Teaching sequence

Work through this resource material in the following sequence:

10 minutes

Tune In: Identifying that gender stereotypes exist

35 minutes

Find Out: The who, what, how and why of identity

15 minutes

Take Action: Exploring identity in the media

5 minutes

Reflection

Learning intentions and success criteria

Students will:

explore the various influences on an individual's identity by engaging with several pieces of media.

Students can:

define the term identity in their own words
provide examples of influences on identity
critically assess various forms of media and their impact on identity.

Preparation: 50 minutes

Step 1

Before watching the film, give students the ‘Scale of Confidence’ worksheet. Let them know that you will be watching a film and completing tasks that focus on the topics listed on the worksheet. Invite students to place a cross on the worksheet to represent how confident they feel in discussing each topic.

Step 2

Collect the worksheets and watch the film ‘Trailblazers’ (34 minutes).

Trailblazers (https://clickv.ie/w/INpy)

You may wish to look through students' responses to the scales to see where their confidence lies. This can help inform your teaching as you move through each lesson and will allow you to provide extra support, explanation and sensitivity where needed. These sheets can be returned to students at the end of the unit, where they can remark their scales, using a different colour, as a form of self-assessment and indicator of learning progress.

Step 3

After watching the film ‘Trailblazers’, invite students to answer the question, “What were the main issues discussed in the film?”, using the turn-and-talk method.

Tune In: Identifying that gender stereotypes exist

Step 1

Assign students a profession by randomly having them select a card from the Deck of Professions. Ask them to look at the profession they have been assigned but not to share or discuss it with any other class members.

Step 2

Using their devices or a page in their notebook, invite students to draw a person who works in the profession they have been assigned. Remind students that this just needs to be a basic drawing/sketch that depicts the profession, not an artistic piece of work.

Step 3

Once students have completed their drawing, encourage them to find other members of the class who also drew the same profession as they did. This should allow the class to form small groups of 3-4 students per group.

Step 4

Invite the students to discuss the following prompts within their small groups:

When completing your drawing, did you think of your person as a man, woman or nonbinary?
Did all members of the group depict their profession as having the same gender?
Why do you think some professions are generalised as being for men, while others are generalised as being for women?

Step 5

Bring the class back together and discuss your findings.

Find Out: The who, what, how and why of identity

Step 1

Invite the class to complete a ‘Brain Write’, focusing on the term ‘identity’. To conduct the ‘Brain Write’, print the Identity Brain Write Posters on large sheets of paper (A3 or larger) and place them around the classroom.

Step 2

Encourage students to roam around the classroom to all four posters and write down an idea or two based on each of the four prompts. Invite students to place a heart next to any statements other students have written that they agree with.

If students read something someone else has written, but they are unsure of what the writer intended, or they don’t agree, ask them to put a question mark next to it.

If students don’t have anything to add to a particular prompt, let them know that this is okay, they can simply move on to the next one. Ideally by the end of the ‘Brain Write’, there will be several statements on each page, with some statements having hearts and some having question marks next to them (or both!).

Step 3

Gather up the four identity ‘Brain Write’ posters and lead students in a class discussion about identity, using their responses from the ‘Brain Write’ to form the basis of the discussion. You may wish to focus on clarifying some of the statements with question marks next to them and fleshing out the statements with hearts.

Step 4

Referring to the statements written on the ‘Brain Write’ posters, devise a class definition of ‘identity’. For reference, a basic definition of identity could be:

Our identity is made of many dimensions that are unique to each individual and may include aspects such as our culture, sexuality, religion, age, body, gender, interests and lots more. Identity defines who people are, how they view themselves and the people and events around them. Our identities are personal; no one can tell you how to identify.

This activity can help us identify some of our unconscious biases. Maybe we think of kindergarten teachers as female because we only had female kindergarten teachers. Without being aware of it, other people we have interacted with in our lives have influenced our opinions and thoughts around identity. Let’s explore this!

Step 5

Now that students have an understanding of what identity is, invite them to return to their small groups that they formed during the ‘Tune In’ activity.

Take Action: Exploring the impact of media on identity

Step 1

The phrase ‘kick and giggle’ has often been used to describe women’s football. Let’s look at the phrase and how it has appeared in media over time. Provide each group with either the worksheet or the link to access one of these four articles:

Article Worksheet	Link
‘Kick and giggle’ image long gone	https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/122385298?searchTerm=kick%20and%20giggle
And now, the new look in football	https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/79686626?searchTerm=%22kick%20and%20giggle%22
Final round in women’s soccer	https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/110903975?searchTerm=%22kick%20and%20giggle%22
Renmark’s peace celebrations	https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/109224999?searchTerm=%22kick%20and%20giggle%22

Ask students to answer the following questions:

What is implied by the term ‘kick and giggle’?
How did the media’s use of the term ‘kick and giggle’ in this article reflect on women’s soccer?
Looking at how the players are discussed in the article, how do you think this language could impact their identity?
What elements in this article are part of the flow-on effect that contributed to the 2015 strike?

Step 2

Staying in their groups, provide each group with an article from one of the key women shown in the film.

In their small groups, encourage students to work together to look at the key figures and media articles from the film and note down how various attitudes and beliefs may have impacted the identities of the women football players.

Step 3

Invite students to use their devices to find two pieces of current media (news articles, social media posts, etc) and analyse each of them, looking for language and phrases used about the Australian Women’s Football team.

Step 4

Encourage students to work through the following questions once they have found their articles.

What are the impacts of this language?
Is it positive or negative?
Does it build the team up?
What beliefs are being perpetuated?
Does it create a safe environment?
Does it reinforce any stereotypes?

Reflection

Using the ‘I used to think… now I think…’ thinking routine, invite students to write a few sentences to reflect on their thinking about the identity. Explain to students that the purpose of this activity is to help them reflect on their thinking about the topic and to identify how their ideas may have changed.

This routine helps students to reflect on their thinking about the issues that surround the formation of identity (for example, media, personal biases, commonly used language, etc.) and to consolidate their learning.

Investigating Influences on Identity

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Summary

Lesson Guides and Printables

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Investigating Influences on Identity

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Summary

Lesson Guides and Printables

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