Negotiating your identity

Our identity is the sum of our background and our interests. It is what we think of ourselves, but tempered by what others think of us. Our identity is based on our gender, culture, socio-economic status, religion, interests and passions, community, the larger society - and our education.

When we are in society, there will always be parts of our identity that don't quite fit in with the rest of whatever community we are in - at a job, in church, as a volunteer, and in school. We all have to learn to negotiate our identity with our surroundings, trying to keep as much as we can of the person we think we are, while adapting whatever is needed from the prevailing culture to fit in (or at least survive!)

For children school can be particularly perplexing when they find that things they take for granted are somehow unacceptable at school. This may be a handicap, the way the clothes they wear, their language, the food in their lunch box, how loud they speak, or many other things. If the school culture doesn't accept parts of the child's identity that are important to her, she may never really catch on in school.

If our role as teachers is to prepare students for the very best they will be capable of, then we teachers have to negotiate our own identities. Maybe some part of our identity is that we belong to the prevailing, "superior" culture. If we are to prepare all of our students, we must learn to accept their culture and quirks as of equal value to our own. Students must be able to accept their own culture as valued, while learning about the prevailing culture, which may be necessary for future success. Being bi-cultural and bilingual can only be a strength, because such a person is adept in several cultures and learns to be flexible.

This blog is to be an "interactive journal" of my reactions to the book shown here: Negotiating Identities, by Jim Cummins, as an assignment for my Teaching Internship Program at Claremont (CA) Graduate University. I will reflect on about one chapter a week, starting with a short summary of the chapter, then digging deaper into particular quotes or concepts, providing interaction with other readings, experience, pictures and probably YouTube videos.

Since my own personal experience includes moving several times as a child as well as living, studying, teaching and bringing up my bilingual children in Denmark for 29 years, I have very personal feelings about negotiating my own identity, and the conflicts my children experienced as well.