During the summer of 2016, through a teen arts internship, the author conducted research on some of the contexts, narratives, and activities that shape artist identity formation. The teen arts interns spent mornings engaged in activities such as discussion, writing, and making art, with a focus on art as activism, and spent afternoons as teaching…

This case study provides a summary of a district leader's dilemma on how to approach a number of gender identity issues that are raised within the first few months of his new superintendency. It identifies the various facets of policy and practice that need to be addressed in light of gender no longer being considered as a simple binary choice.…

This activity allows students to consider how they self-identify by labeling their identities publicly on three Post-It notes for the class to see and how they may neglect to assign social identities to the way in which they see themselves. Doing so pushes students to make invisible identities more visible, which Cooks (Pedagogy, performance, and…

In this teaching tip, we--a literacy professor and two K-12 teachers--encourage a rethinking of the baseline writing assessment by sharing our experiences with "The Paper Selfie," an activity that juxtaposes the arts and young people's personal writing. By centering students' identities, their hopes, beliefs, dreams, and realities,…

Courses: This single-class activity is designed for an intercultural communication class. It is suitable for any course that requires a discussion about identities. Objectives: This activity helps students enhance their understanding of the concept of identities. It allows students to comprehend multiple identity markers (e.g. race, gender, and…

Courses: Communication Theory, Intercultural Communication, Performance Studies, Gender and Communication, Rhetorical Criticism and Analysis. Objectives: This unit activity encourages students to engage in reflexivity regarding the ways intersectionality and power influence their lives and the lives of others. Utilizing strategies grounded in…

Courses: Interpersonal Communication, Gender and Communication, Communication and Technology. Objective: This activity utilizes a modern dating application to bring lessons of identity constructions to life through an analysis of online dating profiles.

This unit, "Explorations of Identity and Privilege," was designed for first year writing courses at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln (UNL) taught in 2015 and 2016. The course as a whole focused on writing and inquiry. Within this unit, students discussed essays relating to different forms of privilege (e.g. racial, gender, class) and…

One of the authors, Erin Green, recognized the importance of learning about her students' identities early in the year to support her relationships with students. She also saw an opportunity for an initial inquiry into identity, which would model aspects of her approach to social studies. Her goals for this initial inquiry were to support…

Courses: Communicating Identity, Intercultural Communication, Organizational Communication. Objectives: The goals of this unit are to stimulate communal, group-oriented thinking and to prompt civic engagement. By the end of the unit, students will be able to (1) articulate connections between class status, home ownership, and neighborhood…

As a communication educator, the author's goal is to help students examine and understand how communication addresses--or, in this case, fails to address--public problems such as gun violence. Communication concepts can provide insight about America's bewildering debates about gun violence, and in turn, these debates can help illustrate and refine…

Gender identity is influenced by a variety of characteristics, including race, social class, sexual orientation, language, and gender. This article explores the importance of critical literacy, critical pedagogy, and the influence on identity development. Furthermore, it seeks to provide practitioners and teacher educators with an understanding of…

Many middle school students approach math with caution, often trepidation, and generally less-than-complete confidence. Several factors contribute to their views of what math actually is (a system of rules to follow and formulas to apply) as well as who might be good at it (people who can see the path to an answer and calculate quickly). A few say…

With one in 59 children diagnosed with autism, higher education institutions are experiencing increasing enrollments of autistic students. Furthermore, autistic students are disproportionately more likely to identify as gay and lesbian in their sexual orientation and as transgender or genderqueer in their gender identity compared with nondisabled…

The early emergent stage of writing consists of drawing and scribbling. This article provides a rationale for teachers to reframe their dispositions toward scribbling and reshape their interactions with writers in the early emergent stage. These teaching tips were derived from the authors' study of teacher, parent, and young students' perceptions…