Think about what multimodal artefact we can get students to create to render them to explore their “true selves”, which are not subjected by the society.
Very often, we are influenced by society to be the person whom the society values. We are coerced to fit into the social “mould” that prevents us to have our own identity. This is inline with Benedict Anderson’s idea where he approaches identity as a sociocognitive construct—one both spatially and temporally inclusive, both enabled and shaped by broader social forces. As teachers we should be conscious of this construct and realized that students tend to conform to the social norms and not let their “true-selves” surface.
However, it is important for us teachers to recognize that every individual is unique and thus we should encourage our students to express themselves freely. Teachers could for instance plan a lesson that allows students to think critically of texts in order to tease out the ideational meanings embedded within. Such an activity will make student more conscious of the ideology around them.
Another way is for teacher to ask students to create artifacts that allow them to explore their true selves. As mentioned earlier, students will tend to conform to the social norm and create something that the teacher values rather than something that identify them. As such teachers may choose to ask students to create an artifact that tap on student’s interest that allows space for expression. For examples, instead of writing compositions and reflections, a teacher may ask students to design graffiti. The project could either be done individually or collaboratively. Graffiti is usually seen as a form of expression that allows students to design, create and interpret freely. In order to explore students’ true selves and not meeting teacher’s expectations, the project has to be made “low-stake”. This would mean that students will not be assessed based on their creation but rather appreciated for what they had designed. I believe this would be an important step to make as it will not put students in a situation where they have to create something based on criteria that will again restrict their exploration of true selves.
Very often, we are influenced by society to be the person whom the society values. We are coerced to fit into the social “mould” that prevents us to have our own identity. This is inline with Benedict Anderson’s idea where he approaches identity as a sociocognitive construct—one both spatially and temporally inclusive, both enabled and shaped by broader social forces. As teachers we should be conscious of this construct and realized that students tend to conform to the social norms and not let their “true-selves” surface.
However, it is important for us teachers to recognize that every individual is unique and thus we should encourage our students to express themselves freely. Teachers could for instance plan a lesson that allows students to think critically of texts in order to tease out the ideational meanings embedded within. Such an activity will make student more conscious of the ideology around them.
Another way is for teacher to ask students to create artifacts that allow them to explore their true selves. As mentioned earlier, students will tend to conform to the social norm and create something that the teacher values rather than something that identify them. As such teachers may choose to ask students to create an artifact that tap on student’s interest that allows space for expression. For examples, instead of writing compositions and reflections, a teacher may ask students to design graffiti. The project could either be done individually or collaboratively. Graffiti is usually seen as a form of expression that allows students to design, create and interpret freely. In order to explore students’ true selves and not meeting teacher’s expectations, the project has to be made “low-stake”. This would mean that students will not be assessed based on their creation but rather appreciated for what they had designed. I believe this would be an important step to make as it will not put students in a situation where they have to create something based on criteria that will again restrict their exploration of true selves.
Apart from graffiti, perhaps just like the DUSTY project, a teacher could designed a project that require students to write their own song/rap/poetry in order to reflect their own identity. This could be integrated with other subjects such as English (to teach grammar skills), music (to create music) and even art and craft (design props for their video clip). All these will encourage students to “get out of their box” and explore their true identity.
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