Express Yourself

Illustration by iFp Teen Creative Maxwell

Your personality, skill, and style all separate you from someone who has similar aspirations and curiosities. Expressing yourself - figuring out how to do things and show others what you can do - can help you stand out in a crowd. There are many different ways of expressing yourself and standing out.

For this blog, we want to focus on specific aspects of expression. Different learning styles help people express themselves. Cultural learning can teach people to embrace their identity. All of these can have positive effects on others in both the school setting and in life as well. Teachers should encourage students to prepare their work in the best way possible. Students should be proud of the work and feel comfortable with the results.

Identity

Your identity is unique. No matter how similar you think you are to someone else, your identity is still your own. You can express yourself with your identity. No one can define your identity. Your culture, nationality, race, gender, passion, and even your favorite ice cream flavor is part of your identity. Certain parts of your identity can change over time. School plays a major role in our childhood. That is why it is important that our identity is reflected in our schools.

Our educational system is from a period where only one type of person gained an education. It is hard to justify using the same curriculum when today’s student body is more diverse. If we want to make the system more inclusive, we need to understand where the information comes from. Is it the full picture? There is never one side to the story. Even in history books, we usually only get to see one side of the picture. That’s often from the European culture. Schools should include more primary sources by a more diverse set of authors.

Discussing the materials with our classmates will help gain a better understanding of what we read and hear. These discussions would not only help us with communication skills, but it also helps retain information. Such discussions are also a great medium for expression, as it creates a safe environment to let students express their opinions and learn from their peers.

Culture

There are other learning strategies schools should use to promote expression and diversity. One way to integrate culture and create a more inclusive classroom atmosphere would be to include the concept of culturally responsive learning and teaching.

Humans are very complex. Everybody comes from different backgrounds, and culture plays a big role in your development. Culture incorporates family, food, and your environment as well. This can influence what you wear, what you eat, your morals, beliefs, and what language you speak.

Culturally responsive learning and teaching is a method that takes the student’s cultures and identities into account. It is where schools use aspects of everyone’s cultural identity in what they teach.

Some examples of cultural understanding would be avoiding nicknames to children that do not have English names. Having a safe space for students and teachers to discuss their personal cultural practices can create better connections. Students should always feel comfortable with themselves and peers in the classrooms.

Diversity

We want to incorporate and embrace everyone’s differences. Students should be able to see themselves in their learning experiences. Schools should also have school administrators and teachers who they can relate to. The school environment is a part of your identity, after all. If school does not let you freely express yourself, your self-confidence will not be nurtured.

The purpose of school is to prepare students for the real world. If they are not exposed to different people and things around them in school, then embracing diversity outside of school will be more difficult.

Culturally responsive learning and teaching should be implemented more. This will promote cultural understanding and increase cultural representation. We want to raise awareness for cultures that may not be represented in school. We want everybody to be accepting towards others in spite of their differences. As students and teachers become more diverse, schools need to reflect that in our learning.