Blog 7

 First I will like to thank everyone for reading and commenting on my blogs. Your comments were always welcomed and thought provoking. Thank you.

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Blog 7: 

My identity: Who am I? When I reread my blogs, I realized that currently at this stage in my life I am getting my identity though my family, my parents, my siblings, my in-laws, my husband and my daughter.  When I was in my mid to late 20’s, I was getting it from co-workers and my job.  In my early 20’s, I was getting it though University. In my teens, it was through music, art and friends. As a child, my parents were my biggest influences. Now, I am wondering who or what will be shaping my identity when I am 50 or even 75.

When fist reading Bracher’s book, Radical Pedagogy: Identity, Generality, and Social Transformation, his statement regarding identity as “the most basic human need and thus the ultimate motive underlying all human behavior” (Bracher, 2006, p.3) was a little strange. I never thought of someone’s identity in that way. When Bracher related it to teaching, I thought the statement only applied to students that we would be teaching. As I read more of his book, I began to realize that the first identity that I really needed to be concerned about was my own.

Your identity is a reflection of your journey through life. It comes from your experiences, your likes and your social relationships.  Various influences affect our identities as we mature as a person. These influences begin at birth and carries through until death. Some identities change over time with gradual influence, whiles others it may happen quickly originating from a life defining moment, like an illness or death of a loved one. Each of the three authors that we studied, Tomesselo, Wenger and Bracher, all has theories of identity and its impact on learning. I believe that all of their theories do apply but it depends on the stage of personal development that a person is at that time.

Tomasselo's book, “The Cultural Origins of Human Cognition”, he talks about the ratchet effect and cultural transmission (Tomasello, 1999 Page 4) as behaviors in which humans learn and build on their knowledge. This is very true in our early stages of life.  As children as we look to our parents and caregivers to teach us many of the things we need to know in order to survive. They play a large part in influencing our first identities.

Wenger’s book, “Communities of Practice: Learning, Meaning, and Identity”, he introduces us to a new type social/cultural group, Communities of Practice, where we share knowledge based on common interests. As we become older, we begin to get involved in communities of practice based on what subjects interest us. While in elementary and junior high our biggest influencers are friends and peer social groups. While in High School much of our communities of practices become about our interests such as music, social media and friends. Wenger talks about how we gain much of our identity from the individuals that we share a common interest with in these communities of practice. Here we are learning about our identities with in each of these community groups and our identity is changing as we learn.

Bracher wants us to go one step further with understanding our identities then either Tomasselo's or Wenger. Bracher wants us to do some self-exploration. He wants us to understand not only where students are coming from but also as teachers, where we have been. He proposes many self-exploration questions to us in chapter ten so that we can get to know the person that we really are. By knowing who we are then we are better prepared for all the different types of students we will have, the different types of learning situations we will confront and the many outside constraints that we often face in teaching.

By knowing who you are and following your instincts, you can preserve your own identity, your own beliefs and your own interests. When I first had my daughter, the amount of advice I was getting from books, friends and family was extremely overwhelming. I was not prepared for how this advice began to make me feel. The advice that I was getting from closest friends and family began to feel like attacks. Everyone had an opinion and everyone had to share it. I stopped answering the phone because I did not want to hear what I was doing wrong. I was on the phone with my father one day talking about how I was feeling. He gave me the best advice he said, “When it comes to children, check your ego at the door.” What he went on to explain was that everything that everyone was saying was just that, advice. It was my own ego and insecurities regarding my identity as a mom that was making me feel like I was being attacked. He reminded me that I was a great new mom and I did not have to follow anyone’s advice. I should listen to the advice and then trust my own instincts to do what was best for my daughter and me.

Tomasselo, Wenger, and Bracher have one common theme running through all of their books, that is the importance of social interactions with in the context of teaching and learning. Relationships are the key factor to understand both positive and negative teaching/learning experiences. My conclusion for this blog is that we all need reminding to trust in what we know about ourselves and follow our instincts. When things change and we face learning obstacles, it is our identity and how well we know ourselves that well get us through it.

References:

Bracher, Mark. (2006). Radical Pedagogy. New York: Palgrave MacMillan

Wenger, E. (2008). Communities of practice: Learning, meaning, and identity. Cambridge University Press: New York, New York

Tomasello, M. (1999). The Cultural Origins of Human Cognition. Cambridge, Mass: Harvard University Press.