Self Awareness - Who are you?

Our first unit is entitled Self Awareness.  During the month of September we are exploring who we are, where we come from, and who we want to be when we grow up.  Students will be reading articles on nature vs. nurture and birth order. They will start to form opinions that may differ from those of their parents and I will encourage them to use facts to reach an opinion of their own. 

Since school started the students have completed an Oval with pictures that represents who they are and what they love, they have chosen and played a song that represented themselves, and created a wordle (www.wordle.net) about themselves.  I have encouraged them to talk to their parents about nature vs. nurture and to get outside opinions to bring back to class discussions.

So far the students are excited and enthusiastic in class and have participated wonderfully!  I think this is going to be a great year!

It's like we never left.

Every school year it AMAZES me that we have 10 weeks off in the summer and then after being back to school for only a few days we feel like we never left. The students are adjusting to their new schedules and lockers and teachers. I must say that the 8th graders seem to adjust better to this since they've already been here for two years.

Now that we're back in the swing of things it's time to get to work. Our first unit we're studying is called Self assurance and the students will be thinking about and analyzing who they are and how they are turning into young adults. We will be doing a lot of writing but also talking about who/what influences our lives. I think this will be an interesting and self revealing unit for both the kids and for myself. I am currently reading a great book called Eat, Love, Pray by Elizabeth Gilbert and in this book she chronicles her year of travel to Italy, India, and Indonesia. Her writing has certainly made me think about my life and how I live it and how I want to live it and I think that this book will play a part in how I teach the self assurance unit. Sometimes things like this just work out and it's exciting when something from my personal life, such as a book I'm reading, can become part of the classroom.

I'm anxious to see how the students respond when I ask them WHO they REALLY are since I know many many adults of all ages who still have no idea who they are and I guess the question that needs to be asked is, is there ever a time when we really truly know who we are or is this impossible because we're always changing? Sounds like a good writing prompt!