Lesson 1: Finding Your Voice
Find the videos, images, readings, handouts and strategies you will need to teach the Lesson 1: Finding Your Voice in the unit My Part of the Story: Exploring Identity in the United States.
Coming to America, Finding Your Voice
Journalist Maria Hinojosa explains how a story about her mother inspires her to find her voice, even when she feels powerless.
Flag of Faces
The “Flag of Faces” exhibit at the Ellis Island Immigration Museum features a mosaic of individual portraits.
Lesson 2: Identity and Names
Find the videos, images, readings, handouts and strategies you will need to teach the Lesson 2: Identity and Names in the unit My Part of the Story: Exploring Identity in the United States.
Choosing Names
Use this list of famous people who have changed their names to explore the relationship between names and identity.
Two Names, Two Worlds
Jonathan Rodríguez reflects on his name through poetry. How does his name “place him in the world”?
Think-Pair-Share
Think-Pair-Share activities facilitate thoughtful group discussions by having students first reflect individually and discuss their ideas with a partner.
Online-Search Identity Chart
The Online-Search Identity Chart helps students explore their identities by asking what they would like to see in the results of an online search for themselves.
Lesson 3: Identity and Labels
Find the videos, images, readings, handouts and strategies you will need to teach the Lesson 3: Identity and Labels in the unit My Part of the Story: Exploring Identity in the United States.
Street Calculus
This cartoon by Garry Trudeau explores the ways that identity impacts how we perceive people.
Still Me Inside
A teenager describes how changing her appearance affected the way that others perceived her identity and how she thought about herself.
What Kind of Asian Are You?
This short video satirizes the way we sometimes rely on stereotypes about race, ethnicity, and nationality to make assumptions about each other.
Lesson 4: Identity and Choices
Find the videos, images, readings, handouts and strategies you will need to teach the Lesson 4: Identity and Choices in the unit My Part of the Story: Exploring Identity in the United States.
Our Kind of People
Explore how the choices individuals make about clothing affect how others perceive them with Bayeté Ross Smith’s 2010 photography series.
Gallery Walk
A gallery walk activity gets students moving as they explore a range of documents, images, or student work displayed around the classroom.
Creating Ourselves Online and in “Real Life”
Read quotes from teenagers about how they choose to represent themselves on social media.
“Chameleon” by David L.
A teenager recalls a time he bought shoes to fit in with his high school friends.
Computer Keyboard
A teenage immigrant from the Democratic Republic of Congo explains how he discovered his passion for electronics.
Lesson 5: Connecting to the Past
Find the videos, images, readings, handouts and strategies you will need to teach the Lesson 5: Connecting to the Past in the unit My Part of the Story: Exploring Identity in the United States.
What Are You?
Canadian writer Anna Fitzpatrick describes how she moved beyond the labels and stereotypes about Indian culture to find a deeper connection to her family's history.
A Strength of My Neighborhood
A high school student describes how his neighborhood in Los Angeles helps him feel connected to the traditions of his family’s “old world” heritage in Mexico.
Family Names
Learn how filmmaker Macky Alston learned about the history of his family name and its connection to his family's legacy in the United States.
Jigsaw: Developing Community and Disseminating Knowledge
Students will become “experts” on a topic and then share their new knowledge with peers.
Lesson 6: Many Voices, One National Identity
Find the videos, images, readings, handouts and strategies you will need to teach the Lesson 6: Many Voices, One National Identity in the unit My Part of the Story: Exploring Identity in the United States.
Shifting Demographics in the United States
Analyze data from the Pew Research Center about the demographic trends shaping the United States today.
What Does It Mean to “Be American?”
Here are a selection of answers to New York Times reporter Damien Cave’s question, “What does it mean to be American?”
Identity Charts
Use identity charts to help students consider the many factors that shape their own identity and that of groups, nations, and historical and literary figures.
Save the Last Word for Me
This discussion strategy helps students practice being both active speakers and active listeners in a group conversation.
American ID: Three Words
Individuals from around the world share three words that describe the United States.
Assessment
Find the videos, images, readings, handouts and strategies you will need to teach the Assessment in the unit My Part of the Story: Exploring Identity in the United States.
Immigrants: First Generation
Nigerian-born poet Ijeoma Umebinyuo pays tribute to the stories of immigrants and the lives they lead in the United States in this "prose poem."
