How Do Others Define Your Identity?

Lesson 3
Overview
This lesson is part of the following unit:
Identity & Community: An Introduction to 6th Grade Social Studies
In the first two lessons, students engaged in activities in which they answered the
question, Who am I? Yet, even as we struggle to define our unique identity, we are
being defined by others. Sometimes groups attach labels to us that differ from those we
would choose for ourselves. In the book The Bear That Wasnt, Frank Tashlin uses
words and pictures to describe that process. Tashlin tells the story of a bear who is told
again and again that he is a silly man who needs a shave and wears a fur coat. So many
people label him this way that eventually he begins to question his own identity as a
bear. Ultimately, the bear recognizes that he is not a man but he is not convinced that he
is a bear either. Tashlins story is a metaphor for how identity is formed not only by our
perceptions of ourselves but also by how others define us.
In the following lessons, students will explore the relationship between the individual
and society by looking at how their own identities are influenced by others. This is a
theme relevant to the study of world history, especially ancient world history. Before the
modern era, most cultures placed labels on individuals that were determined at birth
labels such as slave, prince, merchant, or farmer. Reminding students about how, even
today, their own identities are shaped by larger society can help students relate to the
histories of people whose culture may seem distant and unfamiliar.

Learning Goals
1. Students will be able to recognize how their own identity has been defined by
others.
2. Students will begin to recognize the relationship between the individual and
society.