Year 8 were very excited to welcome their parents to their Exit Point on Identity this afternoon.
Identity - The Big Idea:
Our sense of self, and that of others, is continually developing through our different interactions and impacts on how we exist in the world.
Explaining the Theme
Art
This unit is designed to encourage students to analyse and evaluate what characteristics make up their own unique identity. Students researched and discussed key elements that form an individual or group’s identity. The unit considers how time and societal experiences can alter or manipulate the perception of identity.
Students were asked to investigate modern artists who look at these concepts, analysing how they express their ideas through expressive art pieces. Each student’s final artwork will be a visual representation of their identity.
History
Throughout history, we can see examples of how interaction between different cultures helps individuals and communities to develop a sense of identity, and to understand that of others. While there are examples of mutual understanding leading to harmonious co- existence, there are also periods of history in which two cultures have collided. In such situations, one culture often becomes dominant and therefore changes the way in which another culture can exist in the world. The suppression of one group’s sense of self can have long-term consequences; we can see the impact of this on our world today.
ICT & Computing
This unit focuses on how ICT and Computing has changed the ways in which we develop our sense of self and interact with others. Students will explore whether the use of face- to-face communication to establish trust, reliability, and a positive reputation can be replicated in a virtual world through the use of a digital identity. The five tasks examine:
How the use of ICT and Computing has contributed to the development of our identities in recent years and how we interact with others as members of different online communities
How an individual may have multiple digital identities in multiple communities
How we express our identities by the use of digital images of ourselves, such as avatars
How the use of a digital identity can impact both positively and negatively on how we exist in the world, exploring issues that have emerged in recent years regarding reputation, security and reliability
The relationship of our digital identity with business and with government, considering the advantages and disadvantages and how they impact on how we exist in the world
The implications of biometric technologies on our sense of self
Language Arts
In this unit, students explored a range of poems and short stories in which the author explores their own, or their characters’, sense of self, and how this sense of self impacts on the way they exist in the world.
Music
Music informs our sense of self, and helps us express who we are. As we develop, the music we choose to play and listen to also reflects this development. Musical identity has an impact on our sense of self, how we interact with others, and, more generally, how we exist in the world.
Physical Education
Students explored the Big Idea through dance. They were introduced to this by watching parts of the film Happy Feet and were encouraged to develop ways of conveying their own sense of self through movement. Students will see how their movements change and develop when working with others and how their actions have an impact on others around them. They considered how this process reflects ways in which our sense of self is continually developing, as a result of our interactions with others – and how this impacts upon the way we exist in the world.
Science
The relationship that each of us have with our bodies is an important part of our individual identity. Everyday physical activities and interactions including sport, dance, singing and playing an instrument dictate the way that we use our bodies and so shape our identities, both in a physical and psychological sense. Having a positive view of our physical selves often affects how confident and comfortable we are in a range of situations,
Technology
In this unit, students consider their own identities with relation to:
What they like to do (activities)
Things they have or would like to have (possessions)
People they spend time with (friends)
People they live with at home (family)
They consider how these influences have changed over time by considering their identity at three points in time – immediately before attending primary school, at the end of primary school and now. They reflect on how their identity has developed in response to these changing influences, before concentrating on their current identity.