Some Of The Best Resources On Supporting & Valuing Students’ Identities

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I’ve previously published a popular post titled THREE EXCELLENT STUDENT IDENTITY “SELF-PORTRAIT” ACTIVITIES.

It’s an important enough of an issue to create a separate and new “Best” list sharing those and other ideas:

Students Benefit Academically When They Feel Understood is the headline of my one of my Ed Week columns.

Creating a Learning Environment Where All Kids Feel Valued is by Shana White, and it appeared in Edutopia. Here’s a video about it:

Self-Portrait Ideas for ESL Students is from English Teaching 101.

Create a portrait exploring identity and expression is from The Adobe Education Exchange.

Celebrating Linguistic Diversity in Your Classroom is from Edutopia.

This is the one I use in my classroom: Who am I? comes from Facing History.  You’ll need this excerpt from The House on Mango Street to do it.

Educators must create inclusive and supportive environments for students to thrive, creating “identity safety.” These four practices can help educators create those thriving environments for all students!

How do your students “thrive” in your classroom? 🌱 Comment below! pic.twitter.com/yaCW207SpB

— PERTS (@pertslab) February 2, 2024

One of my favorites things to share with educators across the country is to intentionally identify CULTURE, IDENTITY, and STRENGTH while listening to an individual’s personal story.

Here’s an example of educators doing this much needed work! #PD4uandme pic.twitter.com/xddiRDAy8p

— Emily Fɾαɳƈιʂ 💫 (@emilyfranESL) July 8, 2023

Freshman: "You messed up."
Me: "Me? How?"
Freshman (playfully and sweetly): "This project was a lot of fun. It's the standard. All of your projects BETTER be this fun."

Thanks, @ADunn74. All these years later, your Me Magazine project is still the perfect gateway to high school. pic.twitter.com/vQcYgCNveb

— Matthew R. Kay (@MattRKay) September 6, 2024

1️⃣ Amplify student voice
2️⃣Display student work
3️⃣ Give choice in reading, writing, products, etc.
4️⃣ Build relationships
5️⃣Focus on students
6️⃣ Put a spotlight on cultures

Sketchnote via @ValentinaESL pic.twitter.com/lNYycjo7jJ

— MindShift (@MindShiftKQED) November 9, 2024