National Council for the Social Studies (NCSS)

THEME IV:

INDIVIDUAL DEVELOPMENT & IDENTITY

Identities of the Civil Rights Movement

Description: Social studies programs should include experiences that provide for the study of individual development and identity. Personal identity is shaped by one's culture, by groups and by institutional influences. Students should consider such questions as: How do people learn? Why do people behave as they do? What influences how people learn, perceive, and grow? How do people meet their basic needs in a variety of contexts? How do individuals develop from youth to adulthood?

Reflection:

Individual development and identity is a theme that discusses the importance of personal identity that is shaped by outside forces such as government or institutions. This theme is important because it forces questions to arise such as who we are can be directly related as to what our society perceives itself through government and beliefs.

I used this theme during the holocaust lesson. I took this topic very seriously because it is a very sensitive issue. For this particular lesson I thought it was important for those individual involved telling their story. So, I used a very powerful video that not only discussed the most deadliest and horrific concentration or death camp, Auschwitz, but also tried to ask and answer questions that focused on this particular theme. Within the video it asked questions about hate and intolerance. Does hatred still occur today? Of course it does. What I also liked about this video is that it made it personal towards the students by addressing intolerance and insensitivity within the boundaries of their own school. After the video we addressed issues such as bullying and intolerance. The students had many things to say on this issue which was quite surprising. There were a couple of students within a particular class period that just can’t stand one another. Hopefully, by addressing issues such as these, it’ll give students a better understanding that intolerance is not the way to go.

In the future I will most likely use this theme to address key issues such as intolerance, hatred, racism, and genocide. Students need to know that their actions could have either a negative or positive impact to those around them. They also need to know how people perceive them in order for them to grow and learn as an individual.