Hi, everyone.

My name is Ms. Voyle, and I am really excited to be teaching you your reading lesson today, where we are going to be engaging with the key themes in the story, "The Proudest Blue." For this lesson, you need a copy of the 2020 Anderson Press Edition of "The Proudest Blue" by Ibtihaj Muhammad.

Pause the video, and get your copy of the book now.

Great, now I know you have the book with you.

During this lesson, you'll need to be listening and looking carefully, and there will also be tasks, where you need somebody to talk to.

I hope you are feeling excited and ready to learn.

Let's get started.

The learning outcome for today's lesson is "I can explore the key themes in 'The Proudest Blue'." Here are our key words for today's lesson.

Let's practise saying them, my turn, your turn.

Theme.

Identity.

Pride.

Good job.

Well done.

Now don't worry if you're not sure of their meanings because we will be discussing them throughout.

There are two parts to today's lesson.

In the first part, we will be understanding and identifying themes, and in the second part, we will be exploring the themes of identity and pride.

So let's begin with understanding and identifying themes.

What do we know about "The Proudest Blue"? Let's remind ourselves.

"The Proudest Blue" is a children's picture book, which celebrates the importance and beauty of the hijab.

The book is inspired by the author's own life experiences.

The author of "The Proudest Blue" is Ibtihaj Muhammad, alongside S.

K.

Ali.

The illustrator of the book is Hatem Aly.

"The Proudest Blue" is about being proud to wear the hijab, and Asiya's hijab is blue.

Faiza and Asiya encounter unkindness from others because the hijab is seen as different.

The story challenges negative ideas around difference and encourages pride of expressing religious identity.

The hijab is an important expression of the religion of Islam, which is a big part of Faiza and Asiya's identity, and they want to remain proud of it, even if it may seem different to others.

The author compares the hijab to the world's natural and powerful elements, like the sea and the skies.

This is intended to demonstrate the normality, strength, and beauty of the hijab.

The sea and the skies never hide.

They're always there, big and beautiful and proud, and the author wants the hijab to be viewed in the same way.

Stories often have themes, which communicate a deeper message.

A theme is a big idea, topic, or message that appears in a story.

Examples of themes you might notice in stories are friendship, pride, good v.

evil, family, resilience, celebration, suffering, religion, greed, acceptance, and there are so many more other themes that exist within stories.

I'm sure you can think of more.

Readers can also interpret themes and their importance differently, which means that two people might read the same story and interpret a different theme as being the most important one.

"The Proudest Blue" conveys important messages through exploring the following themes, identity, which means the different aspects that make up who we are.

We know from the story that the hijab and the religion of Islam is a big part of Faiza and Asiya's identity.

Pride, this means the feeling of deep pleasure as a result of one's own achievements or qualities.

We know that Asiya and Faiza remain proud of wearing the hijab, which is a big part of who they are, and differences, which means ways in which people or things are not similar.

Wearing the hijab made Asiya and Faiza different to many of their peers at school, but the story explores how everybody can be seen as normal and beautiful, even if they might appear different.

Let's check your understanding.

Match the theme to the correct definition.

Our themes are identity, pride, and differences, and the definitions are ways in which people or things are not similar, the different aspects that make up who we are, and the feeling of deep pleasure as a result of one's own achievements or qualities.

Pause the video and match these now.

Let's take a look at the answers.

Identity means the different aspects that make up who we are.

Pride is the feeling of deep pleasure as a result of one's own achievements or qualities.

And differences refers to the ways in which people or things are not similar.

Well done for matching these themes to their definition.

It's now time for a talk task.

We have explored how the themes of identity, pride, and differences appear throughout "The Proudest Blue." I'd now like you to discuss what other themes could be interpreted from the story.

Consider the meaning behind the story and the character's feelings.

Pause the video and do the task now.

Welcome back.

I loved listening to your discussions.

I could see how much you were trying to uncover the deeper meaning behind the story in order to identify themes.

Let's take a look at some of the answers.

Acceptance, this is a key theme within the story.

Faiza and Asiya are so accepting of one another, and even when others don't seem accepting of them or their identity, they refuse to change.

The story encourages acceptance of everybody for all of their differences.

Religion, we know that Faiza and Asiya's identity is hugely influenced by their religion, which is why they wear the hijab.

Equality, the story explores how everybody deserves to be treated equally and to be made to feel normal and special, even if they appear different.

Community, the theme of community appears at various points.

Faiza and Asiya's family are a big community to one another and support each other in their religious identity.

And even though some students at school show unkindness towards Asiya and Faiza, there are many students and friends who show a great interest in their identity and support.

This means that they have a wonderful community around them.

Sisterhood, Faiza and Asiya's relationship and their sisterhood is a theme throughout.

We see how they support and love one another.

Resilience, this means bouncing back even under tricky circumstances.

Even when they experienced unkindness, they were resilient and strong and remained proud, which leads us to strength.

Both characters showed great strength under difficult circumstances.

It's now time for the second part of our lesson, where we will be exploring the themes of identity and pride in greater detail.

We are going to focus on the themes of identity and pride within the story of "The Proudest Blue." What does identity mean? Let's remind ourselves of the definition.

Identity refers to the different aspects that make up who we are.

There are many different elements of a person's life that contribute to their identity.

Which elements in life may contribute to someone's personal identity? Have a little think.

So, there are many elements in life that can contribute to a person's identity.

Family is a big one.

Who we are raised by, the people we live with become a big part of who we are.

Culture, this refers to the way of life in certain societies, and it can encompass many aspects, art, fashion, literature, These aspects of culture in our society can really influence our identity.

Ethnicity or race.

Where your family comes from can have a big impact on your identity, and this is very linked to culture.

There may be cultural aspects to your family's ethnicity that is a big part of your life and who you are.

Hobbies, so how you spend your time and the things you enjoy doing, they can be a big part of your identity.

Achievements, so things you have accomplished.

Personal experiences, this can be really positive experiences, sometimes maybe sad ones.

Everything we experience makes up who we are.

Circumstances, which means the conditions that you live in or under.

And these can change, but they can impact how we feel and how we view our own identity.

Relationships.

Relationships with the people in our life can have an impact on our identity.

Passions, so, similar to hobbies, the things you love doing, and as we know, religion can have a big impact on identity.

We saw this in the story of "The Proudest Blue" because Islam was a very big part of Faiza and Asiya's identity.

People may place a different level of importance on different aspects of their identity.

For example, maybe you're somebody who doesn't follow a religion, so this doesn't impact your identity massively, but maybe the culture of your family and where they're from has a big impact on how you see yourself.

Let's check your understanding.

True or false? A person's identity is always defined by the same thing.

Pause the video and select your answer now.

That is false.

Well done.

We know that there are many aspects that can impact a person's identity, and people may place greater emphasis on different things.

People who live in the same country or share the same culture are likely to share similar aspects of their identity.

Migration, which means the movement of people, means that there are now many parts of the world which are multicultural, so that means there are lots of places, especially big cities, where people from loads of different cultures all live together.

This means that people with a variety of different identities live in the same place.

If you are someone who is a minority, which means you are part of a group of people who are not the majority, aspects of your identity may appear different or like they don't fit in.

"The Proudest Blue" explores ways in which Faiza and Asiya were treated as different because being a Muslim girl who wears a hijab made them a minority in their community.

This means that the majority of people in their community were not Muslim and did not wear a hijab.

How did Faiza and Asiya respond to this? Have a little think.

They did not hide their religion or identity.

They did not change who they were or what they believed in.

They challenged the idea of what is normal and remained proud of their identity.

Let's check your understanding.

How did Faiza and Asiya respond to being treated as different? A, they changed their beliefs and values to fit in, B, they hid their beliefs and values to fit in, or C, they challenged the idea of what is normal and remained proud of their identity.

Pause the video, and select your answer now.

The answer is C.

Well done.

Even though they were treated differently for being a minority and looking or seeming different, they challenged the idea of what's normal and remained proud of their identity, showing that difference can be beautiful.

It's time for a task.

What are the key parts of your identity? Consider everything that makes you who you are, even the parts that might feel different.

Maybe you're somebody whose family has a really big impact on your identity, so your sentence starter might be, "My family are from." Maybe you are somebody whose religion has a really big impact on your identity, so you might say, "I practise my religion by," or maybe you're somebody whose passions or hobbies have a great impact on your identity, so your sentence starter might be, "I am passionate about." Pause the video, and discuss with your partner now.

I'm really looking forward to listening in to hear all about your different identities.

Welcome back, and well done for having such a wonderful discussion and sharing the key parts of your identity with one another.

I had such a wide variety of things that impact your identity and who you are.

Let's share some examples.

"My family are from Nigeria, and my parents migrated here.

Nigerian culture is a huge part of my identity." How wonderful that migration means that cultures can travel to different parts of the world and that you can retain that as a key part of your identity.

"I practise my religion by attending Mosque on Fridays and praying with my community." A Mosque is the holy place of worship for Muslims who follow the religion Islam, just like Faiza and Asiya.

And, "I am passionate about the environment, and this is a big part of my identity because it impacts how I live." I loved this example.

It shows how your passions or your hobbies can really impact your life and the way you behave or the decisions you make, and that becomes a big part of your identity.

Even though I heard each of these from different children, interestingly, all three of these things could be true for one person.

You may have a variety of different answers that make up who you are and how you view your identity.

Well done.

It's time for your final task.

How can we help everyone feel proud of their identity? Consider how we should treat others.

Some possible sentence starters are, "I can show," and you might want to think of qualities that you can show here, or, "I can ask," or, "I can celebrate." Pause the video, and discuss this question now.

Wow, you came up with such wonderful ways to make sure that other people feel proud of their identity and supported by the people around them.

Let's go over some examples.

"I can show kindness to everyone, even if they seem different to me.

Everyone deserves to feel accepted for who they are." This was a lovely answer because showing kindness to everyone is important and the feeling of acceptance that we all search for is a really nice thing to offer others.

"I can ask questions about what is important to other people and show an interest in learning about their identity." This was a wonderful answer too because it's such a nice feeling when others show interest in who we are and want to know more about us.

This is another way you can make people feel accepted and supported.

And finally, "I can celebrate things that are important to other people's identities.

For example, a religious holiday like Eid." Eid is an important religious holiday in Islam.

This is a really good example because even if these celebrations aren't personally important to you, recognising them and celebrating them for others or supporting others in their celebration will help them feel really supported in their identity.

Well done for showing such consideration in how we can help everyone feel proud of their identity.

We've now come to the end of our lesson, so let's go over a summary together.

A theme is a big idea, topic, or message that appears in a story.

Themes in a story are used to convey deeper meaning and messages to the reader.

"The Proudest Blue" explores themes of identity, pride, and differences, among many others.

Stories can create a personal response linked to the reader's own views or personal experiences, and many different factors can contribute to a person's identity.

And everyone deserves to feel normal and proud.

Well done for your hard work engaging with the key themes in "The Proudest Blue." I have really enjoyed teaching you.