MYP 3: Unit 3: Lesson 2: How Do Personal Stories Shape Identity?

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Dear students,

In Lesson 2, we explore how personal stories shape cultural identity and influence the way we understand race, privilege, and lived experience. Through guided viewing and discussion, we engage with short films—A Conversation About Growing Up Black and A Conversation with White People on Race—that centre real voices and personal narratives.

Rather than approaching identity through definitions or statistics, this lesson invites us to listen closely to lived experiences. We reflect on how storytelling communicates emotions, challenges assumptions, and creates empathy in ways that facts alone cannot. Through inquiry-based questions and quiet reflection, students consider how identity is shaped by history, culture, and social context, and how the same society can be experienced very differently by different individuals.

We also begin making global connections, comparing themes from the films with other historical and cultural contexts such as caste identity in India, Apartheid in South Africa, and the Stolen Generations in Australia. These discussions help us recognise shared human experiences while respecting the uniqueness of each story.

The lesson emphasises listening over debating, questioning over judging, and reflection over quick conclusions—skills that will support our work throughout this unit and in our summative task.

To revisit today’s lesson or continue reflecting, please use this link.

Happy learning,
Ms. Risha Kalra


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