Becoming American: Exploring Names and Identities
This lesson is an icebreaker and an introduction to the Becoming American Online Museum for students involved in the project. The lesson also provides a bridge between issues of identity and the Exhibit Hall, "We The People: What Is An American?"
Responses to the writing assignments for this lesson may be posted in a designated space on the Facing History and Ourselves "Online Museum" (along with a class photo) and a class identity chart. Students at each of the participating schools can discuss the Free Write activity with students at a partnered school and then post their comments and reflections. The activities in this lesson support a section of the Museum that will include:
- Introduction and welcome by Bill Moyer
- Overview and rationale for the Museum
- Introduction to the classes and students involved in the project
- Explore the links between one's name and his or her identity
- Create a class identity chart
Required Resources
- The first 10 minutes of Program 1, Becoming American: The Chinese Experience (from Bill Moyers' introduction through a discussion of family names in China. Stop before the section on Gold near Sutter Mills.)
- "Orientation Day," page 8 in the Study Guide to Becoming American: The Chinese Experience
Additional Resources:
- "What's In a Name", p. 40 in the Facing History and Ourselves resource book: Holocaust and Human Behavior
- "Names" by Ruth Stone
- Excerpts related to the theme of names by Maya Lin and Julius Lester
- "The Names" by Laura Tohe in Away from Home: American Indian Boarding School Experiences (book available from the Facing History Resource Center)
- Becoming American Online Student Museum
Free-Write Activity
Names are a part of our identities. Through names, people make connections to one another's identity. But what's in a name? Invite students to respond to and discuss the following quotation by Ralph Ellison:
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"Through our names we place ourselves in the world."
Ask students to take five minutes to write freely about their names (first name, last names, nickname, entire name). What immediately comes to mind when you think about your name? What does your name mean to you? How do people in other communities respond to your name?
Have students share their free write with one other person. Then invite a few students to share their writing with the entire class. If time allows, share other students' writing later in the day or the next day in order to reconnect and continue to build community.
2. Creating a Class Identity Chart
As each student shares his or her free writing, start a class identity chart. Like an individual identity chart, it contains the words or phrases the class attaches to itself as well as the labels that society gives it. What do members of the class have in common? What similarities did students notice in their pair and large group discussions? To what communities do students in the class belong? How do their names connect them to those communities? (For example in the Irish community, the first son is often named after his father or grandfather. Mothers often give their daughters their maiden name as a second name to keep the name alive. Those who come from a religious Irish family probably have someone in the family named for a saint. Gaelic/Celtic names are also popular.) Continue the class identity chart by highlighting family connections/relationships, family legacy, history, etc. Invite students to add information about their class to the chart (10th grade, basketball players, diverse, etc.).
3. Read and discuss "Orientation Day" (Study Guide to Becoming American: The Chinese Experience, p. 8.
What does each add to our understanding of the link between our name and our identity? After the discussion, give students an opportunity to edit, add to, or make changes in their responses to the free-write activity or their classroom identity chart. Classroom identity charts will become part of the museum foyer.
