Summary of Project:

Given that I teach a majority of seventh graders with three eighth grade classes, both honors, my
students may have a different approach on the importance of identity in comparison to students
at Rhodes who are not in the honors program. Middle school is a difficult transition for many
students, and they are just trying to find their place in this new, complicated environment. With
my project being an assembly showcasing how do we value individual identity with three
different types of identity, my students as well as the audience will see the importance of identity
for themselves and others. For this year, we will focus on gender, culture, and likes/dislikes. To
make it engaging, we start off by going over gender and how each gender has certain roles that
are expected of them in society. We will analyze them with songs in Walt Disney films such as
Beauty and the Beast and Mulan. For culture, we will go over poems since students need to
practice their elements of poetry as well as analyzing poetry. Also, they need to become more
culturally aware and realize that ethnicity and culture are not one in the same. Lastly, they will
go over how likes and dislikes make up our identity. The end result will be an assembly where
students will present how we as people can value individual identity.

Student Impact:
The honors team at Rhodes has about approximately 150 students. Of those 150, 75% are having
a mastery of a C or higher regarding their courses such as English. The students need to learn
how to fine tune their research skills as well as become more open minded to the various walks
of life they will encounter, and middle school is only the beginning. Students in middle school
are already having a tough transition from such a small community to a larger community with
people they do not know. They will encounter all walks of life and are wondering what their
place is in the world. Finding out the importance of individual identity will show them that their
identity matters as well as their peers.

Teacher Impact:
With the presentations that will be made accessible to the public, teachers will see how their
students have acknowledged how similar and different identity are important for interpersonal
and intrapersonal communication. We tend to underestimate and undermine middle school
students because we find that they’re too young to know about mature topics, but expect them to
have more responsibilities compared to their primary school years. A closed mindset can only
hurt our students, and we as educators need to focus on our interpersonal communication to help
our students feel that inside our schools they are safe and not expected to do anything but excel
academically and grow as individuals.

Community Impact:
I plan on my students presenting their project to at least one administrator from the Mesa Public
Schools District that way they can see the hard work and acknowledgement that students have on
the importance of individual identity. Given that making a YouTube video as one medium for
presentations, a great amount of people from all over can see the project these student worked
on. Hopefully one goes viral and many are exposed to how valuing individual identity is not only
good for interpersonal communication but intrapersonal communication as well.