Rationale
Unlike me, my students do come from marginalized cultures and communities. However, like me, they come from a fairly homogenous community. The difference lies in the reasons for our homogenous isolation. I am from West Virginia, which was (and still is) predominantly white and poor. My students, however, live in Richmond, Virginia, a deeply (re)segregated city where people of different races, cultures, and incomes all coexist, but with few exceptions only encounter like-people within their economic and racial bubbles.
Currently, in lieu of making zines and writing letters, my students maintain their own running records through social media. The nature of social media is one of immediacy, and (for my students) often just of pictures or live videos, so there is not much time or room for reflection. It has always been my job to get students to slow down in order to have periods of active reading during which they engage with the text by using reading comprehension strategies. Students usually want and expect instant gratification, which makes this task challenging. Their need for instant gratification and “flashiness” can lead to a fractured view of their still-forming identities and lack of connection to larger historical events that have had a hand in shaping the conditions in which they exist.
The disconnect between the larger narrative of United States history and students’ personal histories is problematic, but whether or not the students understand the historical events does not negate their experiences. However, I do want them to understand how shared history and the systems of power and subjugation affect the conditions in which we thrive or struggle. Their existences and identities as they understand them will be more deeply understood once they also understand the social constructs that are in place. I believe that if my students are more aware of historic and social contexts, they will be better equipped to break free from the various traumatic cycles they have been thrown into. Conversely, the few who are not marginalized will begin to understand how their privilege works, and how they can respect and assist their marginalized peers. By learning their places in history and by reflecting on their own senses of self, my students will be able to better understand how their identities are shaped by their experiences as they grow.
Adolescence is a crucial time in identity development. I want this unit to help my students understand the events and conditions that shape their identities so that they can make peace with what troubles them and move forward toward adulthood. My adolescent students are working on forming their identities, so they have a hard time accepting identities they see as “different” or maligned by their culture(s) in any way. I want to help my students understand how history and experiences combine to shape identities. Students will follow characters and writers as they explore what forms their identities, while simultaneously examining their own concepts of their teenage identities. As they go through this process—of learning about themselves and the identities of both characters and historic/public figures—the goal is that each student will learn to appreciate, accept, respect, and understand identities different from their own.
Over the course of our readings, the students will have to confront their own prejudices and fears in order to understand how people figure out their identities. What may surprise them is that those prejudices and fears do not only apply to identities different from their own. For example, the protagonist of Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe, Ari, has to work through his own fears of homosexuality before finally admitting that he wants to kiss his friend Dante, and I’m certain some of my students are facing similar identity crises. That’s the whole point of this unit: to help students work through their “issues” in order to be more comfortable with and aware of themselves and others. I do not expect this to work immediate magic—the students will have to be open to and ready for this kind of exploration.
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