, and then in groups of four, participants looked at mentor text: where were the cultural markers that let readers know the protagonist was beyond the “default” demographic? And how do we encourage kids to include those markers?
When picking text for this exercise, I chose texts featuring characters from diverse cultures, but not revolving around that theme. It was just…everyday life, everyday stories of everyday kids.
Sidebar: < clears throat, steps onto soapbox > I’m aware this exercise just examines cultural diversity. I’m also aware that my chosen “everyday stories” represent the default for a different identity group. We can – and should! – do exactly the same for physical and neurodiversity, gender expression, socioeconomic status, age…ANYTHING. <Steps off soapbox>
It was a fascinating conversation, and I’m hoping my colleagues left with:
- Ideas for mentor text to use with students
- A stronger sense of how identity is integral to self-expression
- Ideas for leaving cultural markers or fingerprints in creative works
All in all, a very, very good day.
P.S. If you’re looking for short mentor texts to give this a try for yourself, here are a few I incorporated:
Excerpt from Room to Dream by Kelly Yang
Excerpt from A Place at the Table by Saadia Faruqi
Except from Pippa Park Raises Her Game by Erin Yun
Soapbox: The Way I see Things 