The ‘I Am’ Poem
Resources you will need:
Flip chart paper
A handful of pens
A selection of A4 paper
Aim
To enable young people to think about themselves as individuals and develop a unique identity.
Overview
This is an activity that will allow young people to gently start exploring their own identities, who they are, how other people perceive them and how they would describe themselves.
Instructions
Give the young people a plain piece of paper and ask them to write down their name. Now ask them to write down any other names that people know them by (this might be a surname, a nickname or a family name).
Encourage them to think outside the box, to be creative, and to include words that identify them more broadly, like ‘friend’ or ‘daughter’.
Hand out a piece of paper to each group with the following written 10 times on the page: ’I am……………………’. Make sure the group knows that they don’t have to put their real name if they don’t want to. This sometimes helps people to open up with the security of anonymity.
Ask the young people to write a poem by filling in the gaps with the words they’ve listed. Encourage the group to think about rhythm, word order and what words they would want at the beginning and end.
Ask if any young people would like to share their poems. Consider displaying the poems as a small exhibition or using them as part of a photography project.
If some young people include negative words, or unpleasant words that people have used to describe them in the past, don’t discourage them but make sure you provide them with a bit of extra support If necessary, and encourage them to finish the poem on a positive word.
Taking it home
Think creatively about how you can use the poems in the future (ask the group for ideas too!). These might include photography projects, collage, podcasts, song writing or performance. A creative way to incorporate the poems with young peoples’ identities is to use their photographs alongside the poems, or together as a collage.