Identity Unit: ThingLinks and Four Corners

The group of eighth graders is in the middle of an identity unit.  They reflected on their ThingLink projects from last year (designed to represent the things they like and dislike and basic elements of who they are) and discussed what they would like to do differently for the project this year.  They discussed photographs, friends, favorite foods and music, and talked about including the results of the few identity quizzes they have done thus far.

The class obviously enjoys this unit.  They get to do a handful of hands-on activities and projects that get them involved.

Afterwards, they always get to reflect on what they've learned.

Today, Ms. Baldwin had a game called "Four Corners."  She would read a statement, and the students would divide themselves into four categories (Strongly Agree, Agree, Disagree, Strongly Disagree) based on the statements.  Ms. Baldwin stressed multiple times that no answer is wrong.  They were all opinions, and all students could voice their opinion regardless of the opinions of the rest of the class.

The statements had to do with identity (nature vs. nurture, friend groups, style, etc).  The students divvied themselves up accordingly.  It was interesting to see how some students were willing to stand alone on issues that the rest of the class seemed to be grouped into.  Each group/ individual could share why they chose the category they did.  In one case, Evan stood alone from nearly the entire class.  The other kids were surprised that he agreed with the statement when the rest were pretty certain that disagreeing was the way to go.  When Evan told the class why he chose the answer he did, and his reasoning to draw that conclusion, we all realized that he really wasn't off-base, at all.  He was just seeing it from a different perspective.

This activity was really useful for seeing the way different individuals may perceive the same statement or text in different ways.  Evan was justified in his answer, just as his classmates were justified in theirs.  The result was a far more rounded discussion about alternative views and conceptions, and proved to be a very interesting learning opportunity.

The diversity that exists within one group of students and even one peer group (Evan's friends were sure he was wrong) is so important.