Who Are We?

Lesson 5
Overview
This lesson is part of the following unit: Identity & Community: An Introduction to 6th
Grade Social Studies
Typically, a study of world history focuses on the identities of groupscultures,
communities, and civilizationsmore than on the identities of particular individuals.
Yet the same factors that influence the identities of individuals influence the identities of
groups. Communities are influenced by physical attributes such as geography just as
they are influenced by experiences such as war, plentiful harvests, or natural disasters.
Communities are also shaped by the way they are defined by other groups. Thus the
focus on individual identity in the first half of this unit provides a solid foundation for
students exploration of communities in the rest of the unit (as well as throughout a
world history course).
In this lesson, students begin to explore the concept of community by describing their
class as a collection of people with unique identities. The activities in the lesson help
students see the common characteristics that make them a group as well as the distinct
qualities they each bring to their classroom community. As students study cultures
throughout world history, remind them that although the individuals in these societies
share a common identity, they (i.e., all Greeks or all Chinese) were not the samejust as
the members of their class maintain distinct characteristics while being part of a class
and larger school community. Balancing the desire to organize people into categories
with the recognition that we are all unique individuals is an important skill that keeps
people from relying on stereotypes.

Learning Goals
1. Students will learn about the qualities that make their classmates unique as well
as the qualities they have in common.
2. Students will be able to describe the identity of their world history class.