In this lesson, students explore how photography can illuminate aspects of their identity, including cultural backgrounds, family histories, engagement in societal groups, personal privilege, and the points of intersectionality between those. To start this exploration, your students will consider the idea of self-portraiture and the depth of information (or misinformation) that photography can express, by analyzing others’ self-portraits. Following a discussion of the factors that shape background and identity, students then begin to consider their own identities. Students create their own digital self-portraits pulling from ideas around personal background and identity to take the popular digital photography format to another level. In the final reflection, students connect their own identities to the idea of the self, and to the self-portrait, as they begin to consider the changes they would like to see in their world.

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This file contains images of anchor charts, bulletin boards, and centers for first grade Cluster 2.

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