Sophomore year in Calvin college was quite an interesting journey, from my unfortunate

break-up to having an identity crisis. It was a challenging year yet, there was value in my

suffering because I became, to be honest with myself and began to see the true me and not a

facade or a false persona. Through the difficult times, I have learned the importance of

developing a healthy persona and it’s implication on one’s normal and spiritual life. While the

hardship of my break-up acted as a catalysis towards a spiritual growth, I would not have

progressed without the help of my peers and advisors. Personally, I have seen many students

who have overgone hardships from an identity crisis that often have a fatal consequence on their

academic and social life. Thus, it is important to create an environment in which the students can

emotionally develop towards emotional stability.

César Chávez elementary is located in a Hispanic community that consisted of the

neighbourhood’s students. Most of the student comes from a low-income family that often have

troubling family conflicts or dilemmas. Due to these circumstances often, students have a lack of

self-esteem as well as motivation in the classrooms. It almost seems like the student self-

determine oneself to be unsuccessful. With the insufficient environment, the students are trapped

within reality therefore, it is essential to emphasize their strengths and empower their unique

identities to aid them progress in schools. There are several potential pedagogical approaches;

however, I will focus on the values of names and their family stories.

Names are an important aspect in many different cultures and traditions such as during

the biblical periods. In the Bible, names have a significant identity that shows who they are and

what they are pursuing. Many biblical names have significant meaning towards their goals or

lifestyles. Matthew 1:23 is a prime example of showing the significance of names in the bible;
Immanuel which means in Hebrew “God with us” and this shows that Jesus came down to earth

to be with us. Currently, there might be less emphasis on the meaning of one’s name, but there

will be a story or a reason for choosing the student’s names. For instance, my name in Korean is

한신(Han shin) and each character has a certain meaning with it: 한(Han) means “country and

신(Shin) means “faith. My parent gave me this name because they wanted to me to have great

faith in God throughout the country. Understanding names can be a difficult concept due to its

complexity with historical and cultural background knowledge, especially kindergarteners will

probably not be able to fully comprehend the significant value. Yet, it is important to plant the

ideas of cultural identity. Even if the student were not able to develop a cultural identity, learning

about names would provide more phonemic awareness for the student, especially

kindergarteners.

During kindergarten, the student is still developing their letters and numbers and it is

essential to expose them to as much English influenced environment as they can. By creating a

lesson about their names, it provides an opportunity to review the letter that makes the name as

well as gets exposed to the sound to solidify their knowledge of sound. According to a study

from Puranik, Lonigan, & Kim (2011) name writing skill was a significant contributor to better

spelling in later years. Thus, by Incorporating stories and coloring or drawing activities the

student will be able to enjoy and related to the activities because it is going to be about their

names.

Reference
Puranik, C. S., Lonigan, C. J., & Kim, Y. S. (2011). Contributions of emergent literacy skills to

name writing, letter writing, and spelling in preschool children. Early Childhood Research

Quarterly, 26(4), 465-474.