Equality 101

In my Junior lever English class, we are about to begin reading The Piano Lesson. One of the goals of our new curriculum is to promote the students’ sense of self. With this in mind, as a class we’re going to read an intro August Wilson wrote to his play King Hedley II. In it he stated:

Before I am anything, a man or a playwright, I am an African American. The tributary streams of culture, history and experience have provided me with the materials out of which I make my art. As an African American playwright, I have many forebears who have pioneered and hacked out of the underbrush an aesthetic that embraced and elevated the cultural values of black Americans to a level equal to those of their European counterparts…I count it a privilege to stand at the edge of art, with the gift of their triumphs and failures, as well as the playwrights down through the ages who found within the turbulent history of human thought and action an ennobling conduct worthy of art.

What I enjoy about this piece is that Wilson is expressing a hierarchy of his identity (he is an African American first, then a man and playwright). I’m going to have my students identify themselves in much the same way.

What I plan on doing (after reading and working through the essay by Wilson in their pods) is having my students brainstorm a list their identities: student, MMA fighter, wrestler, brother, friend, girlfriend. From there, I will have the students pick their five most important identities, rank them, and write a journal entry rationalizing their hierarchy. As an example, I will share with my students a blog bio written by one of my friends. Her bio states:

I am a friend, a daughter, a poet, a teacher, and an activist.  In that order.  This is a very specific order into which I put quite a bit of thought.  I am a friend, first and foremost, to everyone in one way or another.  I try to listen and help everyone in the same way, whether they are family, a boyfriend, a friend, or a student.  Second, I am a daughter.  I live at home with my family for now, and we have found that our best bet is to rely on each other, and I have been able to step up and help out.  I would not have been afforded this opportunity if I didn’t move back home.  Next, I am a poet.  This does not necessarily mean that I write poetry, although I do on occasion.  It is more a way I see the world.  I search for images and beauty and struggle in everyday situations.  This shapes how I view the world, and how I teach.  I am a teacher, but not just by trade.  In my life, I explore new situations and share what I have learned with any captive audience I can find.  I feel it is my duty to learn all I can and share that knowledge with others.  Finally, I am an activist.  I am not an activist in the sense of a radical protester that one might typically think of when one thinks of an activist, but when I see injustices and inequality, I speak up and fight it, albeit on a small scale.  I believe small strokes fell big oaks, and I try to make small strokes every day.

I’ll be teaching this lesson later this week – I’m sure some wonderfully thoughtful revelations will come out of this exercise.